Cultural Olympiad:

‘The Boat Project’ deployed traditional boat building skills and the latest boat building technology to turn wooden objects donated by the public into a seaworthy archive of stories and memories to mark London 2012. It was part of Arts Council England’s Flagship project for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Artists taking the lead, and the London 2012 Festival.

Across spring and summer 2011, a series of donation days led by artists Gary Winters and Gregg Whelan - Directors of Lone Twin, resulted in over 1,200 people donating wooden items with a story to tell to the project, each of which was used in the construction of a state of the art sailing boat. The construction process was led by Olympic Medalist Mark Covell with a team of 3 boat builders and 30 regular volunteers. The project developed the skills of these individuals and served as a spring board for new careers and business ventures.

The boat named Collective Spirit by public vote, was launched on May 7th 2012; an event experienced live by over 1,000 people, each of whom had been involved in the project in some way, and seen by millions more on the national news and in other media as far afield as Australia.

Following her launch, Collective Spirit was sailed by a crew of nominated and specially trained members of the public on an epic maiden voyage along the south coast. Capturing day-today life on board the boat was the job of Thirty Pounds of Bone – the much-celebrated alt-folk project of singer-songwriter Johny Lamb.

At each port of call a programme of events celebrated the boat’s arrival, presence and departure, enjoyed by over 100,000 people. Lone Twin worked in close partnership with Local Authorities, arts organisations, businesses and voluntary organisations throughout the donation and voyage stages; they built a dynamic network of over a 100 partners.

The project was a seamless marriage of sport and art that celebrated and encompassed the values of London 2012. The boat remains as a public resource for the long term and continues to tour festivals and events.