Anyone looking for adventure should turn to Arksen. The brand offers holidays, clothing and sturdy boats and yachts that are instantly recognisable. We recently featured the Explorer Arksen 85 in BOOTE EXCLUSIV. The latest addition is now the 55, part of the large-scale Adventure series. We met CEO Jasper Smith in Monaco.
The interview takes place on board an Arksen 8. The boss initially spills the contents of his coffee mug all over the journalist’s seat – a cosy pilot’s chair. “Oh no,” he exclaims, apologising and gratefully accepting some tissues. A quick wipe across the upholstery, and that’s it. No trace left. Please take a seat!
BOOTE EXCLUSIV: Arksen is about something that goes far beyond boats…
Jasper Smith: We always ask ourselves: How do you build a company you can be truly proud of? If you look at what Patagonia has achieved in the outdoor sector, you see a wonderful corporate culture that is strongly focused on the supply chain and places nature conservation and adventure at its heart. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do too. To give meaning to everything we build. Not everyone will like that; after all, our industry is steeped in tradition. But we’re trying to approach things differently and see how it works.
They have a wide range of products. We’re sitting here in an Arksen 8, but they also have large family Explorers.
We see what we do as a kind of journey – namely, the journey a customer takes with our brand. Some have young families and want a day boat or an inflatable to go fishing or diving. Others are older, perhaps more affluent, have more time on their hands and want to travel the world. When we set up the company, we asked ourselves: what do we want to achieve ourselves, and what do the people we work with want? Until now, there have been very few brands where you could get everything from small to large boats whilst feeling like part of the same family. With the same commitment to technical quality, customer service and a spirit of adventure. And with the awareness that we’re doing something good for the planet.
Could you give an example of this?
Our aim is to create a kind of movement. That is why we have also set up our ‘10 % for the Ocean’ foundation – the heart of Arksen. The starting point for this is alarmingly simple: Of all the donations made worldwide – and that’s an enormous sum – a mere 0.3 per cent goes towards protecting the oceans. Yet this, the Earth’s largest ecosystem, covers 77 per cent of the planet, provides us with every second breath we take and feeds 2.5 billion people every day. And yet it receives only 0.3 per cent of all donations. So we asked ourselves: how do you build a brand like Arksen that puts nature conservation at its heart? That is exactly what we are striving to achieve. That is also why we have such a wide range of products, from boats to socks, jackets and hats.
Let’s go back to the boats for a moment. What’s new in the category between this RIB and an expedition yacht?
We have unveiled our Adventure series – a completely revamped range. This includes the 35 and the 45, all-aluminium cabin boats built in Finland. Featuring details such as fold-down windows that create a seamless indoor-outdoor experience. The 35 is fitted with one or two outboard engines. The 55 features three cabins and a full range of fishing equipment, with a choice of either an inboard engine or up to four outboard engines. Thanks to large solar panels, the entire on-board power supply can be run completely self-sufficiently. The Adventure series is a fantastic mid-range platform, perfect for families and adventurers. The Arksen 55 has a range of around 400 miles, whilst the 35 has a range of around 250 miles.
Would that mean you could sail along the Norwegian coast, for example?
Exactly, the range is truly impressive. For this new series, we’ve been working with Jarrko Jämsén. We’ve been developing this concept together for seven years. The boats are designed and built in Finland. In Helsinki, there’s a statue that could loosely be translated as ‘The Blacksmith’. It symbolises the Finnish culture of camaraderie, craftsmanship and hard work. It is precisely these values that are reflected in the build quality of our boats. Among other things, the shipyard builds patrol vessels and merchant ships. This is our fundamental approach: we have our boats built at commercial shipyards that actually manufacture workboats rather than yachts, and we refine the construction process together. This ensures we achieve exactly the result we envisage, with the correspondingly high quality.
Will there be even larger models, bigger than the 85?
Yes, we are currently working on two further designs, bringing the total to three or four new projects. The larger models comprise an Explorer measuring 35 to 37 metres in length, as well as a larger version measuring 46 to 48 metres in the same design. We’re particularly excited at the moment about the 24-metre class – and the question of how to create more volume within this framework. Whilst the Arksen 85 is the perfect global expedition companion for long-haul voyages, many customers are looking for a boat more suited to shorter distances, say 20 or 50 miles. We’re giving this a great deal of thought. So there’s always a lot of research and development going on here.
Will you stick with the angular design and the untreated aluminium surfaces?
Yes, absolutely. We love the honesty and authenticity that come from using natural materials. Aluminium is ideal for boatbuilding, as bauxite is one of the most abundant raw materials on Earth. What’s more, aluminium is hard to beat when it comes to sustainability. It can be recycled an infinite number of times, and an astonishing 70 per cent of all the aluminium ever produced worldwide is still in circulation today. Of course, our boats can also be painted. We currently have four boats from this new series in production – two are already in the water, and one is in the contract phase. In total, we have built around 15 boats of this type to date. In addition, we operate our own division for commercial boats, through which we have delivered around 15 further boats over the last year and a half.
And what are they used for?
These include the coastguard, harbour masters, diving companies and tour operators, for example in Iceland. Truly versatile and exciting areas of application. In addition, we also have a 10-metre and a 12-metre version in our range, as well as the 35. The Arksen 55 even comes with a front platform on which, for example, motorbikes can be transported. Particularly interesting: The boat is coated with a special finish called ‘Raptor’, the sort normally used on the load beds of pick-up trucks. It’s robust enough to withstand even a blow from a hammer without denting. That suits us perfectly. A boat should be something you can use without having to be constantly careful with it.
Uske Berndt
Editor News & Panorama