I
POWER BOATING
FEATURES & PROFILES
n fact, according to J Craft CEO Johan Attvik,
R i v a A q u a r a m a of f t he c o a st of St . Tr op e z he “r e a l i z e d
the man responsible for spearheading the
he h a d t o c r e at e s omet h i n g a bit bi g ge r, mor e r e l i a ble ,
creation of the Torpedo, talks are currently
st r on ge r, t h at h a d a l l t he mo de r n t e c h nolo g y.” G ue s s
underway to have the firm’s elegant new
a h i g h s p e e d c r a sh w i l l do t h at t o a fe l l a .
power boat placed in either the next Bond movie or an upcoming sequel to The
“Ever yone i s ok ay, but we ended up i n t he water ver y
Saint. Noting the 42ft yacht’s elegance
quick ly,” Att vk reca l l s. So now “we’re ma k i ng a boat
and speed, it’s likely to be placed in both.
t hat’s rel i able for Sa rdi ni a or Cor sica. Or for our Spa nish
The producers in charge of such decisions
clients to go between Barcelona and Majorca, and that’s a bit
might want to act as fast as the craft though,
of a journey. [The Riva is] a good day boat, but if you want
because luxury of this class is strictly limited. Attvik says J
to cross oceans, or if you want to do a six or seven hour trip,
Craft plans on only “building between 12 and 15 boats for
with the Torpedo it’s possible.”
2010,” however, given seven or eight months lead time, one can have one ordered.
Attvik divides his time between Stockholm and St Tropez, where he can sometimes be found palling around with Sweden’s K ing Carl, who proudly ow ns another one of the seven Cabr io Cr uisers. Att v ik, who was out on the waters w ith him over last summer, says the K ing “dr ives his boat really enthusiastically” and “is a big yachtsman. He likes motors and he likes constr uction, and he’s the kind of guy who jumps into the engine room.”
The K ing’s son, Pr ince Carl Philip, is also a fan of J Craft J-Craft Torpedo
and Att v ik brought him in to do “a ser ies of silver cutler y we put in all our boats.” It’s one of the finer details
J Craft built its first prototy pe, the Cabr io Cr uiser, back in ’99. And to date the company has made only seven of the much-her a lded debut. Att v i k say s t hat a fter t he l aunch
attendant in ever y Tor pedo, which also boasts the kind of Nardi hand-car ved steer ing wheel used in the Fer rar i 250 GTO.
“t he compa ny went to sleep for a bit.” But once he bought one of J Cr a ft’s i nit i a l batch for hi s per sona l use, t he f i r m’s patented appl ic at ion of moder n technolog y to cl a ssic wood con st r uct ion wa s just too good to let l ie dor ma nt. A nd it wa sn’t long before A t t v i k “e nde d up r u n n i n g t he c omp a n y.”
Att v i k , whose back g round i s i n vent ure c apit a l, “a lway s had a bi g i nt e r e st i n b o at s ,” a nd a f t e r he c r a she d h i s
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Fittingly, J Craft’s state-of-the-art shipyard is located on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland, where the craft of boatbuilding has been practiced for over 1000 years. And if the grace and the beauty of the Torpedo is any indication that craft will still be being practiced 1000 years from now.