Keel laying ceremony marks the start of the building process.
The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection witnessed the keel laying of its inaugural yacht at the Hijos De J. Barreras Shipyard in Vigo, Spain, in January 2018. Celebrating the official start of a ship’s construction, the keel laying ceremony was historically used to mark the initial placement of a central beam, which served as the vessel’s backbone. Today, as ships are built in a series of modular components, the symbolic ceremony is used to mark the lowering of the first module into place in the building dock.
Douglas Prothero, chief executive officer of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, and Timothy Grisius, global real estate officer for Marriott International, were joined by HJ Barreras Shipyard’s chairman, José García Costas, Tillberg Design of Sweden’s owner and executive project director, Fredrik Johansson, and other VIP guests as commemorative coins were welded to the hull. The coins are meant to bring good fortune during construction and throughout the yacht’s travels.