Showing posts with label blogger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogger. Show all posts

March 1, 2024

What Tribute?

Main-stream boating media tribute to naval architect and previous racing hull specialist designer Don Shead, who left for the better World the past third February, was rather flat and sad.  Nearly everyone and all just copied and pasted, the Sunseeker press release.

While Don Shead was Sunseeker head designer for three decades, from the end seventies till his retirement in 2007, his tribute to boat and yachting goes beyond in helping the Poole boat builder find its feet and run, and become one of the most famous boating brands in the World.

Once you start to dig about Don Shead early career, from the early sixties where he started up as a racer, to his early designs at the end of that decade, it is a mind blowing journey.  Beyond Sunseeker Don Shead most important story, are his early racing days, with his career coming full circle when his designed CUV 38 hull, was the first to stop the fourteen year dominion of Class One by US made and designed hulls.  Not even Renato Sonny Levi's hulls, which were the biggest challengers to the American made and designed boats in that era ever managed to beat the Americans in the World Championship.

Another part of Don Shead story are his first Cowes race wins with his Avenger boats in the end sixties, and his believe in alloy build hulls, rather then fiberglass for racing.  But probably in all of this Don Shead most important career changing aspect is that unlike most and nearly all deep-Vee architects he started as a racer first, becoming a naval architect after, to be exact seven years later. 

February 1, 2024

Need for Speed Is Back

In the eighties a challenge started out between a few yacht builders to make big and ultra fast yachts in the market.  Italcraft launched it's challenge with the M78, a 21 meters flybridge motor yacht presented in 1985 which reached 58 knots.  Alfamarine responded some years later with the two meters smaller one-off made 65 flybridge model from 1991, which with triple 1000hp engines and surface drives reached a top speed of 64 knots during a light test run, four knots more over it's declared top speed of sixty knots.  

Interestingly while both these yachts received a lot off attention at the time, the success was not big, with Italcraft selling only two units of the M78, and then revising the platform for the slower and similar looking C70 and then reused for the 70 Drago in the noughties. While Alfamarine made only one unit of the 65, with the hull of that one coming from the 55 as designed by Franco Harrauer, and then used also for the 58 and 60 models.  For a time the speed in sport yachts settled and even the fast offerings from successful sport yacht builders like AB Yachts, Baia, MagnumOtam, or Pershing stopped in around the fifty knots mark.    

Thirty years later the need for speed is back with new arrival Bolide Yachts and its first 80 model, setting new high unimaginable numbers for a 24 meter super sport yacht.  The Bolide 80 not only goes beyond sixty knots, but reaches a top speed of 73 knots, equivalent to 84 mph.  These are speeds a super fast thirteen meter centre console weighing in at about ten tons with six Mercury racing outboards reaches. Incredible speeds for this project by Brunello Acampora, and even more outstanding when you think that the closest production yacht above 24 meters, the AB Yachts 100 with the Superfast option is thirteen knots behind.  

Is the need for speed back?  Are we heading into a new super sport yacht speed race?  Just as much as I would like it, this is difficult to happen, and like those Italcraft and Alfamarine models from the eighties found out, the hyper fast is and will remain a niche. It is a small niche which has its crowd, and many admire it, but when it comes to signing the dotted line it remains something for the few.  For now, well done to Brunello Acampora, it will be interesting to see if Bolide Yachts will have a challenger worth of note in the future.

December 1, 2023

Production History

From Summer 2023 PowerYachtBlog added a new Production History label, to the popular names in motor boating.  Production History was started with a favourite brand, Itama, and eventually it was added to other popular motor boating names.  When doing this data, in some models more to others it is like a voyage back in time, in history, and present. 

Production History lists model designation and name, years of start and end production, and when available also how much units produced.  If this information is known, I also list the different project name, some models get in pre-production phase.

Accurate as possible is the aim in production history, although this is harder to achieve also because boat builders are not fully open on data.  The other problem is the past, as the further one goes in time the more difficult it is to get a fully correct information, especially when one tries to dig in the seventies and or before that.  Difficult but not impossible.  In some cases when Google and the Internet are not enough I am helped by brand fans or previous workers from that company.

