Highly stylised furniture
Two of the defining features of the Spirit 111 are aesthetics and a determination to use modern technology to make the yacht as efficient as possible, reducing the amount of fossil fuel required.
In profile she has a noticeably low freeboard and while the owner was warned this might limit headroom in the ends of the accommodation he was prepared to sacrifice this for looks. “The freeboard is just 1.4m which means she will look stunning – she’s more J then a J,” said Sean Mcmillan who is clearly relishing working with a client who won’t let anything get in the way of aesthetics.
Using some unusual, highly stylised furniture as guidance on how he wanted the interior designed, the client went to Rhoades Young in the UK to develop the accommodation. The result, which suits the use of wood construction perfectly, is quite extraordinary. Visuals will be unveiled to the press in September, but until then we have been asked to say no more.
We can, however, talk a little about the yacht’s drive train, which comprises a 200hp electric engine served by four banks of lithium ion batteries providing a 380V system. The technology has been developed by the German outboard manufacturer Torqeedo which has branched out into other forms of what it calls ‘water-based electromobility’ in response to the need for boats to be super eco-friendly on European inland lakes.
Nigel Stuart and Sean Mcmillan visited several companies developing the technology and were impressed by what they saw at Torqeedo in Gilching, Bavaria. One of the attractions is that the company considers the system as a whole, including batteries, the drive train to the folding Gori propeller, the ‘freewheeling’ prop generator system while sailing, and smart control to keep electricity consumption to a minimum.
The electric propulsion package perfectly suits the 111’s easily driven hull and relatively light displacement of just 59 tonnes.
The batteries, which are similar to those used by
BMW for their i3 and i8 electric cars, have a nine-year