Britain’s royal yacht has competition

A rival to the ‘Yacht for the Nation’ pitched in January to replace Britain’s flagship Britannia has emerged. Behind the new design, which features early work by Jon Bannenberg, is an as yet unknown figure in the yachting industry.

The man is Ian Maiden, superyacht regatta enthusiast and a producer on forthcoming Martin Scorsese feature film Silver Ghost.

Maiden’s design is for a 127m yacht, shorter than the 198m square rigged sail concept produced earlier by Colin Mudie naval architects in Southampton and more stately in design. The rival yacht has a different purpose too. Whereas Mudie’s yacht is education and training focused, Maiden’s yacht is to be a ‘commonwealth flagship.’

Maiden said:
 “With the EU in disarray there's a lot of trade to be had with the Commonwealth, it’s a high profile marketing tool in the form of a yacht. [Commonwealth countries] would be participating in an adventure by going to counties to promote their trade. My vision is to…hold trade exhibits. There’s something dramatic about this happening on a yacht. A historical element.”


Rival yacht: The 127m yacht concept from the drawing board of Jon Bannenberg

On the website, which Maiden launched this week, it proposes that funding and materials for the £100 million yacht might come from each of the 45 countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. Citing ‘suitable contributors’ it says: steel and component assembly [could come] from India, timber from Ghana, aluminium from Canada, electronics from Singapore, fabrics from African states, and hull assembly from Britain. It also suggests that Indian Navy supply the crew.

The project comes from the drawing board of the late Jon Bannenberg with additional work by consultants BCTQ of Southampton. Although it has only now emerged, work was completed in 2000. At that time however the UK government rejected the idea of a replacement for Britannia, the former royal yacht of the British monarch Queen Elizabeth II. In January this year, Prime Minister David Cameron backed Mudie's square rigged sail concept in a leaked letter from higher education secretary David Willetts. Although categorically stating it would be not be publicly funded, the endorsement showed time was now ripe for Maiden to publicise his alternative yacht.



Mudie's square rigged sail concept which hit the public eye in a leaked letter to the PM

Maiden is ambitious for his concept, but his rivals at Colin Mudie appeared unfazed. A spokesperson from Colin Mudie said:

“We read for the first time today about the proposed Commonwealth Yacht project, and are interested to learn more. A possible future national flagship is clearly a concept that generates much attention.”

Still, with neither having secured the significant amount of money needed to build it, both yachts are even contenders.

“Neither have cracked it. Neither of us at the fully funded stage. But we'll see how it all develops,” said Maiden.

Related Links

Commonwealth flagship Website
BCTQ Website

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