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We made 15 sets. Not one was for sale.

THE TEAM BEHIND THE REAL ELECTRIC RACING BOAT.

WHY WE DO THIS

Most of our day-to-day attention goes into making each build as well as we can and sharing it with people who enjoy building. But the longer we do this, the more we find ourselves asking what else we might be able to do with what we know. We know there is only so much we can do. But if what we make can help a person, a group of people, or a team hold on to an important experience, a memory, or the connection they share for a little longer, that already feels meaningful to us. We are still figuring this out. Over time, though, we have come to feel that alongside making our products well, we can also try to use what we know to help preserve something that genuinely matters to others. So we want to keep moving in this direction. This project is our first attempt.

HOW THE PROJECT STARTED

The project began with a message from Cambridge University Riviera Racing. That first contact led to this custom project. We recreated their real electric racing boat as 15 custom building sets and made them for the team for free. When the message first came in, one of our teammates began looking closely at what the team had shared and thinking about how this project could preserve something from the experience they had shared with the boat.

ONE OF OUR TEAMMATES READING THE FIRST MESSAGE FROM CAMBRIDGE.

THIS WAS THE BOAT WE WERE TRYING TO RECREATE.

The more closely we studied the real boat, the less simple it became. The twin hulls, cockpit, markings and proportions all had to work together. The people these sets were made for knew the real boat firsthand, so a rough resemblance would never be enough. The finished build had to be recognizable as their boat at first glance.

FROM THE REAL BOAT TO THE FIRST SKETCH

Turning the real boat into something that could actually be built meant deciding which features had to remain recognizable. The challenge was not to copy every line, but to preserve the proportions and details that made this particular boat unmistakable.

EARLY SKETCHES BASED ON THE REAL BOAT.

The difficulty was that one adjustment could easily affect something else. Fixing the cockpit could throw off the overall length, while changing the body could shift the markings. Working with a digital model made those relationships easier to compare against the references.

A DIGITAL MODEL USED TO CHECK PROPORTIONS AND DETAILS.

Every adjustment had to be checked against the real boat, from the overall silhouette and proportions down to the smaller features that made it unmistakably theirs.

DESIGN SHEETS FROM THE REFINEMENT PROCESS.

“If it only looked like a boat, it would not be enough. It had to feel like their boat.”

NAMES AND TEAM MARKINGS ON THE FINISHED SETS.

Each set corresponded to a specific member of the team, so the names and team markings became part of what made each one personal.

MADE FOR THE TEAM

A NOTE ACCOMPANIED THE CUSTOM SETS.

We hoped the sets could become a reminder of this season, not only of the boat itself, but also of the time they spent on it, the work they put into it and the memories they made together.

A TEAM MEMBER WITH THEIR CUSTOM SET.

MORE MEMBERS OF THE TEAM WITH THEIR CUSTOM SETS.

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY RIVIERA RACING WITH THE CUSTOM SETS.

THE CUSTOM SETS WITH THE PEOPLE THEY WERE MADE FOR.

ONE FINAL RACE

In July, the team took their real boat to Monaco for their final race of the season. They also achieved their best result as a team to date. Behind that moment were the long hours, the pressure, the repairs and the experiences only the team could fully understand.

THE REAL BOAT ARRIVED IN MONACO WITH THE TEAM THAT HAD BUILT, TESTED AND REPAIRED IT.

THE REAL BOAT, BACK ON THE WATER IN MONACO.

THE PEOPLE AROUND THE BOAT

In Monaco, this story was not only about the boat on the water. It was also about the people around it, including the captain, the driver and the rest of the team.

THE TEAM CAPTAIN BESIDE THE BOAT IN MONACO.

THE TEAM GATHERED AROUND THE BOAT AFTER THE RACE IN MONACO.

THE TEAM'S DRIVER IN MONACO.

TEAM MEMBERS TOGETHER AT THE RACE SITE.

A final race is not only about the result. It is also about what remains after the finish. The race may end, but the story should not.

THE RACE IN MONACO WAS THE TEAM'S FINAL RACE OF THE SEASON.

THE FINISHED CUSTOM SET BASED ON THE TEAM’S REAL ELECTRIC RACING BOAT.

As the project moved forward, each conversation helped us get to know the team a little better, and understand more about the boat, what they had gone through together, and why this chapter mattered to them. We are grateful they were willing to share those stories with us and let us take part. If these sets can become one of the ways they remember this chapter in the years ahead, we will be very glad.

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We'll keep creating free custom builds for stories.

If you have a story you would like to hold on to, whether it is yours or someone you care about, you can send it to us by email.

louis@nifeliz.com

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