Look, Like And Dream On
Newcastle Herald
Friday August 8, 2003
IF I had a dollar for every time I said ``Now there's a nice boat" at Sydney International Boat Show last weekend I would have enough money to buy one of those nice boats.
There was a buzz about Darling Harbour, something that has been lacking in recent years. The Sydney boating market is seemingly awash with cash, floating high on the city's housing boom and accordingly the show was brimming to the gunwales with luxury craft.
Salesmen seemed pleased, the punters were happy and the Boating Industry Association dug a bit deeper into its entertainment purse ... releasing a few moths in the process.
Alas, I was reduced to a window shopper in one of the stellar years for the show. But it was fun just to be involved in this oceanic orgy.
As a boat tester you become good at spending other people's money. After several hours aboard some private plaything, price tags with a row of zeroes flow off the keyboard without the blink of an eye (though perhaps a little RSI.)
Occasionally I have to remind myself that it would take me 15 years or more just to gross a million dollars. But in many of the boats at this year's show you could actually ``see" the value, relative to a waterfront property.
Obviously the fellow who ordered a 100ft Azimut motorcruiser, a first for Australia, had no beef about its multi-million dollar price tag. And for me, the pick of the show was a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 54 (16.75 metres) that gives just a little change out of $1million.
If I win the jackpot lottery, this is it. It's the supermodel of sailing for mine, impossibly beautiful and clever to boot. The spacious and sumptuous interior is to die for while everything about its deck layout shouts ``functional".
If you want to know more call Lee Condell at Performance Boating Services on (02) 99799122 or email performanceboat@ozemail.com.au.
Also flying the French flag with style was Beneteau. There were three boats that I would've committed a break-and-enter for a 57-foot (17.7 metre) centre cockpit cruising yacht, a Lagoon 43 power cat, and a sporty little First 27.7 racer/cruiser.
The 57 has a Farr hull with sweet sailing lines and a tasteful cabin fitout. Its aft cabin was truly palatial and there were some smart design features such as a drawbridge swim platform leading to a stairwell.
The Lagoon's aesthetics are confronting at first but, once aboard, the practicality is immediately apparent. From the saloon you get a circumambient view of the water while the aft cab is the biggest I've seen of a 43-footer. It's priced around the $800,000 mark but you get the deck space and volume of a much larger craft.
The 27 looks right and that often means it is right. It has a plumb-bowed, broad-sterned Groupe Finot hull for maximum performance, complemented by a bulbed lift keel but high topsides ensure full headroom below. Contact Beneteau on (02) 93272088.
On the power scene Riviera had the new release 51 and 42, both of which will soon be making a surreptitious appearance at Riviera Sales Port Stephens (Soldiers Point Marina) for a brochure shoot. Both craft follow the Riviera formula of sound design, value for money and ``street cred" that the marque is renowned for. Phone Ken or Steve Stewart on 49827455 to learn more.
I'll be reporting on these, and other new boats and products, in coming columns. That way you'll have to keep buying the paper and I'm bound to get a payrise.
© 2003 Newcastle Herald
Share This