Custom builders builds are not listed in Production History, because it would be over whelming to list all.  Imagine listing all the custom builds of Spencer which is now at one hundred plus all different deliveries, and Feadship or Benetti with a story which started in the fifties.  For custom builders who venture consistently into semi-custom-production builds, as is the case for example with Baglietto and Benetti, I do list the data for those. 

Some custom builders also have an incredible data, of there past, present and future on there website.  For example of the sportfish builders, the data Jarrett Bay provides on all its builds is superb, as does Feadship.  

Last but not least if you have knowledge that some information in Production History for brand X or Y is not accurate or correct, just private message on the Contact Form on the lower part of the left column, and I will get back to you.

November 1, 2023

Special is Optional

Fairline has launched its new Squadron 58 model, debuting at the 2023 Southampton boat show in September.  For Fairline the Squadron 58 name is a special one, with the 2002 to 08 first version selling 210 units in a production run lasting six years, making it the most sold model of the British builder flagship flybridge yacht range. On the contrary the second generation Squadron 58, which was an evolution of the 2008 launched 55 was not so successful, lasting in production less to two years and then evolving into the Squadron 60 with an over-sized bathing platform.

Looking sleek and stylish this new third generation Squadron 58 breaks new ground for Fairline, which for the first time is offering optional drop down balconies extending the size of the aft deck when opened, and an extendable in length to aft bathing platform.  The balconies are not a new feature for flybridge yachts of this size, with Galeon being the first to offer this on flybridge motor yachts with the 500 Fly in 2015, and today extended to most of the Polish builders range above thirteen meters.  

The thing though with the third generation Squadron 58 special features is that they are all an option, three expensive options to tick.  If Fairline really wanted the new Squadron 58 features to stand out some of it needed to be standard, like the port side drop down bulk-head which brings the galley area outside, and the extended bathing platform aft.  Fairline's argument for not making the stand-out features as option, is that in standard form the Squadron 58 is competitive and similar priced to the other yachts in the segment.  But when you are the new kid and the latest arrival, do you want to level compete with those who have dominated this size in recent years.  Think again about Galeon, who give one drop down bulkhead as standard, and with this made huge inroads in recognition and sales in the European and North American market.  

It is still early day to see the fortunes of the Squadron 58, but when it will come with the data with all the stand out features being optional, will Fairline really know if they are popular or not, cause of a cost rather then the customers not enjoying the feature.

October 1, 2023

Back to Genoa Boat Show

I have not been to any of the big International boat shows since many years, and now in 2023 I returned to Genova's Salone Nautico, after nineteen years.  My last attendance was in 2004, nineteen years ago, that time it was a boating renaissance of the noughties, with most if not all Italian builders enjoying a huge expansion bar none, fuelled by leasing and easy boating mortgage schemes of those times.

The Italian boat show is a special place for me.  It was the show I always wanted to visit when young, also to discover more about the less known Italian names, followed by the many American brands attending the show with high importance and numbers, with British and Scandinavian names also showing in good force.  I am sure I would love Cannes which I had to cancel a few times due to other commitments, the two US Fort Lauderdale and Miami boat shows, and to a lesser extent Dusseldorf.  This last mostly because it is a land show, and I believe boats, especially big ones upwards of fifteen meters should be seen in the water.

The 2023 Genoa boat show was packed, at least that was what I saw in the opening two days. The previous editions I attended used to have 300,000 plus of visitors in nine days.  The smaller six days format of the recent editions are doing over 100,000 plus of visits.  The Fiera Genova was also a bit work in progress mode, on entrance for the new waterfront island area, though this affected little to the show, with a small exception on the entrance part. They are working hard to make the boat show a bigger and better one.

Since some years the major Italian brands which used to make Genoa the show, are not supporting it as they used to, presenting there World premiers in Cannes.  Still some brands did premier at Genoa, the most important one coming from Spanish Astondoa new AX8 model, which just arrived an hour or so after the show opened.  Other Italian names debuting at Genoa are the Amer 950, CNT Domina RS, Italyure 35, Mig 45, Manda Yachts Senses 05, and Tornado Yachts 50 RS.  The fact that Astondoa debuted its AX8 in Genoa is a good sign, as this is the largest Spanish production boat building brand using the show for an important World preview.

