Sanctuary Show Brings Quality Buyers

International exhibitors have claimed the quality of prospective buyers at the 23^rd Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show was the best they have seen in 10 years.

Mulpha Executive General Manager Alison Quinn said the strong support for this year’s Show “has buoyed us as we plan forward for next year’s Show leading to the quarter century celebration in 2013.

“The feedback from exhibitors underpins this Show as a ‘must attend’ event for the marine industry.”

Grand Banks Singapore dealer James Purves, who has been coming to the Show for a decade, was impressed by the quality of the visitors.

At close of business, confirmed sales included two multi-million dollar Princess motor yachts – a 72 sold to a Sydney buyer and a 52 to a Gold Coast buyer. The total value of the sale was around $A7 million.

Mark Richards who manufactures Palm Beach Motor Yachts reported the sale of two of the just-released 52s to current Palm Beach buyers who have upgraded to the new model.

Further positive comments from the 384 exhibitors included Riviera’s Stephen Milne who said: “We have had a fantastic show, we sold 10 boats which have a retail value of some $A15 million ranging in size from a number of 43 Flybridges, a 5000 Sports Yacht, two 5800 Sport Yachts and three of the brand-new 53 Flybridge model,” released in a world launch at Sanctuary Cove.

Mr Milne added he had three full days of sea trials next week and he was confident the company would exceed last year’s sales. He added sales were made to buyers in Sydney, Adelaide, South Africa, New Zealand and Puerto Rico.

“We are exceedingly happy about this year’s Show and we are cracking the champagne.”

Brett Flanagan reported the sale of two 350 Integrity Pilothouse boats – one to a walk-in couple who paid for the boat on the spot.

“We have never really sold a boat at a show before this Show, and we have six or seven sea trials booked for next week,” he said.

Ensign Ship Brokers also reported a walk-in sale on the first day of the Show with a firm order for a Beneteau Oceanis 40.

According to Clipper Motoryachts Australian Managing Director Brett Thurley, the past eight weeks have been the strongest for the company in new boat sales since taking over Australian distribution two years ago.

“We have commitments on three boats at the Show already and the strong ongoing interest will give us a lot of work to do in the weeks after the Show.”

Flying Fish Hovercraft sold three hovercraft at the Show. “I have to say the quality of the enquiries is exceptional,” said the company’s Emma Pullen.

“The big news for us is that a visitor to the Show from New Zealand is considering the purchase of 10 craft for an events business and has departed the Show for an immediate demonstration at our own events business in Caboolture – that would be a very significant sale for us in expanding the HoverCross brand internationally,” she said.

Julie Balzano from Enterprise Florida in the US managed a delegation of Florida companies exhibiting at the Show for the first time. “The overall consensus has been very positive,” she commented.

One of the five manufacturers was Florida company, Armstrong Nautical Products. Vice President Russ Sedlack said there were a lot of discerning customers at the Show.

“We don’t normally sell off the stand but people insisted they buy our product off the stand,” said Mr Sedlack. The centre pole telescopic boarding ladders and ladders for RIBs proved popular. He answered inquiries from international visitors from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Japan and China.

Nautical Structures President Robert Bolline exhibited at Sanctuary Cove for the first time with the Florida delegation.

“We are very optimistic to build business here and we have found the boat builders to be very open-minded and open to discuss business.”

American company Westport Shipyard was at the Show in the Superyacht Australia pavilion. The company came to Sanctuary Cove for the first time as it has clients in Australia owning a 34m and 40m vessel. The company builds composite motoryachts and claims to be the largest yacht builder in North America.

“It is the first time at the Show…. We also do Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Singapore, Cannes and Monaco. We consider this a very good venue for international audiences,” said Vice President Philip Purcell.

By 4pm on Sunday, visitor numbers were tallied at 36,504 – a 6.5% drop from 2010 which compares favourably with other international shows this year.

Exhibitor Outer Reef Yachts President and CEO Jeff Druek said the company did 25 to 28 shows a year.

“We had many positive leads. Every Show has been the same – the volume of visitors is down but the quality is superior.”

“The strength of the Australian dollar has driven interest. We find we are very well received. Sanctuary Cove to us is a ‘go to’ venue,” said Mr Druek.

Australian companies also enjoyed sales. Seawind’s sales and marketing manager Brett Vaughan said the company made a number of sales of its new Seawind 1000XL2.

“Interest in the larger Seawinds – the 1160 and flagship 1250 and the Corsair C37 that debuted at this Show is also strong and we anticipate sales in the days after the Show,” he said.

Traditionally Maritimo does not reveal sales figures from shows. However Maritimo’s Director of Marketing Luke Durman acknowledged strong interest in Maritimo’s M48 Series II, A55 Aegean and C53 Sports Cabriolet models.

Sanctuary Cove’s event also saw the relaunch of the iconic Mustang brand.

“The Mustang 32 sold well as expected,” said Mr Durman. The Show also saw the unveiling of a Mustang 50, which proved to be a real surprise package to the Mustang brand loyalists.

Australasian Marine Imports also had a successful show, with the sale of a Hampton 680 Endurance and an Alaskan 57 Pilothouse along with an Alaska 46 Flybridge which are built in China.

Club Marine is a sponsor of Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show. Media partners include BoatPoint.com.au, Channel Seven, 4KQ, Trade a Boat and 92.5 Gold FM. Maritime Safety Queensland is a government supporter. Hawker Pacific and Barz Optics are supporters.

