Collective Spirit – made out of 1,200 wooden items – finds a new home

Katy Stickland

Collective Spirit, which has been built using 1,200 items of wood, will be moving to the river Hamble

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Collective Spirit is a unique boat.

The vessel – which was unveiled to celebrate the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad – is built out of 1,200 wooden items including treasured children’s toys, wooden sports kit, a section of a Jimi Hendrix guitar and pieces of the Mary Rose and the Royal Yacht Britannia.

The concept for the 30ft sailing boat was originally created by the Lone Twin Boat Project.

It was funded by the Arts Council, designed by Simon Rodgers and built in Emsworth by a team led by local Olympic yachtsman and silver medallist, Mark Covell.

Young people on a wooden sailing yacht

Collective Spirit will be used to teach young people to sail

Now, Collective Spirit has been bought by Universal Yachting on the river Hamble.

“Collective Spirit is not only a remarkable, living archive of treasured items but also a modern sailing yacht that is great fun to sail,” explains Chris Warwick, owner of Universal Yachting.

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“We were involved with the boat in 2012 and when we saw her go up for sale, we felt we had to act to safeguard her future and avoid her going into disrepair or worse, lost for ever. Our intention is to get Collective Spirit back on the water and continue her legacy as originally intended, so that she can be shared and enjoyed by the community and need to raise the funds to do so.”

Collective Spirit will be run on a ‘not for profit basis’, and used to “introduce a new generation to sailing”.

The sailing yacht Collective Spirit sailing

Collective Spirit is 30ft long

The vessel needs some urgent remedial work and modifications to get her back on the water for the summer

Anyone interested in using the boat or getting involved in the project can contact Universal Yachting via the Collective Spirit website.

The yacht will be on show at the South Coast Boat Show, which will be taking place on 21-23 April, 2023 at Ocean Village, Southampton

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