Genoa is a victim of globalisation and the centralization this brings with it. If Genoa wants to be as attractive to Cannes it will need the help of other factors beside a bigger show, starting from a better connected Airport.  Nice Cote d'Azur Airport which serves Cannes and is thirty minutes away from the boat show is the third busiest airport in France with fourteen million a year plus passenger traffic.  Genoa Cristoforo Colombo sees less then two million, the 21st position as Italian airports go.  Cannes still has an edge in accommodation, though today things are better in Genoa with AirBnB and Booking.com platforms easier to what they have been in the past.

September 1, 2023

The French Experiment

Beneteau Group has really grabbed its Prestige motor yacht brand, turned it upside down and starting experimenting with it in the last three to four years.  It all started with the X wide body range presented in 2020, and continued with the M for multi-hull introduced in 2022 with the M48 model.

The Prestige brand has been the most consistent and successful of the giant French Group motor boat portfolio. For example the Prestige 550 introduced in 2013 sold over 150 units in its first three year production run, with other previous smaller models as the 46 Fly and 34S from the noughties selling two hundred and five hundred plus respectively.  The other Prestige models in its traditional Flybridge and Sport lines have also been successful, a well deserved success to be fair, as I think Garroni has done an impressive job on the design of these, mixing modern lines, latest amenities with conservative looks and the competitive good quality-price point the French Group is known for.  

It would be interesting to know what made Prestige do this hard-turn in its strategy.  May be its previous innovative and nice Prestige 750 flagship launched in 2013 never sold as expected, but then in that fifteen to 25 meters, is not an easy size to enter and compete against long standing Italian and English names.  Reality is when you compete in that higher quality market it is difficult to enter, even if you offer a product with the same quality, and probably Beneteau Group knows this the most as it seems to be giving up on its Monte Carlo Yachts brand, which it debuted in 2010 with MCY76, and has seen no new models in over two years.  

The Beneteau Group has strong sales in 2023, an increase of a whooping 43% and today its motor boating lines leads at 57% its sailing yacht division, so on numbers alone they are right on what they are doing.  But the Prestige motor boat brand which was started in 2001 as part of a Jeanneau model line, and became an independent brand in 2009, changes in direction seem odd as an outsider, considering the legacy and sales Prestige generated in the last twenty years.

August 1, 2023

Venice to Monte Carlo Race is Back

As a test to the full race scheduled for 2024, the Venice to Monte Carlo organisation organized a Prologue race, in reduced format from Venice to Rodi Garcanico. This reduced format event of three hundred nautical miles, with departure from Venice Cervia to Pescara and then final leg at Rodi Garganico saw ten participants. 

In this ninth Venice Monte Carlo race it was interesting to see boat builders coming with production units at the races.  Tornado came with the 50S a production model released in 2010, while Grady White also participated with a full production 36 unit powered by triple Yamaha outboard motors.  Albatro and Outerlimits also competed with modified production units, while Vittoria Shipyard competed with its fast patrol Interceptor 43 unit. Ten teams participated in total, with the British team on the Outerlimits SV52 N25 winning the race, followed by NS95 an Albatro 32, and SeaRex Baltec number N66 in third.  

This Venice Monte Carlo race made me think, that it would be nice for the UIM to create a full production cruiser class with the likes of Tornado 50 at around 15 meters and possibly even a smaller one around twelve meters powered by twin diesel and three to five endurance long range races in Europe and possibly USA.  To be honest I never understood how it never happened but the potential for production sport cruisers to compete have always been there.  I think it can be a good marketing tool for some boat builders.  We have to remember that Ferrari never made adverts but used race as its advertising, today the horse badge is the most valued auto marker in the World.

The old Venice - Monte Carlo was always a test base for testing production boats in it, and its good to see the same story continuing.  Baia, Magnum, MigItama, Ferretti, and Pershing are previous competitors with the first three being winners of a leg and or all the Venice-Monte Carlo in the respective class.  So is there a potential for some serious boat rally endurance races? I definitely think so, though a serious set or rules which go inline with the current production market needs to be drawn.  In the eighties and nineties automotive Rally racing was as much popular as Formula One racing for example.

July 1, 2023

Swedish Short Cut

I am nearly sure that with such a title many of you thought that I would go into the short cutting, one way or another boat builders do to turn a bigger profit from boat building.  But this one is not for them, this is for Volvo, and how it keeps sitting on a twelve litre engine platform and climbing the supply ladder chain for larger super yachts.

