“Build a work of art”. The brief from the owner of the Spirit 111 Geist had beauty and soul at its heart.

A completely custom project, the design of the yacht began with a collaboration between Spirit Yachts and Rhoades Young. Jonathan Rhoades commented, “The brief was a combination of his love for furniture and organic architecture. The client had recently visited Antelope Canyon in Arizona and this was the catalyst for the idea of the warm soft flowing walls creating unique focal points within the room.”

Spirit Designer Sean McMillan added, “There was to be no straight lines or objects that interrupted the ‘flow’ of the sweeping timber curves. Once the aesthetics were established, the primary design challenge was marrying the beauty of the interior with the operation of the yacht. After Rhoades Young had delivered the initial ‘S’ shaped concept for the interior, it was our task to bring the design to life and ensure it could be accomplished by the build team. The visual side of the brief made the importance of ‘hidden’ technical spaces even more acute given the amount of systems and engineering on such an advanced yacht. The curves of the interior not only had to look seamless, they also had to house the functional elements of the yacht and be accessible. Hidden recesses and sensors became integral for disguising storage and technical spaces (even door handles were replaced with secret hand-activated sensors to ensure the doors remained seamless panels). As well as looking like a “work of art”, the interior of the yacht also had to comply to RINA’s exacting classification requirements. This marriage of practicality, safety and beauty to deliver on the owner’s brief made the project a thrilling challenge.”

Geist’s owner added, “I have owned a Spirit 52 for ten years and during this time I have grown to implicitly trust and respect the team at Spirit Yachts. I knew they would listen to my ideas and I was confident they had the skills to execute the project. The result is Geist: a very special yacht, a dream come true. The aesthetics of the yacht, inside and out, were always of paramount importance. Closely followed by the aim of being as self-sufficient as possible and minimising the impact on the environment. In most larger yachts, space is gained at the cost of detaching yourself from nature. In Geist, I wanted beauty to take precedence over practicality.”