RESPONSIBLE TIMBER

A question we are often asked is why do we build yachts in wood? In a world where marinas are packed with GRP (glass-reinforced plastic), there is no doubt a wooden yacht stands out from the crowd. It is hard to find anyone who cannot admire and respect the beauty of a wooden yacht, but are there other advantages to building in wood? And how does it match up to other materials when it comes to the environment?

On a recent trip to the timber suppliers with Spirit Yachts’ Yard Manager Adrian Gooderham, we delved into the why behind wooden yacht building.

Adrian comments, “Wood is a natural material, which comes with many positives. From how it feels, to the smell when you cut it, and the gleam of a varnished surface. Wood is tactile, warm, and elegant – it also has an impressive strength to weight ratio. From an environmental perspective, if you are sourcing the timber from responsibly managed forests, with a robust and transparent supply chain, you are using a renewable resource.”

Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during growth, effectively storing it in their biomass (every element of the tree, living or dead). This means responsibly harvested wood can play an important role in carbon capture (or sequestration).

Family-run Sykes Timber has been supplying high quality hard and soft woods for over 160 years.

Joe Sykes, the latest generation to join the business, says, “Timber is the only truly renewable building material—it literally grows back. If you look at general building materials like concrete and steel, which require vast amounts of energy and emit enormous amounts of CO₂ during production, timber is a carbon sink, absorbing CO₂ from the atmosphere as it grows. Every cubic metre of wood used in construction can store around 1 tonne of CO₂, whereas producing 1 tonne of steel releases around 1.8 tonnes of CO₂.”

Sykes Timber sources wood from responsibly managed forests where trees are replanted faster than they are harvested. The company’s in-house compliance officer ensures the supply chain from the forest to the mill. The shipping process is carefully checked and the timber adheres to FSC and PEFC certification standards. This information is shared with Spirit Yachts for complete transparency up and down the chain.

Joe regularly visits the forests himself to meet the local teams managing the forests and to grade the timber. “Our family business has been visiting forests and mills for over 160 years – quality and provenance are at the heart of what we do. We work with companies that support and protect their employees, animal habitats, and the local community. When we first visited Spirit Yachts, we could immediately see they share our passion for high grade timber and the credibility of its sourcing.”

After a look around the Sykes Timber yard in central England, Adrian gets to work inspecting a batch of timber due to be delivered to Spirit Yachts the following week.

Adrian says, “I’m looking at the pattern and tightness of the grain, the width and length of the planks, and whether there are any defects in the wood such as knots, splits, sap pockets or medullary rays (‘tiger stripe’ marks in the timber caused by plant cell growth).”