GUNBOAT ENDLESS SUMMER NEWS

GUNBOAT G4 

 

GUNBOAT expects to announce the new 40' GUNBOAT G4 imminently. Aimed at coastal cruising, weekends, daysailing and racing, the GUNBOAT G4 breaks new ground and redefines what sailing can be. Included will be everything you need, and set aside, will be everything you don't need. Innovations abound. We are thrilled to be nearing announcement with all details soon!  Please contact Meg Minetree if you would like to be included in future notifications on this series: meg@gunboat.com.

 

GUNBOAT WEATHER SEMINAR

This past weekend, GUNBOAT hosted a Weather Seminar for GUNBOAT 55 Owners and families at the College of the Ablemare in Manteo, NC. Bill Biewenga, a four time Whitbread/Volvo Race veteran (and winner) led the two-day session. Bill is one of the foremost weather gurus in the offshore world with his own book, DVD, and North U courses. With 400,000 miles offshore, Bill has seen just about everything. Eighteen attendees were immersed in advanced offshore weather teaching. GUNBOAT held a Friday evening welcome dinner at La Dolce Vita, and the gang gathered at Peter Johnstone's home for a Wanchese tuna cookout on Saturday. "Keeping our owners safe, and giving them confidence is critical. We will be offering these advanced weather seminars every 6-8 months. Every owner will receive advanced boat handling training as we have always done during sea trials," stated Meg Minetree, Director of Sales.  www.gunboat.com
 

FLOW TESTING

 William Jelbert, the GUNBOAT 60 project manager, announced the 'soft launch' of FLOW into the test pool at the yard. "We like to test all systems while afloat in the yard's pool before launching. Results look excellent and we expect to launch FLOW this coming week." Once again, the GUNBOAT Team at Hudson Yachts has delivered a gorgeous result. We look forward to reporting on sea trials in the coming weeks.   www.gunboat.com
 

HAIL TO THE CHIEF

Bruce Hopkins joins GUNBOAT as Chief Financial Officer. "It was time to bring in someone of Bruce's caliber," remarked founder Peter Johnstone. For the past 15 years, Bruce has been an industry leading CFO at two renown Maine boat builders, Lyman Morse and Hodgkin Yachts. After 30 years in Maine, Bruce and his wife Kate have made the move to North Carolina. "We're excited to be here. GUNBOAT is thriving, and we're looking forward to being able to sail in warm weather for six months out of the year, rather than six weeks!"  www.gunboat.com


 

GUNBOAT MARINA AND SERVICE YARD

GUNBOAT expects to close a deal to purchase the marina and yard a few hundred yards South of the GUNBOAT facility in Wanchese, NC. Included in the purchase are two piers and development rights to a third pier. When completed, the GUNBOAT marina will have dockage for up to 14 Gunboats. The gravel yard enables up to six hauled GUNBOATs, and features the brand new 40' wide ramp for launching and hauling via hydraulic trailer. The GUNBOAT Marina will be the base for all service activities, commissioning and sea trials. www.gunboat.com
 

ART GUNBOAT

Meredith and Nils Erickson's painting of the GUNBOAT 62 ZENYATTA on the Horta harbor wall deserves special mention. Many GUNBOATS have celebrated their successful Trans-Atlantic passages with a stopover at Horta in the Azores with a beautiful painting on the wall. The creativity of the ZENYATTA painting stands above all. Few people realize that the GUNBOAT logo is based on an aerial photo of TRIBE's bows. The ZENYATTA painting perfectly captures the spirit of the logo. Well done Meredith and Nils!  www.gunboat.com

 

 

HIRED GUN!

There must something in the water at GUNBOAT these days, as it continues to attract top industry talent. Frank Edwards joins GUNBOAT as our Production Engineer. Operations Manager Dan Bottjen remarked, "This is a real coup for GUNBOAT. Frank is the best I have seen at production engineering. He comes across from Hattaras Yachts, where he was a key person for 20 years, most recently running their design and engineering teams." Frank will be a key asset in further refining the Gunboat production set-up and organization.

 

FALCOR: FIRST GUNBOAT CUSTOMER!

   RED BULL extreme snowboarder Travis Rice arrives this week on his GUNBOAT 48 FALCOR. Her GUNBOAT service stop will prepare her for an intended circuit of the Pacific in 2014 that will include film work for Travis' next movie production, MIGRATIONS, to follow up on his epic snowboard movie FLIGHT.

  
 

GUNBOAT HALL INSPECTION  

  

Henry Maxwell, along with assistance from owners Eric and Ben Hall, gave GUNBOAT the full tour of Hall Spars at their flagship Bristol, RI facility last week. With the first two GUNBOAT 55 spar packages nearly complete, the tour, of course, featured GUNBOAT work in every area. We are really happy to welcome Hall to our team, and to have such a world-class vendor so close to our NC production facility!  