When the IPS pod appeared in 2005, Volvo said that the project for the propulsion set up, is to make all its light duty engine series available on the platform, henceforth, with the increase in size and its update up to 1000hp thanks to larger pod drives, we arrived to a size limit of about twenty meters for twin engines, and up to about thirty meters thanks to use of triple or quadruple propulsion systems.  

Volvo seeing that triple or quadruple units have not been entering the market they expected above 24 meters, comes with a new idea of fitting twin engines to a single pod drive unit.  Here comes Volvo new IPS40 to launch in 2025 and able to put two engines per drive, bringing maximum horsepower up to twin 1000hp i.e.2000hp per drive.  The drive will also be available with a combustion engine and electric motor set up.

It is an interesting system to be fair, but probably overly complicated, which in itself is not a problem once you are sitting in Volvo friendly waters.  But if you are not?  This has always been the problem with overly complicated systems at sea, an argument which does not stop with Volvo.  Although the Swedish engine and propulsion builder has been at the forefront for trying to change the wheel or the prop in the last couple decades. 

June 1, 2023

Marine to the Max

MarineMax, the World's largest boat and yacht dealer for value and volume expands its dynamics when in July 2021 they acquired sport cruiser and yacht builder Cruisers.  It will be interesting how MarineMax will develop Cruisers into the future.  MarineMax knows a few things about product and how to sell it.  The US brokerage and dealer house has been Azimut's largest dealership, representing the famous Italian name in North America for over a decade, and was also instrumental in putting Galeon at the top of the sphere in the US. 

Founded in 1956 Cruisers was one of the mass produced cabin and sport cruiser brands which had an important growth in the eighties and nighties in that twenty to forty feet plus size.  Other USA boat builders fuelling this express sport cruiser growth and change of boating life style in those times were Carver, Chris-Craft, RegalSea Ray, Trojan, and Wellcraft.  

So far MarineMax has not changed any dynamics of the Cruisers brand. But it will be interesting what the future will bring, being that in recent years it was the name resisting and competing with the Euro-imports in the sport cruiser and yacht segment from twelve to eighteen meters in size.

May 1, 2023

Designer Brand

In a press release received nineteen April, World famous from Venice Italy yacht designers Nuvolari Lenard have announced to enter super yacht building with there own brand.  Called the Nuvolari Lenard Yachts this new range is to be build in Turkey by Mengi-Yay and will feature four models from 47 to 65 meters. Two units of the smaller 47 meter S1 model are currently in build, with the second in size 52 meter 50 Plus model also starting construction.

Designer branding is not entirely new as in the past, in the late eighties to the nighties we have seen another Italian designer, Paolo Caliari do this, with his Caliari Yacht series launching an 80 model with a bigger thirty meter being in project which never materialized.  Caliari yacht was a company with Mochi as its main share holder, though all the four 80s made are reported to be made at Cantieri Navali Santa Margherita,

Both designers are among the most famous in the period they operated.  Paolo Caliari curriculum apart having a whose who list of yacht builders from the seventies and eighties, was a guaranteed success, and many of his designs for Mochi and Leopard are regarded timeless today and having shaped the yacht design of that present, and future.  The same can be said of Nuvolari Lenard, who burst in the scene in 1993 with the VZ 18, followed by the Sarnico 45 in 1995.  Nuvalari Lenard will then take design duties at Mochi the fall of 95, which will make them enter super yachting with the 25 Mega launched a year later and Palmer Johnson from 1998 onwards, which will make them design the 59 meter and the Sport series which debuted with the 105 in 2002.

But probably the most successful designer branding was Hunt Yachts, of credited deep Vee inventor Ray Hunt with the Bertram Moppie in 1960.  Founded in 1998 Hunt yachts was first a subsidiary of  C. Raymond Hunt design but in 2013 it was sold to Hinckley Group.  Another similar fate to Hunt was also made by Hargrave, another designer who is famous for his work for Bertram competitor Hatteras.  Hargrave was founded in 1997 but unlike Hunt has concentrated mostly in building super yachts above 24 meters in size.  

April 1, 2023

Mystery Rendering

These days most project renderings are so realistic that sometimes it is difficult to make the difference from real photos.  The opposite is also true that digital photography has so much tools, that an over polished real photo can look like a rendering of sorts, making it difficult to distinguish the one from the other.

