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Art Nouveau for the 21st Century: Spirit Yachts reveals the interiors of its future flagship

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Construction of the 33.9m maxi sailing yacht Spirit 111 in Suffolk, UK, has been progressing at full speed since May 2017 and will soon enter the final stages. When launched this summer she will be the largest single-masted wooden sailing boat to be built in the country since the 1930s. In the meantime, Spirit Yachts is still teasing sailboat enthusiasts, slowly unveiling the project's intriguing details. «For example, showing off renderings of the yacht's unusual interiors, described as» an endless swirl of organic shapes, or talking about her future sailing wardrobe.

Spirit 111 was designed by Spirit Yachts CEO and Chief Designer Sean McMillan. The interiors were designed by Rhoades Young, the first time the yard has partnered with a third-party professional.

The boat can accommodate eight people on board. Below deck (which has already taken its place on the boat) there is a combined galley and three double cabins (owner, guests and VIP), each of which is fitted with a private bathroom. A distinctive feature of Spirit 111's interior is a rounded line not only on the furniture but also on the walls, as well as the predominance of wood as a finishing material. The maximum width of the Spirit 111 is 6.4 meters.

The pride of place in the living room is its upholstered area, which is conventionally divided into two spaces.

The sofas (as well as the headboards in the cabins) for Spirit 111 were handmade by Will Fennell and BenJackson. The total length of one centimeter walnut planks used in the construction of the furniture is up to 1,2 km. In general, the creation of this piece of art took more than 1000 man-hours.

«Creating these sofas was technically a very complex task. To meet the required standards, we had to keep in mind the limitations of every aspect. It is a pile of micro-decisions that we made constantly throughout the construction process that allowed us to achieve the final result. It's hard to keep all the details in your mind all the time. You're so engaged with the work that you don't notice it's coming to a climax until the very last moment," Fennell said.».

Interestingly, there are no light switches under the Spirit 111 deck.

It's another solution to make the walls completely smooth. It's made possible by the «smart-lighting system». Motion sensors are triggered automatically and, «following» a person, independently send a signal to turn on or off the electricity in a particular area. The main thing that owners can only hope for is that the sensors will not be triggered if something falls off the table during the sea rocking.

In sleeping cabins, the system is even more helpful: it knows how to turn on the light in the nearest bathroom when someone gets out of bed at night.

Spirit 111's client and future owner is a young keen yachtsman who plans to sail her in superyacht regattas in the Mediterranean. She will have a very large sail cabinet with mainsail, spinnaker and jib, as well as a retractable FFR (Flat Retractable Reacher) and retractable asymmetric. Total sail area will be 450 sqm.

To make Spirit 111 suitable for racing and cruising, her spar will be reinforced with carbon. In addition, she will be fitted with hydraulic winches.

The deck has been designed to ensure that the crew always has everything to hand, no matter whether they intend to race or to relax. At the same time, the cockpit area is clearly divided from the driving and rest areas, so people will not disturb each other. This is also the purpose of the carbon-fibre mast and the Hall Spar boom construction, inside which the sails will be furled.

Another wish of the future owner was for the boat to be as environmentally friendly as possible. A young yachtsman wants to be able to spend as little fuel as possible for comfortable boating. So the Spirit 111 project has an electric motor, which is complemented by four lithium batteries. It will be used for short distances or during maneuvers. If long transitions on the motor are still unavoidable, there are two spare generators on board.

According to the idea, as soon as the boat switches to«pure» sailing mode, the system will automatically recharge the batteries. The idea is that with frugal handling, the Spirit 111 owner will not need any other sources of power other than these batteries.

The maximum green on board Spirit 111 will be the air conditioning system and the appliances in the galley. The water pump and water heating system will be as energy efficient as possible.

All this, AFTER the launch, will make Spirit 111 «one of the most environmentally friendly boats in the world».

The sails will be made out of recyclable material, which is why they were commissioned by OneSource for the project. That's why they ordered them from OneSails, which is simply the only manufacturer in the world that makes such sails.

The«Spirit 111 is an interesting project that has brought the UK's leading marine equipment suppliers together. The sails on this boat are probably the largest ever built on the east coast of the country»," says OneSails' John Parker proudly.

According to the shipyard, the membrane sails will also incorporate electronic chips which will provide data to help optimize the boat's course. It's not yet clear whether «»is referring to the electronic wizards , or whether it will be something else. Whatever the chips may be, they will certainly come in handy when Spirit 111 is racing.

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