When you get the call that you’re to design the yacht that’s going to cart Bond around for the duration of Casino Royale, it’s a pretty big deal. And when your brief is to create something stylish and elegant but functional enough to be the first sailing yacht in 300 years to travel up the Grand Canal in Venice, you also know you’ve got your work cut out for you. We caught up with Nigel Stuart, CEO of Spirit Yachts and the man behind Bond’s Soufrière on the craftsmanship that goes into a yacht fit for the most stylish franchise on the silver screen, and how best British elegance is translated on such a huge global scale:
(Photo: Danjaq, LLC & United Arts Corporation)
“The production company was looking for a classically elegant, British built yacht and they contacted us directly. We designed and built her here in Suffolk before she was shipped out to the Bahamas for the first round of filming. After the Bahamas, the team from Spirit Yachts sailed her 1,500 miles upwind to the US Virgin Islands before she went over to Venice for the more famous scenes from the film. During filming in Venice we had to take the rig in and out ten times.”
(Photo: Emily Harris)
It’s safe to say that the process behind a sailing yacht like this isn’t quick or easy. It takes months on months of pure craftsmanship, and attention to detail is of paramount importance through the entire design and build process. As you’d expect for a company handling yachts with a value of up to £12 million, Spirit takes enormous pride in the gentlemen and women that it employs, all of whom are the finest joiners, cabinet makers, finishers and general shipwrights in the country. The Spirit lifestyle is introduced to each new team member, because without it the craft would be redundant. The core values of true beauty, style and performance need to be translated across the product, too:
“The process starts with the intended use and features required, such as number of cabins, number of crew, area of sailing and more. Once this is done, a rough layout is drawn to give an early indication of hull length and beam. From this the hull lines and deck layout are established and hand drawn before these drawings are digitised.
Hull construction of a Spirit begins with laminating wooden ring frames with precise accuracy over full size computer generated patterns. The ring frames and bulkheads are then positioned onto a ‘strongback’ before the centreline configuration is laminated as one continuous structure. The beam shelves are then fitted before the whole assembly is meticulously bevelled and faired to take the first fore and aft layer of Douglas fir strip planking.
(Photo: Spirit Yachts)
On the larger Spirits the central frames are reinforced with laser-cut stainless steel inner frames to take the loads of the mast, chainplates and high aspect lead keel below.
The hull planking is then reinforced by the application of double-diagonal khaya veneers, epoxy bonded at 90° to the first layer of planking, before the whole hull is covered with an epoxy glass sheath and vacuum bagged. This last phase stabilises the timber to allow for the perfect hull paint finish Spirit Yachts is noted for.
Once the hull is complete, the whole structure is rolled over 180 degrees and, as a brief overview, the team start fitting out the interior (cabins, galley), and adding the decks, coachroof and cockpit area. The wood is then meticulously sanded and varnished by the finishing team before we install the engine, fit the keel, rudder and steering gear, and add the mast and rigging.”
(Photo: Mike Bowden)
So there you have it, the ins and outs of what it takes to create the 54 foot sailing yacht that has since come on the market for a cool $850,000 and dare we say it, one of the most beautiful modes of transport that Bond’s ever travelled by. What do you think, gentlemen?
(Main & featured image: Danjaq, LLC & United Arts Corporation)
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