Project: Spencer Yachts 80 hull.231

Spencer Yachts have been very much in the news lately, because of the first custom-production boat builder collaboration with Albemarle and its new 53 model which launched this 2023 fall.  Here though is further news from Spencer, the most active of custom sportfish yacht builders, doing what it does best with this currently new eighty foot build, hull number 231.  This upcoming Spencer returns the Wanchese North Carolina custom sportfish specialist above eighty foot, its third unit to be build beyond this size. To be fitted it out with a full tower, Spencer Yachts 80 hull.231 is also luxury appointed with two large owners staterooms; a VIP suite and a crew cabin. Spencer hull.231 is to be powered by twin 2600hp MTUs for top speeds up to 42 knots. 

www.spenceryachtsinc.com

Lurssen Bremen Yard Damage Injures One Employee

A 130 meter plus Lurssen super yacht currently under construction has injured one employee when falling and damaging the shed doors in the Bremen shipyard, Germany on the afternoon of Thursday seventh December.  The one employee was reported slightly injured in the accident, with the super yacht fall damaging the shed doors and the bridge connecting the dock, which partly sank in the water.  The accident was assisted by rescue workers, which included a helicopter, water rescue units, and fire brigade teams.  The 150 meters floating dock was later secured by the Bremen police, and fire department.  Lurssen reported the accident with a press release on the same evening.  This is the second incident for Lurssen in 2023, following a fire on June 28 at the Lemwerder facility which involved one worker. 

According to unconfirmed reports the Lurssen super yacht in this accidental fall is the 142 meters Project Alibaba which is set to launch in 2024.

Baywood Marina Boat Fire

An unattended ten meters sports cruiser went ablaze at Baywood Marina in Brick, New Jersey at 04:46 hours of Thursday seventh December.  Jersey Shore Fire Response and Pioneer Hose Volunteer Fire Company responded to the blaze, while East Dover Fire Company came to the scene with Fire Boat 28 from the water.  It took over an hour to extinguish the fire with no damage to other boats and property being sustained thanks also to the quick response of the fire fighting crew.  The boat was later removed and towed away from the dock, with the cause of the fire being under investigation.

The sport cruiser in this fire is a Wellcraft 3200 Martinique as produced from 1994 to 2000.  The 3200 Martinique came as a replacement to the Wellcraft 3200 St.Tropez and was replaced by the 3300 Martinique.

New Model: Airon Marine AmX 35

Airon Marine new AmX 35 is an evolution of the AmX 34 model the Como sport cruiser and yacht builder introduced in 2017.  Recognizable from the outside with the longer extended bathing platform, the AmX 35 features a totally redesigned cockpit deck, now with the more Mediterranean layout of aft sun-pad, C-shaped dinette to port side, wet-bar exterior galley and helm station opposite.  Down below as is expected the Airon Marine AmX 35 keeps the same layout which is one of the best in this ten meter sporty boat cruiser type offering a -shaped dinette which converts to a double berth, a midships cabin with three berths, and a galley with shower head opposite.  The Airon Marine AmX 35 is powered by up to fifteen engine options in both diesel and petrol gas engines, and start from a single diesel of 400hp, and go up to twin petrol gas engines of 430hp. 

Technical Data:

LOA - 10.67 m (35ft)

Hull Length - 9.96 m

Beam - 3.30 m

Displacement - 6000 kg

Fuel Capacity - 410 l

Water Capacity - 154 l

Max Persons - twelve

Accommodation - five berths in cabin plus convertible dinette

Engines - 1 x Volvo D6 400hp, D6 440hp, 2 x Volvo D4 230hp, D4 270hp, D4 300hp, Mercruiser MD 3.0S 230hp, MD 3.0S 270hp, Yanmar 6LPA 325hp, 8LV 320hp

Propulsion - Volvo DPi or Mercruiser Bravo3 dual propeller stern drive

Certification - CE B

www.aironmarine.it

Project: Release Boatworks 55 Walkaround Flybridge

Release Boatworks from New Jersey have at the start of 2023 started the construction for the first 55’ Walkaround Flybridge, a versatile fishing platform, with elegance worthy of complimenting a superyacht as its game-boat. The Release Boatworks 55 Walkaround Flybridge comes from the minds of Jim Turner, Naval Architect Erwin Gerards, and production manager Scott Jastrzembski who had the design for the walkaround flybridge in mind years ago. As with any Release Boatworks, this boat is specifically designed to cater to the owner’s needs and wants. This 55’ Walkaround Flybridge will be the gameboat for an expedition yacht in the 160’ range for a multi-family operation planning to travel to Mag Bay, Costa Rica, Panama, Isla Mujeres, and The Bahamas. The superyacht will serve its purpose as a floating hotel, while on any given day there won’t be less than ten people on the 55’ for ten-hour adventures of marlin fishing, spearfishing, deep dropping, and diving. The boat owners, who have sons and daughters that love to fish and dive, originally used a centre console as their chase boat, but the range, lack of comfort, and maintenance intervals became a limiting factor to their family travels.