GUNBOAT NEWS JANUARY 2013

ELVIS WINS KEY WEST RACE!

Fresh from a gorgeous refit, the GUNBOAT 62 ELVIS trounced the multihull division in the classic Ft Lauderdale to Key West Race.  She won her division by nearly three hours on corrected time, and was third across the finish line, led by only a grand prix maxi racing boat, and a stripped out carbon racing trimaran.  Congrats to ELVIS owner Jason Carroll and his crew that included US Moth Champ Anthony Kotoun.  ELVIS switches duties for Key West Race Week, and will serve as mother-ship and home to Jason's winning ARGO Melges 32 team.  Race winner... best mother-ship... world cruiser.  Gunboat versatility.  

 PIRATES, GALES, OH MY!  Moonwave's maiden offshore romp  

The gorgeous new Gunboat 60 MOONWAVE departed the yard on Christmas eve with her crew Stephane Fumat and Sophie Brehovsky and Gunboat founder Peter Johnstone and Francesca Grum aboard. The two couples enjoyed the 2000 mile passage from Xiamen to Singapore immensely. MOONWAVE was put through quite a test. "We had large, confused seas along the coast of China to Hong Kong. In some of the flatter waters near Hong Kong, we unleashed her a bit and saw 30.2 knots of boat-speed," enthused Captain Fumat. The new Nigel Irens' shapes effortlessly climb through the speed range with excellent manners. Further South, the winds and seas built to gale conditions. "We kept the small asymmetric flying until winds reached the mid 30's, then went to just a deeply reefed main when waves reached 20'+, started to break, and winds topped 45 knots. The centerboard system is brilliant because you can always adjust the balance of the boat with the boards. You simply cannot do that with a cat equipped with daggerboards. The deeply reefed main allowed us to go straight downwind with the wave train and perfectly balanced helm. Through much of the gale, we sailed at 12-18 knots in perfect comfort, enjoying gourmet sit-down meals. It is quite a contrast to my keelboat years, and the sail handling is so much easier than our earlier series. There is no need for staysails or cutter stays," revelled Johnstone, who saw a top daily mileage at close to 340 miles. He continued, "The new hull shape makes for a very dry ride. The forward doors were open the entire trip, and we only saw spray on deck twice." The rough weather contrasted to the near calms as MOONWAVE glided through the pirate infested Anambas Islands of Indonesia on the approach to Singapore. The all black sails are pretty intimidating. The Pirates either steered clear or could not keep up. "We sailed MOONWAVE right up to the final channel markers off of the Raffles Marina on the Western shore of Singapore," Johnstone concluded. For full details of the new GUNBOAT 60, contact meg@gunboat.com.
 

PAUL HAKES, RENOWNED BOAT BUILDER 

Paul Hakes, and his core team, have joined Hudson Yachts, the builder of the GUNBOAT 60 series. Paul has been named President of Hudson and overseas the GUNBOAT 60 series with project manager William Jelbert. Paul earned his enviable reputation building several of the top TP52's in his former Wellington NZ yard. He has brought along the SL33 catamaran series to be produced at Hudson. TEAM NZ has utilized these speedy carbon 33' cats for two-boat testing and to assist their AC72 design process. Paul's earliest multihull experience was aboard Steve Fossett's record setting PLAYSTATION, which he helped build. Paul and Mr. Hudson will visit the GUNBOAT USA yard in late January for a GUNBOAT world summit on continued development of best practices between the two GUNBOAT yards. GUNBOAT is very fortunate to have Paul and Mr. Hudson on its team. Welcome Paul! 

 

FIND YOUR HEART IN MIAMI 

GUNBOAT will be at the Miami International Boat Show from February 14-17. How about a steamy midwinter Valentine weekend in Miami? Restoke the fire with your someone special, and fall in love with the GUNBOAT that will be at the end of C dock at the Bayside Marina location of the show. PLEASE schedule your VIP time slot to avoid the 45 minute boarding lines! Contact meg@gunboat.com.

GUNBOAT 55....... One Design/World Cruiser!    

The GUNBOAT 55 series is going from strength to strength. Eight GUNBOAT 55's are now on order. The GUNBOAT USA yard is a bee-hive of activity. The first three GUNBOAT 55's are now molded and a new GUNBOAT 55 starts every month. The clean, simple, and versatile design is aimed at owner-operators who do not want crew and desire maximum world cruising comfort and performance from an easy to sail and maintain platform. Several owners have one design racing backgrounds and talk has begun of racing the GUNBOAT 55's one design in Caribbean regattas. Contact meg@gunboat.com for the latest on the Gunboat 55 series.
   

78 MOCKED UP! 

The gorgeously built, all carbon GUNBOAT 78 platform now has a nice interior mock up constructed for potential customers to come view her spaces. She was successfully hauled up our new ramp and is located in our special 78 project shed. Prospective customers are lining up their visits. The world's fastest world cruising cat is available for completion in early 2014. If purchased during the project preparation period, we can customize to suit your needs. Contact meg@gunboat.com to schedule your visit or to make inquiries about our 78 Series. 