In all this though some boat builders are returning back to the past where a couple lines and little details tell small tiny bits of the new model coming up.  A mystery rendering which leaves you it to ones imagination what the new model will be all about.   This system was used a lot in the nineties.  But we are seeing it return again from some brands.

Pershing for example used it a lot when it started teasing its TO project in 2020, which was then later announced as the GTX116 in 2022, launched in the earlier part of this 2023 year.  Rizzardi is another brand which has always used mystery rendering for its upcoming models, showing five distinct lines of the model building curious anticipation to the interested buyer.

Building curious anticipation is important in new product nearly as designing the boat or yacht.

March 1, 2023

Massive Center Consoles

Massive centre consoles over eighteen meters are the latest style and type of boat to push into larger sizes.  At the start of 2023 Scout presented details of a new 670 LX flagship powered by five huge Mercury 600hp outboards to be launched in 2024, the largest production centre console yacht.  With this new flagship Scout expands its size fourteen feet, and will offer the largest production centre console to the market and a competitor to the HCB 65ft Estrella and Midnight Express 60 Pied-A-Mer.

A genre invented by Boston Whaler and Dick Fisher in 1961, who among other things also invented the reputable unsinkable hull the brand is known for.  It was fairly basic for centre consoles at first, with Boston Whaler being a bit on its own, and others possibly modifying there boats to take a cut from this nice market when it started to slowly grow in the seventies.  We are speaking small sizes here, and in that time the first boat used to be a trailable speed boat about four meters in length with an outboard at the back.  In around the nineties centre consoles just as ribs started to become more common in the six to ten meter range.  But it was the return to success of the outboard in the past ten to fifteen years which has expanded CC to an unheard level of domination in the sub fifteen meter market.

Today centre consoles seem unable to stop growing, a growth shared to that of the outboard.  Although I still do think that centre console above fifteen meters should be offered with inboard diesels.  Just as it may look cool I cannot understand the reasoning of fitting endless outboards to the stern versus two diesel engines.  The market though is all for the outboards with the Midnight Express 60 Pied-A-Mer diesel engines and surface drives propulsion version never materializing.

February 1, 2023

New Generation Yachts

Yachts change, and evolve every year, and at a point if looking in a decade time frame the evolution starts to look the revolution. An evolution which today sees the revolution in endless window surfaces and different use of space especially in what regards to yachts in the size of fifteen to 24 meters. 

So what has changed.  Surely main decks have had a total evolution and now have become big open spaces uniting dining, galley, helm station, and lounging.  Up to ten years ago galley used to be totally or partly separated, and same for helm stations.  

While the window evolution started at the mid-end nineties, in the last couple years we had important turning points, with windows now becoming ceiling to floor, filling the main deck with every minimum light available.  This change has turned the living of the interiors located on the main deck from a cozy private interior to an open one, filled with light and views. It is interesting to see if owners are happy about this.  Sure in an anchorage these windows give you the best view.  But when in a marina where boats are a hand away from each other, does it work as intended. 

December 1, 2022

Asymmetry and Semi-Wide-Body and Wide-Body

The search and competition for more space in super yachts in the 24 to forty meters in size has seen the last five to seven years for ways to use more of what is available, height and beam.  Enters at first the semi-wide-body, which is followed with Asymmetric by one super yacht builder.  

When Amer launced the Cento in 2013 designed by Massimo Verme it changed how super yachts in this 24 to thirty meters should be, with its integrated semi-wide body giving new spaces to the owners stateroom forward.  

Ferretti and Azimut took note of this and in 2017 presented the semi-wide-body 920 by the first, and the Grande 27 Metri for the second, changing the design language, of how super yachts in this size should be.  The use of the semi-wide-body forward changed all what came before it.  Other builders took note with Princess presenting the X95 in 2020 and Sunseeker presenting the new 100 Yacht this 2022 year.  Sanlorenzo answered with its own method of Asymmetric layout with one side of the yacht becoming a full wide body. 

Hatteras was the first to start semi-wide-body and full wide-body solutions on its motor yachts in 1976 with its 48 LRC, followed in other bigger models like the 58 Motor Yacht and Cockpit MY.  Other builders took note and in 1986 Italian builder Alfamarine presented the 83 Cronos with a wide body design.  Alfamarine and designer Franco Harrauer was an important change factor as it introduced sleekness to the design, which was followed in the smaller sizes by Conam in 1989 with the 48 Chorum. 