The 55’ Walkaround Flybridge will provide three staterooms, a tackle room, a custom dive locker, two Seakeeper 6 stabilizers for maximum comfort, an expanded fuel capacity for long range, redundancy of systems and pumps in case anything goes wrong in a remote destination, and a quick connect fuel manifold system for fuel bladders, among many other custom features. She will be powered with twin MTU 1622hp for cruising speeds in the mid thirty knots and a top end upwards of forty. The Release Boatworks 55 Walkaround Flybridge hull one home port will be Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  The Release Boatworks has already sold two more 55's which is also available as a Flybridge Dayboat, Inboard Walkaround, and Express platforms.

www.releaseboatworks.com

New Model: Solaris Power 52 Open

Solaris Power continue to upgrade its walk-around line and present this new 52 Open model. A project like all Solaris Power of Brunello Acampora, the 52 Open follows the priorities of this six model line, for full length walk-around deck exterior spaces; and lower deck fully dedicated to overnight accommodation.  The Solaris Power 52 is offered in three exterior deck plans with the choices revolving around the central dinette and galley-wet-bar layout, and comes out as standard with two opposite settees called layout B, C-shaped dinette looking aft layout A with the galley becoming an L-shaped, and layout C with a forward looking dinette.  The choices of the Solaris Power 52 do not stop, with two lower deck plan choices; two cabins version with central master room, and a three cabins layout relocating the owners suite forward, and two cabins at midships.  In both versions the lower deck is fully dedicated to the cabins, no dinette or galley option available.  An optional crew cabin is available in the two cabins version, located to port side with separate entry from the main deck.  Other options in the Solaris Power 52 are the flip down bulkheads which increase deck space by about 30%, and are located in the middle of the cockpit area adjacent with the dinette.  During the Genoa boat show Solaris was telling me that the bulkhead option is ordered in like 50% of units sold, with the metallic colour chosen in like 90% of the units.  The Solaris Power 52 Open is standard powered by rather small for twenty tons twin Volvo 480hp, and or optional 600hp with IPS pod propulsion.  Speeds are thirty knots with the standard engines, and 35 knots with the optional larger 600hp engines. 

Technical Data:

LOA - 16.2 m (53ft)

Waterline Length - 14.83 m

Beam - 4.95 m

Draft - 1.19 m

Displacement - 17,700 kg light, 21,500 kg loaded (approximate)

Fuel Capacity - 2000 l

Water Capacity - 550 l

Max Persons - twelve

Accommodation - four berths in two cabins, six berths in 3 cabins, optional 1 berth crew cabin

Engines - 2 x Volvo D6 480hp, D8 600hp

Propulsion - Volvo forward looking dual propeller IPS pod drives

Speed - 35 knots max 27 cruise with 600hp, 30 max 24 knots cruise with 480hp

Project - Brunello Acampora from Victory Design exterior and engineering, Roseo interior

www.solarispower.com

Fairline Yacht Beached in Dockweiler Beach California

A nineteen meter Fairline yacht titled m/y Fortitude with five persons and a dog onboard was saved from sinking and beached in Dockweiler, Playa del Rey California on the evening of December third.  The yacht was reported in striking the Hyperion Pipe and started to take on water, with its skipper deciding to beach the Fairline to avoid sinking.  The Lifeguard section of the Fire Department of the County of Los Angeles responded first to the beaching saving the persons and the dog first.  According to reports TowBoatU.S Los Angeles is instructed in refloating the yacht and taking her to a yard for repairs.

The Fairline in this sinking is a second generation Squadron 62 as designed by Bernard Olesinski and produced from 1999 till 2002 in about twenty units.  Following the design of the Squadron 52, the Squadron 62 was a replacement to the Squadron 59, and was replaced by the Squadron 58.

