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Quick,
name a continent that exports powerboats to the United States. Bet you
said Europe, and no wonder. Builders from Italy, Great Britain, Germany,
Holland, and France have made foreign boats not only acceptable, but also
desirable over here.
Now name another exporting
continent. You probably guessed Asia, thanks to yards like Cheoy Lee and
Grand Banks. But farther south is an area that has been quietly sending
pleasureboats to our shores for decades and is about to do so with considerable
more fanfare: Australia and New Zealand. Everyone knows about their boat-designing
and building prowess, thanks to their success in the America’s Cup.
Both are also widely admired for the fuel-efficient power catamarans that
have been showing up since the early ‘80s. But after visiting Australia’s
Sanctuary Cove Boat Show last May, I discovered that both countries are
also building high-quality, mainstream production boats–targeted
at you.
The Aussies and Kiwis
have already enjoyed success, and little wonder. They do things differently
in the antipodes. Take the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show. Instead of the typical
sprawling U.S. and European versions, it’s free, of a manageable
scale, and nestled among waterfront hotels, shops, and restaurants, a
highly civilized concept that invites leisurely perusing interspersed
with a glass of wine, a bite of real food, and maybe a souvenir.
Among the boats I boarded
there, the dominant name was Riviera, Australia’s largest yard and
a major exporter to the United States with convertibles ranging from 30
to 56 feet. (Some 40 percent of its production comes here, either under
its own brand or that of Wellcraft.) I already knew about Riviera from
this year’s PMY project boat, a 40 Convertible. Riviera’s ads
tout that its boats come from a country beset by two oceans and four seas,
a fact that explains Office Ours’ solidity and strength. More surprising
was my trip to the Riviera factory, just down the road from the show,
where I saw one of the cleanest, best organized, most efficient plants
anywhere.
Riviera may be the 400-pound
gorilla, but it’s not the only player. I saw a striking 38-foot Express
Cruiser from Mustang Cruisers, which also has a 46-footer underway and
is exporting boats to the West Coast. Steber showed off a businesslike
52-foot Express Motor Cruiser, and Australian Motor Yachts announced construction
of a high-speed aluminum 162-footer designed by Don Shead, to follow its
145-foot Silver Fox, delivered last year to an American. At the slower
end of the spectrum was a world-capable, single-engine, all-steel, displacement
80-footer from Voyager, an Australian company building boats in Vietnam.
The Kiwis are just as
aggressive. Their most impressive offering was a 65-foot convertible from
Salthouse Marine, built like a tank, finished like a boardroom, and bristling
with innovations like a two-piece sliding transom door. Look for a boat
test this fall. Formula Cruisers displayed two highly engineered and nicely
finished convertibles, a 54 and a 40, while Warwick Yacht Design unveiled
a 90-foot catamaran sportfisherman with a reported top speed of 35 knots.
There were others, too
many to list, and most representatives said they were either already in
the American market or looking to establish a presence here. That shouldn’t
be too hard, since the boats I saw were all superbly engineered and built
and both the Aussie and Kiwi currencies had recently hit all-time lows
against the dollar, making (in theory, at least) both countries’
boats attractively priced for U.S. buyers.
Both Australia and New
Zealand are aggressively targeting the United States with boats that are
really different. In fact, I’ll bet that in a couple of years, when
someone asks you to name an area exporting pleasureboats to America, Australia
and New Zealand will be on the tip of your tongue.
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