The Yachting Year 2018

2013 DESTINATIONS

THE YACHTING YEAR 2018 | 67

Now he has gone one further, by opening the heritage

centre. It’s a lavish a air, with plenty for the serious

researcher to get their teeth into, but also regular

exhibitions and other events, including things for

schoolchildren.

Two more buildings, opened late last year, include an

o ce for the Baum & König classic yacht brokerage (also

owned by Robbe & Berking) and also other associated

marine companies.

 e centre’s  rst exhibition was a taste of things to come.

‘Royal Yachting’ displayed the passion of European royalty

for sailing from the 19th century onwards and featured

exhibits on loan from nearly all of Europe’s royal houses

and many royal yacht clubs, in a 1,500m² space.

“We plan to do three to four exhibitions per year,” said

Oliver Berking. “Apart from the many maritime items, we

will also always show classic cars, create a Hall of Fame for

the great men and women of yachting history and run a

small but special museum shop.”

If you needed any more reason to book your ticket to

Flensburg in 2018, the site also has an Italian restaurant,

which needless to say comes highly recommended.

HISTORIC UK SUPERYACHT

Talk of Panerai British Classic Week 2017 was a new yacht

from Spirit, a 52D, which was not your average modern

classic. It had something of a Metre boat, it had something

of a NY40. If one can be so crude, in terms of pure

yachting pornography, judging by the legions of onlookers

lining the pontoons, it ranked highly.

Spirit’s founder Sean McMillan said at the time: “ e

design harks back in many ways to the glory days of the

‘metre boats’ of the 1930s with  ush decks, slim, easily

driven lines and supremely elegant overhangs.”

However, in the true spirit of a modern classic, this was

as tricked out for racing as it possibly could be.  ere was

the Spirit standard carbon rig (although in ultra-high

modulus for this yacht), but so much else had been

engineered in carbon as well, from the keel blade and

rudder, to the winches and a host of  ttings, large and

small, which would normally be in stainless steel – all

done to keep weight to almost 2 tons less than Spirit’s

previous 52, owned by McMillan himself.

While those on the Cowes pontoons admired the lines,

what they could not see was the magic down below.

McMillan again: “ ere is a glorious moment in the

build of any wooden yacht when the  nished hull is rolled

over but the interior is not yet  tted. At this stage, the

purity of the core structure of the boat is seen for the  rst,

but regrettably the last time, as the interior starts to break

up the space. I have thought more times than I can

remember that it would be wonderful to build a yacht with

no interior so the beauty of the hull can be appreciated and

celebrated in its own right.

“You can imagine our enthusiasm when we were

commissioned by an internationally known and highly

respected racing yachtsman to build a Spirit 52 as a totally

maxed-out race boat – without carrying the weight of any

interior!”

 e new boat, called Oui Fling, was eventually second

overall in the competitive British Classic Yacht Club  eet.

Oui Fling was an interesting launch for Spirit because

the previous year they had taken a new path into the

cruising world, with the manufacture of the Spirit CR47.

 is has gone to a US owner and now forms part of a

growing  eet of Spirits on the New England coast.

Meanwhile, this thriving Ipswich company, which in

many ways has been the standard bearer for the Spirit of

Tradition movement, is at work on something rather

larger.  e Spirit 111 will be a 34m sloop and the largest

build from Spirit to date. It sees McMillan and Spirit’s

dynamic MD Nigel Sharp embrace a partnership with

yacht design agency Rhoades Young, who will take care of

the interior of the huge yacht. Perhaps as a sign that Spirit

is really a player in the superyacht scene, the owner’s

representative is the mighty Jens Cornelsen, of Cornelsen

& Partner, who has overseen various J-Class projects,

among many others. McMillan said: “ e end result will

be one of the largest, single-masted modern classic

wooden yachts ever built in the UK.”

The curvaceous deck

layout and interior of

the forthcoming

Spirit 111

RHOADES YOUNG/SPIRIT YACHTS

“

The end

result will be

one of the

largest,

single-masted

modern

classic wood

yachts ever

built in the

UK

”

M O D E R N C L A S S I CM O D E R N C L A S S I C

TYY4 Year ahead Classic Boat.indd 67 04/12/2017 15:30