Ships made by Vikings and sailed by royalty

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A glimpse of an elegant vintage mahogany-veneered cruise ship gliding through the waves is a rare sight in the Baltic Sea. Typically made and manufactured in Italy, this representation of the water-born Dolce Vita finds itself floating on the French Riviera, not between mainland Sweden and the Viking fortress of Gotland. But the J Craft Torpedo is not your typical retro-style day cruiser.

“My wife and I rented a j crafts one summer and I fell in love with it,” says Radenko Milakovic, the shipyard’s German owner. That model, the Cabrio Cruiser, had been the brainchild of Swedish businessman Björn Jansson and Gotland boatbuilder Johan Hallén, the first of which was delivered to the King of Sweden, His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf, in 2000.

“After trying it out, we wanted to buy one for ourselves,” says Milakovic, a former hedge fund manager who has done so well he retired at 52, “but with changes, simply put, I wanted something that would It looked and worked like a 1957 Corvette, but had the home comforts of an Airstream trailer.” In 2008, when J Craft came up for sale, Milakovic bought her and, in collaboration with Hallén and the J Craft team, had her dream boat ready to sail the following year.

Like the Cabrio Cruiser, the Torpedo borrows the styling of the wooden sports boats of the ’50s and ’60s, but with a modern fiberglass hull and mahogany veneer. If the shape looks familiar, it should be: it references the iconic Riva Aquarama from the ’60s, but it’s actually much more unique: fewer than 22 Torpedoes have been made to date. With an all-new powertrain in the form of two Swedish Volvo Penta IPS engines housed in a new, redesigned hull, Milakovic and Hallén’s Torpedo took Jansson’s vision of a classic-style cruiser and improved it, with more performance, amenities and materials. modern. With a choice of 400, 500, 600 or 650 IPS engines, the most powerful J Craft can reach 47 knots and still turn surprisingly tight given its size and majestic handling.

With a curious mix of Dolce Vita style and the kind of ruggedness that can only be found in the rough and rugged Scandinavian environment, the Torpedo is an impressive open water all-rounder. Step aboard her and the sheen of the hand-finished mahogany deck accents will take you back to a golden age of transportation when style and substance took precedence over speed and efficiency. At the helm, a handsome Italian-made wood and steel Nardi steering wheel invites you to take control, while firing up the two Volvo engines unleashes a grunt below deck as the torque gradually pushes you back against the soft seat. Leather.

It’s a 1957 Corvette meets an Airstream trailer

Cruising the Baltic Sea, even on a calm day, is a breeze behind the wheel; Milakovic assures me that many J Crafts have undertaken far more arduous journeys, such as saint tropez to Corsica, Ibiza to Sardinia, Miami to the Bahamas and Hong Kong to Hainan. With a range of 280 nautical miles, room for four adults to sleep comfortably, and a generously proportioned forward cabin complete with separate lavatory and stand-up shower, the Torpedo is a capable cruiser. Like the upper deck, the cabin is beautifully constructed of hand-finished mahogany, polished steel, and leather. Given the craftsmanship that goes into building the Torpedo, there’s plenty of room for customization, from a bespoke luggage set to a 2000-watt music system and a teppanyaki grill behind the front seats.

“We are combining ancient techniques with modern materials – the good old-fashioned skills that come from many, many years of civilization on this island,” says Milakovic, as he walks through J Craft’s woodshop, filled with beautifully shaped woods. , highly polished mahogany pieces waiting to be added to the three shells under construction on the factory floor. Buried in the helmet of one of them is another key member of the J Craft team and Gotland native, Zoltan Antunovic. With an athletic build, clean trimmed back and sides, and Viking beard, he is the embodiment of the boats built here. Despite toiling away at a wiring loom on one of the hulls, he takes a second to recount his experience, first his military service and then with a Swedish shipbuilder. Nimbusbefore joining J Craft full-time when Milakovic acquired it.

With a history of shipbuilding dating back over 1,000 years, Gotland and its UNESCO World Heritage-listed city of Visby have a nautical knowledge base like no other, something that continues to thrive thanks to to its population, which grew up on a rich diet of sailing experiences and seafaring tales dating back thousands of years. “In a way, I’ve worked with boats all my life,” says Hallén, J Craft’s longest-serving employee. “I renovated my own boat at the age of 16 with the help of my father, and before that I was always at the port watching and helping the fishermen after school; Gotlanders have always made a living by the sea.”

With each ship requiring over 8,000 man-hours to build, the J Craft Torpedo is priced accordingly. Starting at €1.36 million and increasing based on options, this day cruiser is not for the casual buyer looking for a cheap and cheerful day boat to cruise the bay and back. “We have customers who take it on long sea voyages. There are other guys who treat it like a piece of art, but for me, it’s my peaceful place,” says Milakovic, referring to his own Torpedo of his, which he called Natalieafter his daughter.

“I learned the hard way, you really can’t rush it,” he says. “It’s literally made by Swedes in Sweden.” Celebrating the delivery of three boats this year, Milakovic and the J Craft crew plan to keep production limited. “We’re not interested in mass production,” he admits. “My only role that I can play is to act as a custodian and allow him to be on a trajectory so that Jansson’s vision lives on.” Milakovic and his team are busy tweaking and refining the design, ensuring the next generation of J Craft has less impact on the environment. From new onboard technology and a removable hardtop next year, to switching to a fully recyclable material for the hull and deck, and even new forms of propulsion on the horizon, the plot of the J Craft saga has twists and turns. laps to come