At some point wide-body was abandoned in yacht design language but in 1996 Gulf Craft Majesty came with its first 86 super yacht, designed by Italian firm Yankee Delta and the wide body entered again in super yacht language.  Semi wide-body came at the forefront with Benetti's succesful 115 Classic which from 1998 up to 2006 sold in 27 units.

Definitely both styles are here to stay now.

November 1, 2022

Sixty Years of Aquarama

In 2022 the Riva Aquarama celebrated sixty years from its inception.  Considered by most as the iconic boat, the Riva Aquarama entered production in 1962 and was produced till 1996 in 769 units and five versions, two of which are the very limited Lungo only seven units, and the one-off Lamborghini hull #278 build for Ferruccio himself.  An evolution of the 1954 launched Tritone, and coming from a design of Giorgio Barilani the Aquarama saw three different Riva ownerships in its production life; Carlo Riva, Whittaker from 1969, and Vickers 1989 to the last seven years. 

When Ferretti Group took over Riva in May 2000 it was no surprise that the first step was launching a heir to the Aquarama with the AquaRiva.  Designed by since 1991 Riva designer Mauro Micheli, this new at the time model followed the iconic Aquarama in style and substance but is build in fiberglass with mahogany covered deck, and still in production today.  An icon from the start the AquaRiva has also seen six versions so far in twenty years production with the latest one the Anniversario launched for 2022 and limited to only eighteen units. 

What makes a machine like the Aquarama special is that in a sector which is dominated by size, the most iconic boat is an eight meter runabout with a cuddy cabin forward and build of wood.  Surely there is iconic super yachts out there, but go in a bay full of large super yachts and put a Riva Aquarama in it and see it getting the admiration of both the trained and untrained eye.  

If you want to car compare, the Riva Aquarama is like a Ferrari 250 GTO of the water, something special and unique which with its beauty has a special place in its natural environment, or as a monument to motor boating in an art gallery.

October 1, 2022

The Year of The Cat

In reality for the Chinese horoscope the year which started on February 1 2022, and ends 31 January 2023 is that of the Tiger.  Nonetheless the tiger is still a part of the Cat family.

For power boating and yachting 2022 is the year of the Cat for Catamaran, for the reason that more then ever we are seeing mono-hull boat and yacht builders venturing into multi-hulls.  At first we had Prestige who at the start of 2022 announced the new M-Line with the first M48 presented in Cannes the past month in September.  But also during the Cannes 2022 boat show a few important names showed upcoming power catamaran projects; from BlueGame part of the Sanlorenzo Group, to revived yacht builder Lazzara and what it calls its new LPC series with an 85 and 70 footer.  Rumoured is also that Azimut is doing a catamaran project but up till today this has not been officially confirmed by the famous Italian builder.

It will be interesting if these new additions will bring something fresh to the table, beyond what Sunreef, Silent, Lagoon, Fountaine Pajot to name some of the most famous Power Catamaran builders offer.  Fair to say Sunreef really pushed Power Catamarans to new horizons since the Polish yacht builder appeared in the market in 2000, while another innovator is Silent and its green solar powered cats. 

Of the new projects BlueGame BGM75 seems to be the most innovative, with many current mono-hull features thrown in.  If Azimut entrance in Power Catamaran will be officialised it will be interesting what they do, as the famous Italian yacht builder invests more to anyone in research and design, improving the way yachts work. The Magellano line presented in 2009, and sports S range in 2003 is a full proof how Azimut evolved both explorer and sport yachts style when it entered that part of the yacht market. 

For power catamarans it is interesting times ahead, with one problem, that in most of the Central and Western Mediterranean, and East Atlantic Coast of the USA a single berth in high season is hard to find, let alone looking for a double berth for a catamaran.  Some areas like the Western USA Pacific side and Eastern Mediterranean have a more catamaran culture, also for the reasons that in these areas anchoring over night is more common. 

September 1, 2022

New Labels Added to Out-News

Unfortunately it was a busy Summer with an accident of some sort happening on the water every day, in a a sad turn of events as the sea and cruising is a place to chill and relax.  Fire was the main protagonist but the most shocking accidents came from a couple of crazy collisions where some people lost there lives, and both happening in July, one off the coast of Tuscany and another in Sardinia.  

