Review: The Spirit DH Classic Boat Magazine Spirit 50DH & 57DH

Spirit of Tradition

Spirit Yachts has developed a new deckhouse Design creating a whole new look for these already iconic boats from England’s East Coast.

When the James Bond film people were choosing a yacht for him to be spending some time aboard in Venice, in Casino Royale, they clearly needed something classic, for an iconic film hero steeped in the myth and murk of cold-war spying, and yet with Daniel Craig’s new direction for the role, it needed to be modern too.

Step forward the Spirit Yacht, a racy looking craft yet with touches of understated luxury about it. Spirit Yachts has gained a reputation for blurring the new into old. The designs – with their long overhangs, low freeboard, fast lines and swept decks – have something of the 1930s about them, but they also look modern, with moulded coach roofs, which while varnished, are more 1990s than 1930s.

The underwater profile, too, is unashamedly modern, with dishy body form and lead bulb keels on steel plates. Nevertheless sailing in the Spirit of Tradition classes the various Spirits – from 37ft (11.3m) to the large 70 (and even huge 100 in 2007) – have caught many eye at classic regattas and the company has grown on a reputation of quality, adding models almost every year.

This year things get a little different. Spirits have a new deckhouse version, with raised topsides giving the yachts a sturdier cruiseier feel while further blurring the line back to the 1930s. We love it.

Two versions of the new DH model are available – the 7-berth 50 and 9-berth 57 (using berths in the deckhouse), while a 65ft (19.8m) version is also in build. The look transforms Spirit, giving it a more noble profiles and a slightly chunkier appearance that makes you feel like taking them offshore and into the deep range. The deckhouses themselves seem to have compound curves in all directions. Cambered over the top and yet slightly scalloped fore and aft, they have a little of the pagoda look to them, as designer Sean McMillan explains.

“It’s all about elegance really,” he says. “Classic design is what really appeals to me and I try to introduce that into my designs.” While the effect is one of a classic boat, looking more closely you will see the modern touches on a Spirit. Thus halliards and lines form the mast are taken through the hatch furniture and via blocks out onto the coach roof deck and then to the Spinlock clutches.

The racing touches and modern safety systems are one thing but on water these boats handle well. There is such a lightness to the helm that one-finger steering is possible, even in gusts of wind. They go over on their gunwale in the catspaws of a gusty day in the Orwell, and then get onto a rail. Flying up the river, quick-tacking with just a couple of minutes for each board is fun, and never stressy. They are lightweight boats, (the older 52 is 8 tonnes) that handle more like dinghies.

We’re joined by an American customer, Kevin Felix, who has a 46 and is over to see and sail the new boats. “I just love the look of these boats and frankly I don’t think there is anything in the states, for production yachts, that come close on the quality of finish,” he enthused.

It’s certainly the quality of construction that sets Spirit Yachts apart. The strip-based build, super stiff with ring frames and layers of glass fibre, allows the yacht to be set up for modern racing. Yet at the same time the joinery below decks confirms the handmade bespoke nature of the one-off classic yacht. The new deckhouse version delivers more of that, as well as more air and light into the interior. Prices, ex VAT, of the DH50 start at £720,000 and £980,000 for the DH57.

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