SILVER LININGS: 25 Years of J Craft

The screenwriting gurus who run seminars on how to script a movie will tell you that most stories are in three parts, or acts. They will quote Casablanca, Chinatown or The Godfather as being perfect examples of a story in three distinct chapters. Move on to the Hollywood blockbuster (eg Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars) and you’ll find not only three acts but certain repeating tropes – the hero, the mentor, the quest, the peril (when it all goes wrong – also known as the second act reversal) – and a destiny fulfilled (aka a happy ending). These structural paradigms can be applied to many popular narratives. And to the journey of J Craft, builder of the world’s most desirable luxury day cruisers, over the past quarter of a century.

Yes, the Swedish boat builder is 25 years old. When Björn Janson, a successful restaurateur and entrepreneur with businesses in Visby, the capital of the island of Gotland, and Åre, the Swedish ski resort, started the company in 1999, the euro had only just become legal tender, the Napster file-sharing system was unveiled, Britney Spears became a teen-pop sensation and a prime example of a three-act film, The Matrix, was released.

Act One in the J Craft story is Janson’s vision/quest – to recreate the glamour of a classic wooden motorboat, channelling the dolce vita aesthetic of the ’50s and ’60s, but using modern materials (ie low-maintenance GRP – Glass Reinforced Plastic – for the hull) alongside Gotland’s venerable shipbuilding skills (such as the steamed-wood bending for the transom) that stretch back to the Vikings who once inhabited the island and built boats that could tackle the capricious Baltic Sea that surrounds it. Power, elegance, practicality, glamour, head-spinning seductiveness – it was a heady mix of demands for one vessel. What Janson needed was someone who could help turn his dream into an ocean-going reality. Enter the mentor. Enter Johan Hallén.

Hallén is now chief master builder and head of J Craft’s shipyard but before he met Janson, he had a long history of sailing, diving and, since he was 16, boat building. ‘Björn was a dreamer in the sense that nothing was impossible. He was very creative when he had decided to realise an idea. Knowing this, I tried to give him as much information as possible so he could take the best decisions. I knew him too well to dismiss his ideas!’ says Hallén .

Together with Janson, in 1999 Hallén created the J Craft Cabrio Cruiser, the model bought by the King of Sweden (J Craft’s first customer) in what turned out to be an accidental marketing coup. The Cabrio did indeed go on to turn heads from St Tropez to St Barths and from Miami’s beaches to the canals of Venice. It was also very exclusive – such was the painstaking craftsmanship involved, only a single Cabrio a year could be built. But that was part of the cachet. The clients likely to be able to afford a J Craft vessel were above all interested in exclusivity. Not for them the quotidian, whether it be in whisky, watches, four wheels or two. Given that there were just over half a dozen in existence by the mid 2000s the Cabrio Cruiser became a much-coveted, sought-after acquisition.

Act One was complete. The reversal in the second act came in the insidious form of Parkinson’s disease, which meant Janson was unable to see his quest through (he died in 2011). In 2007, Radenko Milakovic, who had rented a Cabrio Cruiser and fallen in love with it, acquired the company and determined to build on the founder’s legacy and steer J Craft into a healthy future. The key to that was J Craft’s successor to the Cabrio Cruiser, the J Craft Torpedo. Hallén again: ‘Before he died it was fantastic for me to be able to show [Björn] the “refined” version of his creation that we would call the Torpedo, and of course it was important that we had his blessing.’

Hallén admits that the Cabrio Cruiser was not the easiest boat to operate, especially for novices. ‘It demanded a lot from the driver. The Cabrio Cruiser was direct controlled, and the driver had to manage four controls at the same time, one for the gear forward and reverse and one for the throttle for each of the two engines. On top of this, the boat demanded some experience to be driven in a competent manner.’

The hand-crafted Torpedo – each of which takes 8,000 to 10,000 person-hours to custom build – debuted in 2009. While retaining the enviably gorgeous lines that characterise a J Craft boat, it was re-designed from the keel up to address the above challenges for the driver and other issues. The most fundamental change, besides the increase in size – going from 38 foot to 42 feet – pertained to the power and propulsion system as J Craft engaged the services of Volvo Penta. Together the firms redesigned the underwater hull to make it suitable for Volvo Penta’s remarkable IPS-based propulsion solution, which transformed the user experience for novice and experienced captain alike.