Seeing all this and that Out-News or Bad News travels much faster then Good News, here at PowerYacht we added six three new labels; Boat and Yacht Damage, Boat and Yacht Salvage, and Boat and Yacht Wreck

This labels represent the outcome for the boat or yacht in the accident.  Damage means there is a chance even a small one for it to be repaired. Salvage means that the boat may still be mostly in a repair state, although this is very difficult and costly to achieve.  Wreck means that the boat or yacht are totalled and chances of repair are non existent.

July 1, 2022

Small Boat Shows Success

With the Covid-19 pandemic of the last two years and all, it seems medium sized boat shows has struck a chord in 2022.  Infect small boat shows have been a success not only in visiting numbers but also for seeing boatbuilders presenting novelties which are usually reserved to the large boat shows at the fall or the start of a calendar year.  

Boat shows like Palma which happens in early May, and Venice also in the last part of the same month have proven successful platforms for boatbuilders to launch new models.  For example in Palma Sanlorenzo and BlueGame both showed its new models, and it was the same for Princess.  In Venice the Ferretti Group did the same thing, presenting the new Wally, with Sunseeker, VanDutch, and Tornado doing the same.  

Small medium boat shows have always been successful as regional events but this recent international spot light helped by boat build builders presenting new models, might make a couple of them become bigger to what they are today.  For example the Venice 2022 boat show is only in its third edition, but it is a growing event, and its just becoming bigger competing with Naples for the second boat show of Italy.  With things how they stand it is already there, thanks to the push from Ferretti Group who always believed in the event since it started in 2019.  

The success of Palma boat show might have been a combination of events, with the cancellation of the Dusseldorf show for the second year in a row in 2022 giving a helping hand to its success.       


June 1, 2022

Yacht Fires Something Is Wrong

Since I started the Out-News section in 2019, fire has become the predominant accident.  Now in recent times fire is involving a majority of large motor and super yachts, most of which are crew maintained all year round, with some accidents involving not so old yachts.

The question is why are these fire happening so frequently especially in yachts which are not so old, are  big, and are crew maintained all year round.  Sometimes for us we just get the news of the fire, and as is we do not hear anything more.  The important think tank here is that lessons are learned from these fires.  Why they are happening and how to make sure they happen next to nothing, and create a means to prevent them in the future, but also a way to know before it's too late.  

The problem is that in boats more so in bigger sized yachts, it is not as easy like the auto industry, not only for the numbers, which are incomparable, but also for the customization in the systems of these yachts.  For example above a certain size, in a semi-serial production of ten units of 24 meters, you might get most of them with a different to the other electric and dometic system.

The point here is to learn, get the information from these accidents, and avoid it from happening in the future.  I hope the boating industry along with the certification societies, American Bureau of Shipping, Bureau Veritas, Lloyds, RINA, CE and NMMA for the smaller boats to name a few are doing this work in order to reduce the boats fires from happening.

May 1, 2022

New Launch Label

As we often hear people say the devil is in the details so in April I introduced a new label titled New Launch, this label replaces New Model tag for custom one off build yachts.  It is important to show a distinction between a one off custom made yacht and a production series.

A production yacht is usually made of fiberglass, but there is aluminum, steel, and wood constructions made in serial builds.  Steel and wood production build are mostly semi-custom, sometimes even to near a full custom.  Meaning that the outside and the platform used will be offered from the builder, but the rest is decided by the owner.   

Last but not least we have custom platforms, which can be changed in various details to suit owners tastes and preferred configurations.  This custom platform is mostly used in super yachts of aluminum and steel in between thirty to fifty meters in size. So in these situations the builder has the fifty meter hull, with options coming to bow design, stern type choice, and also to the decks one would want and how to spread them.  With this system more often then not a builder can also speculate build, laying the keel of the hull, and in this process of building start selling the project and choices coming with it.

Over fifty meters in size we usually enter in most cases full custom projects, when the owner starts from a blank paper and builds a yacht to his vision with his designer and builder of choice.  Although semi-custom platforms have been increasing also above this size from builders as Benetti, Codecasa, Heesen, but also Amels who for example with the 60 Limited Edition platform have sold five units, this followed by an 80 Limited Edition so far sold in one yacht.