Ipswich Marina is getting quite a reputation for its stylish waterfront cafes, restaurants and apartment blocks, not to mention row upon row of gleaming white yachts and cruisers on the pontoons, but there are hidden treasures on the other, less glamorous, side of the water.
Turning away from the Jerwood DanceHouse, home of DanceEast, and driving along a tarmac expanse hemmed by chain link fences, the landscape becomes bleaker, more industrial. Barriers prevent casual entry and there are potholes and puddles, disused rail tracks, and cranes and trailers manoeuvring vast vessels in dry dock.
Two large former flour warehouses dominate as you turn the corner... and there's the discreet sign announcing Spirit Yachts, a business responsible for creating some of the most beautiful and stylish, ‘modern classic’ wooden sailing boats in the world, featured in two James Bond films, and this year celebrating its 30th anniversary.
There are anything from three to six boats being made in the sheds at any one time, slowly and lovingly emerging from simple planks of wood into the ultimate in design and craftsmanship. Combining the latest in modern technology with styling and skills dating back over 100 years, every stage of the process is mesmerising to watch as the wood is sawn, bent and sanded to create the belly of the boat. It is then equipped with all the amenities, fittings and finishes, before being ready to place tenderly in the water outside and sent to the new owner anywhere in the world.
Ranging in size from 30ft (9m) to 115ft (35m), each yacht is bespoke, created specifically for the client’s particular needs and desires and can take a couple of years to complete. Its distinctive shape, lying long and low in the water, its performance as a regatta racing yacht and the quality of its build means that boats command anything from £250,000 to more than £10million, and are highly sought after. One customer recently commissioned a 111ft Spirit with the instruction 'build me a work of art'. And a Spirit yacht has appeared in Daniel Craig’s first and last outing as James Bond, cruising into Venice in Casino Royale and in Jamaica for No Time To Die.
'It was an honour to be associated with such an iconic brand,' says Spirit founder Sean McMillan. 'I think the yacht suits the Bond character very well because of the combination of beauty and practicality.' Ever since Sean was first 'thrown into a dinghy' at the age of four, boats have been in his blood. 'I never learned to sail. It’s like breathing. As a child you just pick it up by osmosis.' He began building wooden dinghies in school holidays under the guidance of the local carpenter. 'He taught me that with anything in life, any problem, you just need to know the right tools to use.'
Sean went on to study fine art at university which, although he soon realised wasn’t going to be the career he wanted to pursue, 'reinforced a sense of the aesthetic which I think runs through my work, everything I’ve ever done'. His ethos is 'never use a straight line when a curved line will do', and the boats are incredibly tactile with their smooth, flowing lines. One of the boatbuilders, finisher Sacha Walker describes the work as being part of a sculpture.
Sean sailed the world for eight years, returning to England to pursue his dream to be a professional boatbuilder. He started a company at Snape, building wooden small to medium-sized cruisers. 'But we hit the 1990s recession like a freight train and lost the lot,' he says. 'That’s an educational experience. It’s incredibly painful, but valuable. When you have lost everything, you have nothing left to lose, you’re untouchable, invincible. It’s an extraordinary feeling. Not one I want to repeat!'
Getting back on his feet, he restored old boats with his friend, Mick Newman, and they would spend hours talking about the yacht they longed to create. 'Then one day I rang up and said "I’m not coming in today, I’m going to draw this boat". It turned out to be the first Spirit.' They secured enough money to buy materials to build the 37ft boat, testing Sean’s template. Putting her in the water at Ipswich, they sailed up the Orwell. 'She just flew,' says Sean. Believing they had created something special, they took the boat to the Dusseldorf Boat Show and got an order to build another.
As the orders continued and the boats got bigger and bigger, they realised that they needed to find new premises. Their first 70ft boat was constructed in a 60ft shed in the middle of a field. 'We couldn’t get far enough away from it to see it. There was a moment when we pulled it out of the shed on a beautiful sunny day and it was quite extraordinary. After two years of incredibly hard work, here was this glorious thing.'
Mick sadly died in 2003, after Spirit Yachts had moved to the current site at Ipswich Marina. The business is now run by managing director Karen Underwood, who oversees around 60 staff. There is a constant buzz of activity and energy in the boatyard as everyone seems to be genuinely proud and excited to be working on projects together. They all stop to chat over tea and toast at breakfast, then coffee and cake at elevenses. On Tuesday evenings in the summer months, there’s the opportunity to sail with Sean on his own Spirit yacht at Harwich.
Sean stood down as CEO of Spirit earlier this year, although he hopes soon to reveal details of his plans to open an academy adjacent to the boatyard, where students will be trained in boatbuilding to degree level. It will be a world first, he says. Spirit will also continue to push its pioneering efforts at sustainabiity throughout the marine industry. All Spirit Yachts are built of ethically sourced wood and use recyclable cloth from local sailmaker John Parker. The aim is to be free of hydrocarbons, gas, petrol or diesel and currently half of the boats have an electric drive.
Spirit is also encouraging its suppliers to address their own environmental impact and showcased its achievements through hosting the first Spirit regatta last year in Guernsey where 10 Spirit Yachts raced together. 'I’m extremely proud that we’ve produced some of the most beautiful boats in the world,' says Sean. 'If you’re going to leave anything behind, I’d like to leave some of these.'
For Sean, this year marks another personal milestone - he has now designed 100 boats. While he acknowledges he could have retired years ago, there’s still so much he wants to do, and such joy and fulfilment in continuing to work with the team he has built. He has handed over the running of the business to Karen and production and design director Helen Porter, but Sean will still work as a brand ambassador, and as a consultant to Spirit’s award-winning design team under Tom Smith.
Sean loves his work. 'Nothing ever changes. The appeal is to use your hands, and your eyes, some tools and a pile of wood, and build a beautiful but inanimate object. Then you put it in the water and it comes to life. It’s a living thing. And when you put the sail up and suddenly off it goes, it’s exhilarating. It’s magic.'