Since its introduction in 2009, the Torpedo itself has now undergone organic changes too. It has gained power and benefitted from such technical innovations as the Seakeeper, a gyroscopic stabilisation system, Zipwake, an efficient dynamic trim control system, extended life Lithium-Ion batteries making a day out possible without the need to use the now larger generator sets, to run all these systems for a full day.

In addition, the latest Torpedoes have been fitted with Volvo Penta’s Dynamic Positioning System and a radar system. Below the skin, J Craft has transitioned from using PVC to PET as its core material of choice when creating the hull and deck. PET is fully recyclable, marking a significant leap in J Craft’s environmental credentials.

With its constant evolution, the Torpedo is perhaps analogous to another icon, the Porsche 911 (comparisons with a sports car are not entirely fanciful – the Torpedo comes with an original handcrafted steering wheel by Nardi, the same as Ferrari originally fitted in its 1960s 250 GTOs), which has evolved significantly over the past six decades, yet even the current hi-tech, high-powered models are clearly part of the 911 bloodline. Another design classic, the Supermarine Spitfire, ended up as the Mark 24, yet the later variants still evoked the shape of the Supermarine S.6B floatplane that won the Schneider Cup in 1931. Similarly, Aquila III, the latest Torpedo RS from the Visby shipyard, with its twin Volvo Penta 650 IPS engines, Hermès upholstery and mahogany/teak staircase, is clearly a close relative of King Gustaf of Sweden’s beloved Polaris from 1999. It is still, that steering wheel and a number of technical additions apart, in spirit and in substance a completely Swedish creation.

The exquisite Aquila III, the culmination of 25 years of gradual, painstaking refinement, could be seen as Act Three in the J Craft saga: the finale. It isn’t. It is the end of Act Two. The final stretch of narrative is still to unfold, although the outline has been written. While the Torpedo will remain the beating heart of the business, the core product, the aim is to apply the bespoke, hand-built, artistic and artisanal ethos and philosophy of J Craft to a wider range of merchandise, all designed and made with the same skill and love as the boats and all encapsulating the alchemical marriage of form and function that characterises the Torpedoes. The aim is to make the joy in the craftsmanship and the artistry involved in creating these beautiful vessels available to a wider, if still highly select, group as well as extending the period of the year during which afficionados of the brand can enjoy all things J Craft beyond the traditional summer boating season.

This involves tapping into the pleasure principle – imagine how the buyer of a supercar feels when they see the key fob on a desk, the little burst of endorphins that will be released when they think of being behind the wheel. With J Craft, the equivalent is the scale model of the boat you will receive, incorporating exactly the same materials, details and colour scheme as the real thing. Which means clients can admire – or demonstrate to others – the lines of the waterborne beauty that they own and feel that elusive tingle of pleasure and satisfaction.

However, the company is seeking to find a way to move beyond representations of the boat itself.

First up in this expansion plan is a line of exquisite furniture, to be created in cooperation with one of Denmark’s most prominent designers, ex B&O design chief, Johannes Torpe, thus keeping the Scandi connection. You won’t have to be a Torpedo owner to buy into these creations, but, like the Torpedo, they will be built to order, by hand and be rare and exclusive, reflecting the ethos behind J Craft. However, having a piece of the furniture, even without the Torpedo, will induct you into the wider, albeit still exclusive, J Craft/Torpedo “club”.

There are also plans for a Torpedo Bar within a new hotel (expect lots of beautiful wood) and, on a smaller scale, bespoke champagne and cocktail cabinets, fine china, sumptuous rugs and elegant ice buckets from a line created in cooperation with a prominent fashion and design house.

And the boats? As the company moves forward, Johan Hallén and his team of dedicated craftspeople will continue to captain J Craft over the following decades. Its destiny will be in the same hands that create these wonderful machines. As Milakovic says, ‘It makes sense that if you want to talk about a Torpedo, talk to the man who will build it; talk to Mr J Craft himself, talk to Johan.’

These are big, bold ambitions, but more than most, J Craft thinks in widescreen.

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