Project: Windy 29 Huracan

Windy are very pleased to announce its continued collaboration together with designer Espen Øino for the exciting new 29 Huracan project, which is set to debut in 2023.  Replacing the 29 Coho after a ten year production run, the Windy 29 Huracán is being developed as a modern looking Day-Sport-Cruiser combining a spacious, safe, and social cockpit with a fantastic design language creating a unique appearance that radiates both luxury and sportiness.  The 29 Huracan will also continue Windy's collaboration with Design Unlimited who have designed the new Sports Series interiors debuting first with the Camira and now followed in this upcoming 29 Huracan. Design Unlimited are offering a traditional interior layout with double V-berth forward, spacious shower head to starboard, and a cabin galley opposite.  This Windy 29 Huracan can be powered with either Volvo Penta or Yanmar single inboard stern drive engines; from a petrol gas 430hp, up to 440hp diesel. 

www.windyboats.com

Roger Hewson 1933 - 2023

The founder of Sabre Yachts, Roger Douglas Hewson, of Highland Green, Topsham, passed away peacefully on Dec. 2, 2023.  Roger was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on March 2, 1933, son of Irene Elderkin and Joseph Selden Hewson.  Roger attended Westmount High School and graduated from McGill University with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1955. He married Charlotte Gulick Hewson “Charlie” in 1955 and they celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary in 2023.  Roger followed his father’s footsteps in Hewson Construction where they built industrial buildings in Montreal, including four pavilions for the 1976 World’s Fair.  The Hewsons moved to Maine in 1970 where Roger founded Sabre Yachts. Over the years Sabre built over 1600 sailboats from 28 feet to 45 feet, and later began building power boats, which Sabre continues to build today. Roger was a very competitive sailor and raced in the International 14-foot Dinghy, Dragon and Cruising Classes. He also learned to fly and had many years at the controls of his Cessna airplane.  Roger and Charlie met through skiing and they enjoyed many years skiing as a family in the Laurentians, at Pleasant Mountain, and later at Sugarloaf where he skied until his mid-80s.  Roger served on boards of several non-profit organizations including the National Sailing Association, National Marine Manufacturing Association, Business Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve of Boston, and Greater Portland Chamber of Commerce. Most recently he served as a volunteer at Maine Maritime Museum.  The Hewsons lived on Raymond Cape on Sebago Lake for fifty years in a home which Roger designed and built in 1971. In 2010 they moved to Cundy’s Harbor, and later to Highland Green in Topsham. Roger was predeceased by his sister, Joanne Hewson Rees, of Montreal, by one day.  Roger is survived by his wife, Charlie; his daughters Deborah Merrill and Evelyn King and her husband Bruce; his son, Halsey; grandchildren Seth King, Abbie Garcia-Tunon and her husband Javi, Lee King, Parker Merrill and Dana Merrill; and great-grandchildren, Javi, Lucy, and Luke Garcia-Tunon.

MJM Yachts New Web Site

MJM Yachts presents its new web site.  MJM which means Mary Johnstone Motorboat was founded in 2002 by Bob Johnstone, Mary's husband and a co-founder with his brother Rod of J/Boats in 1977, one of the World's leading brand of performance sailboats which is still under the Johnstone family ownership.  MJM will presents its first model the 34z in 2004, a traditional down-East lobster inspired looking day cruiser designed by Doug Zurn, and build by Boston Boatworks.  The 34z is followed by the 29z and 40z in 2007 expanding the line further, with a 50z debuting in 2014.  Doug Zurn has till today designed all MJM's while Boston Boatworks will build all the vessels till 2021, when the company will move to its North Carolina facility, although the collaboration between the two is still continued today. In 2019 Bob Johnstone will sell MJM to his son Peter, who will resell to Saothair Capital affiliate Seolta Holdings in September 2023.  Today MJM offers four models, which start from the eleven meter 3 model which debuted in 2021, and go up to the still in project 42 model.  MJM new web-site takes you around with the following buttons; Models, Construction, Build A Boat, About, Shop Gear, Locate A Dealer, Request Pricing, The Build, News, Classic MJMs, Contact, and Careers.  MJM is also on social media with links at the bottom of the page taking you to its Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages.

www.mjmyachts.com

Production History;

34z 2004-10

29z 2007-15

40z 2007-19 (100+)

36z 2011-15

50z 2014-19

35z 2017-

53z/zi 2020-22

43z/zi 2020-22

3 2021-

4 2023-