The $A2 billion Sanctuary Cove, located on the northern Gold Coast, is Australia’s leading and most successful master-planned community. Sanctuary Cove was acquired by current owners Mulpha Sanctuary Cove (Developments) Pty Limited in 2002. MSCD, an arm of Mulpha Australia Limited, which is a subsidiary of Malaysian listed Mulpha International BHD, has invested significantly in Sanctuary Cove over recent years, resulting in a major transformation designed to ensure the pre-eminent community remains at the forefront of master-planned living in Australia.

Dates for forthcoming Sanctuary Cove International Boat Shows are: May 24-27, 2012; May 23-26, 2013; May 22-25, May 2014.

FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES:

Kate Duryea, PR & Media Consultant

Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show

Direct line (07) 55 77 6549

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What will provide the US (and the rest of the world) with the next Industrial Revolution? And will the boating industry survive it all?

I think this is an interesting question. The way I see it, humans as an evolutionary creature have stagnated somewhat. Being a Gen X'er, I listen to all the stories the Baby Boomers tell about how good the 60's and 70's were. Indeed, I wasn't around to witness what I believe to be the pinnacle of human achievement - man's first steps on the Moon. Since then money has become the new God (yes, I've watched the Zeitgeist Addendum a few times!). Other than continually improving on technology we already had back then - like the fledgling internet, we haven't achieved much more.

There is still poverty and human suffering. There is still war. There is still the requirement for the economic slave - the wage slave, to get up and go to work. To go and work and create the money to repay the debts, issued by banking organisations for money that never actually existed. Okay, I've lost you? You better go to YouTube and watch Zeitgeist Addeundum right now. But one point is that the western world and particularly the United States, has never been in more debt. The USA is lending so much money from China to buy Chinese products that it simply cannot repay those loans. Undoubtedly China know it. It's a case of 'in for a penny, in for a pound' now. There's no turning back because that snowball is too big to stop. 

To get out of the hole that has been dug at an ever-increasing speed, the US and indeed the rest of the world needs a new industrial revolution. The USA needs it to get out of debt and repay its loans - and feed and house its own populace (many of whom have in recent years lost their homes). To some extent we are working on it. But not fast enough. However, the climate change argument is bringing with it change. Mind you, we're still using obsolete technology; petrol engines, upon which most boats still rely. But cars are becoming more economical, emit fewer emmissions and we are slowly but surely manufacturing more efficient home appliances and the uptake of biodegradable materials is increasing. We're trying to recycle and trying hard to clean up.

But the problem is that our bond to fossil fuels is hard to break. As with almost everything, the dominance of a few wealthy individuals and politically powerful corporations means that we are stuck using obsolete technology, despite the fact inventions such as the Orbital Engine were created to move us forward. Put it simply, the next Industrial Revolution is being held back to suit the never-ending and boundaryless greed of the few who benefit from continued use of fossil fuels.

Think about it for a moment. For electric cars to be produced en masse, it would require re-engineering of production plants worldwide and on an unprecented scale. Think about all the idle productive capacity in places like Detroit and Ohio right now. Workers would have to be re-skilled - particularly those employed in the industries servicing fossil fuel mining and production. And car manufacturing. The batteries powering the vehicles would have to be improved continually and at a rapid rate to enable our economies to operate at the level they do now. So R&D efforts worldwide would also have to triple or quadruple.

Now I'd argue that all of this should have happened a lot earlier. That it should have been done by now and a lot faster, too. Not that the oil companies would agree with me - or that they ever will. When you're making billions of dollars a day, who gives a damn about what happens to the rest of the world, right? 'Hey, they can burn! Just keep them burning our oil!' So we're still filling our boats with petrol (and a few of us with diesel) and most of us are up to our eyeballs in debt. And that is the legacy that will be passed onto future generations.

What will become of our boats? Sailors need not worry as much about this. But anyone who knows boats knows that they are very, very different to cars! It only takes your first encounter berthing your baby to arrive at the last-minute realization they don't have brakes! But seriously, the resistance of water against a hull is enormous in terms of pressure. We really ask a lot of marine engines when we get that hull on the plane or push that displacement hull through the water. An engine pushing something relatively small on wheels is completely different to propelling a one-tonne or fifty tonne vessel through water. Spare a thought for those 1,000-foot-long 100,000 tonne container ships bringing in all those goods from China! (Imagine those batteries!!!)

Sure the first genuinely electric cars and boats would be slow. Slower than what we have now. But think back to the first Ford motor car and think of how far we have come in such a short space of time. And think of how much faster technology will improve because we already have the basis to improve on it - computing power, knowledge and awareness, none of which existed when the first Industrial Revolution took flight.

So electric is just one option. We've got hybrid and we're doing solar power, looking into hydro and all sorts of other technology. But it's not happening at a 'Revolution' speed and time is money - certainly in America, where you can count the debt growing in the millions of dollars per second that you read this article. The point is that it is Amercia that needs the Revoltion most. And the rest of the world needs America to find and create that Revolution. The sad thing is that it will most likely be China who kickstarts the next Industrial Revolution. It will be China, mass producing electric and other sorts of cars, boats and appliances and selling them to an America that has no cash and no future. All for the sake of keeping a few Texans and a few more Arabs very happy. Zeitgeist it is.

Oh, I forgot! It can't be done right? Funny that. We developed technology that blast us through the stratosphere and put human beings on alien landscape we call the moon. That was July 20, 1969. And what have we done since?

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