 FAVORITES AT HEINEKEN    

Captain Harvey Jenkinson from the GUNBOAT 66 TIGER LILY reports that six GUNBOATs will sail as a GUNBOAT Class at the Heineken St Maarten Regatta this March. Each GUNBOAT will be weighed on digital load cells at Bobby's Superyacht Marina prior to racing. Pre-regatta favorite is ELVIS, the Gunboat 62 being owner-driven by Melges 32 ace Jason Carroll. ELVIS Captain Scott Bradford has lightened ship, added some new sails, and has ELVIS in the best condition in years. The brand new GUNBOAT 66 SLIM will be led by former ELVIS captain, Travis McGarry. Expect close racing, and a fun filled week. We love seeing our all-carbon world cruising cats demonstrate their versatility. The Heineken, as it is known, is one of the world's most fun regattas. Beautiful point to point races, gorgeous setting, huge beach parties, and a proven atmosphere of relaxed fun. Add a GUNBOAT class, and it is magical.

 NEW GUNBOAT BELTS & FACEBOOK  

 Meg Minetree reports that the new, extra wide GUNBOAT belts are in the store. These hot commodities are typically reserved for GUNBOAT owners, special crew, and VIPs. As keeper of the swag, Meg has generously offered belts to the next 10 Gunboat eNews readers who "Like" GUNBOAT on Facebook!  Use this link and follow our News Feed to learn if you're a winner of our coveted gear!



http://www.facebook.com/gunboatcatamarans

 
 

GUNBOAT 62 ZENYATTA WEBSITE IS ONLINE

This is the website of the Gunboat 62 ZENYATTA.

Gunboat 62 Zenyata

GUNBOAT 90 - TWO ON ORDER

I just received this press release from Chandler Collins, GUNBOAT's PR and Marketing manager about the amazing GUNBOAT. As I wrote before GUNBOAT are my favorite "smaller size catamaran". I look forward to see this larger one on the water.

"G U N B O A T 9 0
All New Series

Gunboat announces their groundbreaking GUNBOAT 90 series that combines both serious performance with cruising amenities that are unprecedented. Two of these gorgeous high performance world cruisers are already under contract.

The GUNBOAT 90 offers spaces and luxury that will embarrass most 180 ft keelboats. Quite simply, the GUNBOAT 90 will redefine sailing performance amongst the mega yacht fraternity. Why shouldn’t a mega-yacht sail at 20 knots or more most of the time? While the GUNBOAT 90 is exceptionally large, her spaces have been used in a restrained manner. Four luxurious en suite staterooms are on par with five star hotel rooms in the city. Crew quarters for 4 are in the bows. The hulls are a composite construction of vacuum-bagged, epoxy foam sandwich and Aramid Honey-comb Nomex with carbon fiber inner skins & Kevlar outer skins for impact resistance. All carbon spars and only the most high-tech equipment, this series is dedicated to luxury and speed.

The first GUNBOAT 90 will be based in St. John Virgin Islands with aims to sail around the world. Keep an eye out for this remarkable vessel, but with the ability to accomplish 400+ mile days, it may only be a quick peek!

For more information, please visit: http://www.gunboat.com/ and our blog: http://web.mac.com/chandlercollins"

More about GUNBOAT on the luxury catamaran blog.

If you want to see pictures of the first GUNBOAT 90 in production.

SAFARI - GUNBOAT 62

If you want to charter a fast, confortable and safe catamaran, SAFARI is for you. SAFARI is a GUNBOAT 62. She was elected Boat of the Year "Most Innovative" by Cruising World magazine in 2004. She is available for charter in the Caribbean. She was conceived by Peter Johnstone, designed by Peter Melvin and Gino Morelli (Playstation designers), and built at the GUNBOAT shipyard in Cape Town. She was built to very high quality standards to be a "world cruiser" as Peter Johnstone says. I will write more about GUNBOAT shipyard in a future post. She is crewed by Andy Key and Melissan Van Assen. Andy hold amongst other qualifications a MCA yacht master ocean unlimited and Melissa has followed various courses with Culinary Fusion. Both have sailed together for eight years. The interior is very confortable. You will find three queen beds in three cabins and seperated crew quarters. She has lots of toys including remote controlled sailed boats !!! With her very shallow draft SAFARI can take you almost anywhere in the Caribbean and at least places where most other boats won't go. Thanks to her performance under sail you will be able to jump from one place to the other in no time. SAFARI speed limit so far reached is 30 knots sailing !!! The cruising speed while motoring is 10 knots which is great when the wind is somewhere else. Check out the Video on SAFARI's website. You don't have to go that fast but you know you can : that is luxury.