Radenko Milakovic gives a second lease of life to J-Craft boats

In conversation with

Former banker, hedge fund manager & equity investor Radenko Milakovic has always been extremely passionate about the sea and the endless opportunities it has to offer. Despite having grown up in the mountains, north of Lake Constance in Switzerland, Radenko has managed, over the years, to develop a fine affinity with the sea. Fascinated by its wilderness and ever-changing tempo, calm and beautiful one minute and wild and deadly the next, Radenko believes that if boats are constructed well, they can take you to pretty much any destination. In fact, it’s his belief that, despite our extremely limited knowledge of what lies within the sea’s great depths, travelling by sea is the one transport that requires little to no infrastructure.

***Radenko Milakovic - Photo: J Craft Boats***

It was in 2007, during his time in Monaco that Radenko first laid eyes on a J-Craft. Peering over the side of his balcony overlooking the port, he spotted the original 38ft J-Craft cabrio cruiser. He quickly ran down and waved the man at the helm over for a chat. After a quick conversation, he told Radenko that the boat was in fact of Swedish descent and not Italian as he’d anticipated. His inquisitive nature and fascination for the boat rapidly led him to rent the boat for a week. A week turned into a month and then 3. By the time he bought a house in Port Grimaud, near St Tropez, Radenko also bought the newest version of the J-Craft he’d rented. He spent the summer in his new home and hired a captain to learn how to drive the boat.

A retirement project sets innovation at J-Craft.

Despite its beautiful lines, the boat turned out to be quite difficult to drive as it didn’t have a boat thruster and only had two straight shaft drives. Several months after the acquisition, Radenko was determined to implement some changes and turned around to the brand asking for some modifications to be made. Sadly, the request was denied and when he asked why, the brand responded that the original Mr J, Björn Jansson was very poorly and unable to put the energy and resources required to make the changes. One thing led to the next and before he knew it Radenko held a long meeting with Mr Jansson who told him “I’m old, you’re healthy, I’m sick and you love what I love, so why don’t you run it?” and so it was agreed that Radenko would run the J-Craft company in his spirit. Radenko got to work instantly and started to develop a new version of Jansson’s original dream, a boat with the same shape but bigger.

In 2008, Rakendo took over the company and by the late summer of 2009, the first prototype of the 42ft Torpedo was out and made available on the market in 2010. In the near 15 years Radenko has owned J-Craft, he has never out-paced himself, because to him this was always meant to be a retirement project. A project with a very specific target in mind. Having retired 7 months ago, now aged 50, Radenko’s focus is now to bring the J-Craft company to the stage where the company is independent of its owner and by that, he intends the company to be independent of his financial support.

A small scale and responsible production.

J-Craft is a company which has very low volumes. The 42ft Torpedo, for example, counts 20 in the water and another 2 in construction. In the past, J-Craft has traditionally delivered on average 1.5 boats per year, but Radenko is looking to bring this up to about 3 or 4 per year. This year one has already been delivered and another two are due to be delivered in May or June, making it 3 in total. By next year, the aim is to add a fourth to the mix and within the next 10 years he hopes the brand will run independently of him and only be conveyed to four yearly meetings to greet and congratulate everyone on a great job.

But upselling hasn’t been Radenko’s only focus, he has also worked hard on improving the build of the boat. True to Bjorn’s original vision to have a boat à la Aquarama but for the sea, the new Torpedo, although similar to the original, is a brand-new boat. Starting from the hull, the boat was built from the bottom up to accommodate IPS tracks. This is to enable it to turn like a plane. Ailerons have also been added to avoid getting wet. Radenko admits that a lot of the features on the Torpedo are compensations for his own insecurities. He likes the unpredictability of driving a boat, but equally wants the boat to compensate for his fears. Ultimately the boat has been designed to be extremely manoeuvrable and for those who appreciate beauty and he will continue in years to come to address and fulfil client’s needs whilst staying true to the core business and keeping everything in small quantities, manual and bespoke.

Viking genes with a touch of Dolce Vita.

J-Craft is an entirely Swedish business, and the company is run, and boats built entirely out of Gotland, an island off the coast of Sweden in the Baltic Sea in a town called Visby. For those of you who don’t know much about Visby, it is a medieval town and Unesco world heritage site that boasts the same Viking devise than the boats. That’s why clients fall in love with her, for her strength and toughness and the freedom she inspires, a freedom he admits he has taken to push the Torpedo to extremes to test her resilience, including taking her on open South China sea from Hong Kong to Hainan, dodging the cascading containers falling off ships into the sea. Although, admittedly she prefers more regular trips on normal sea from Capri to Sardinia or Ibiza but can be adapted to meet whatever the client’s requirements are. Bespoke details are a key enticing factor for clients at J-Craft, as most details can be personalised, particularly the mahogany-coloured hulls. It’s that specific level of detail, which has led Radenko to collaborate with Rolls Royce and Chanel in the past.

J-Craft’s development towards a sustainable and bright future.

Luxury partnerships are, however, not the only drive for Radenko whose penchant for sustainability is ever growing. He takes pride in sharing with us that all the energy the company is using in the factories is green and all their external suppliers also use green energy. J-Craft is also currently switching its PVC materials to PET, which is completely recyclable. Furthermore, they are equipping their newest factory with a solar plant to make the brand completely independent. Radenko admits that these changes can be implemented due to the company’s small infrastructure and is keen to avoid outsourcing jobs and retain as much as he can in house. His goal is to increase efficiency where possible.

In fact, he is already thinking about the next development, which could be up to 60feet, but is yet to be determined. For him it’s vital that the boat be used by its owner and can be done so without a crew, after all J-Craft is all about independence. J-Craft is about EVOLUTION not REVOLUTION, so there won’t be any drastic changes, other than a hybrid drive which will make the boat completely electric in harbour and up to two hours autonomy at low speed in nature. The idea is to cruise and feel good about it. Ultimately, he’d love to get to a hydrogen drive. Radenko admits he thinks that’s the future, but that technology just isn’t quite there yet, especially for small pleasure crafts. It would be much easier to do on a very large passenger vessel as hydrogen density and the storage required for fuel is available on a ferry.

Currently, however, the prospect of hydrogen is largely dismissed by the general public, whose focus seems to lie on electrics and batteries. Radenko says: “Personally, I think that’s the wrong way because the amount of pollution generated through large scale battery production and the recycling of them is massive. Hydrogen is a much more realistic proposition but limited today. Which why we are looking at large batteries à la Tesla, which I don’t really condone or like. I’m keeping my eyes peeled on the development front.” Research has been taking place for 10 years and he’s positive it will happen. For J-Craft and its motto a hydrogen solution is much more suited. Petrol stations could be adapted to become hydrogen stations. “There is lots of hydrogen around the world, we just have to be smart about it. Also, geopolitically we are putting ourselves in a much less dependent position. We wouldn’t need huge batteries, so no longer need rare earth metal production to produce them.” Currently J-Craft doesn’t have that type of engine technology. Instead, they are working hard on trying to improve the general picture by retaining very high quality and broadening the range whilst maintaining low volumes, or at least that’s the goal.