Q7 Yacht Designs Is Bringing Q-Class Yachts Into the Modern Day
After Peter Silvester began sailing the 1926 Q-Class racer Falcon, which had undergone a five-year restoration in Maine, he decided to build what that yacht’s original designers might have created if they’d possessed a century’s worth of modern technology.
Silvester’s concept became the Falcon Study, a new interpretation of the original developed by his San Diego start-up Q7 Yacht Designs, with naval architecture by Dutch firm Dykstra, known for its work on the series of nascent J-Class examples. The first result from the project, named Victoria after his wife, was recently completed by U.K.-based Spirit Yachts.
Victoria, the first yacht in the newly reimagined Q-Class, shares the sleek lines and craftsmanship of its century-old archetype, Falcon, but with modern deck equipment and a stunning wooden interior.
David Chatfield/Spirit Yachts/Emily Harris/Q7 Yacht Designs
“Falcon really is Q-Class royalty,” Silvester says, regarding the original sloop built by the famed Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Rhode Island. That 46-footer amassed an enviable racing résumé over successive decades, including multiple victories in the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, the Silver Jubilee Series, and the Queen’s Cup. With Victoria, Silvester wanted to preserve the nature of Falcon while improving on its performance. “The boat had to be authentically Q-Class—as real to the essence of the original as we could get,” he says. That meant retaining the classic’s celebrated lines but reimagining the sail plan with the help of outfit Quantum Sails, which pioneered a mainsail and jib resembling traditional canvas yet made of advanced technical fibers. Victoria’s contemporary rig, winches, and autopilot functionality allow for single-handed sailing in conditions that would keep its predecessor at the dock. “It’s a bit like sailing Falcon with the training wheels taken off,” Silvester notes.
A view of the wooden cockpit and deck arrangement.
Emily Harris/Q7 Yacht Designs
Representing more than 30,000 labor hours, Victoria’s cold-molded hull blends traditional mahogany planking, composites, and carbon fiber, while the teak deck and cockpit sport custom hardware and mahogany-framed hatches. Spirit’s team created a warm mahogany-and-veneer interior defined by curves, with details such as fore-and-aft berths, a shower, a galley, and an electric head. Positioned between two bespoke armchairs, the handcrafted whisky table serves as a centerpiece, requiring more than 300 hours to complete. Partnerships with Globe-Trotter and the Macallan added bespoke leather luggage and seven specially paired single-malt whiskies to the custom package.
Silvester envisions his new Q-Class association eventually leading to a global racing circuit, comprising Victoria and Q7’s six remaining slots for new builds. “One boat is an objet d’art,” he says. “With seven, you have a chance of meeting fellow Q owners anywhere in the world.”
