SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

Having followed this project from start to finish we finally get our chance to take to the water aboard the stunning Spirit P70

- Jack Haines

The Spirit P70 is a motor yacht of rare beauty and artisan skill, crafted around a set of hard numbers. One thousand nautical miles at an average cruising speed of 18 knots. For the man who commissioned her, that distance separates a home berth in Southampton from his cruising grounds of choice in the Baltic and his ideal was to be able to make that trip non-stop at a cruising speed just shy of 20 knots. In principle, a simple equation but the business of developing the concept from the drawing board to launch is far more complicated.

The P70 was on paper for over a year and Spirit Yachts’ CEO and head designer Sean McMillan drew 22 exterior profile concepts before the final one was signed off. Construction took three years, partly due to the Covid-19 outbreak, but mainly because building a boat this way takes time and craftsmanship of the highest standard. A core team of eight pieced together the structure which combines a sapele ring frame, Douglas fir longitudinals and 3mm thick kaya wood veneers, bonded together using vacuum-infused epoxy resin. Varnishing the mahogany interior alone took three men almost seven months to complete.