blogger - The Old Masters

In the last year or so the nautical industry has lost important people who shaped its past decades since the eighties and the current present times.  Designers who made school, people who founded yards and managed them to huge successes.  And its not only this, other important personalities as they become older have also taken a more back seat in managing the activities they once did.

It will be interesting to see if the industry can create persons, as it did in the eighties and the nineties.  People to propel it to huge success.  The future was looking bright up until 2008, then after that the talent went into more rewarding industries, as the boat market fell from record highs to new lows.  If we look at history as a remark we are in a similar position the nautical World was in the seventies.  It is important to note a huge difference to that period and that was the transition from wood to fiberglass construction completing the full circle which started in the sixties. 

The inputs for bringing passionate people to the industry are also missing, offshore racing nowadays is nearly non existent.  Yes we have Class One and the Endurance series who race if you are lucky a couple races a year. Competing is very expensive and if you want to win your budget has to be well above the couple million mark. 

UIM how about a new intermediate class of 30-40 feet offshore powerboat with a set max budget?  

In the past offshore racing always brought talent, from important designers to technical people who went on to manage yards, and then the others which came in it for marketing purposes see Ferretti in the nineties, and Sunseeker in the eighties and the P1 more or less a decade ago. New people bring fresh ideas, propel the industry forward and that this is very missing nowadays.