Boats to boast about

ROBIN BAILEY previews main contenders for the Hutchwilco boat awards.

Rayglass boats will be looking to claim another Boat of the Show award on Friday at the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show.

Over the past eight years, Auckland-based Rayglass has collected an enviable 12 awards, with the winning plaques decorating the walls at the company's Pakuranga showroom and factory.

Despite having two new boats in line for awards this year, Rayglass is facing tough competition. More than 60 boats are vying for top honours, with about 20 of these being in the "new release" category - boats that will be unveiled at the show.

Local boatbuilders and importers are chasing awards in nine categories: all purpose open; all purpose under 6m; GRP fishing boat open; GRP fishing boat under 6m; aluminium fishing boat open; aluminium fishing boat under 6m; launch; yacht; and sports boat. A panel of three judges marks each entrant against a detailed set of criteria, and the individual scores are tallied to find the winner in each category. The boat with the highest score overall also wins the Boat of the Show title. At last year's show, Rayglass Boats picked up three awards, including that one, and company chief Tony Hembrow hopes to repeat that feat with the new Rayglass 2150L and 1950L.

Although at first glance these boats may look similar to their predecessors, Hembrow says they are truly "new generation" boats and feature 108 changes to both the design of the hull and the layout and fittings of the interior.

The research that contributed to the new Legend design was a combination of an intensive factory test programme and America's Cup experience.

Hembrow says: "The Cup gave us the opportunity to put 20 of our 620 Legends on the water in a race-support role. The boats may have looked similar, but there were six different hull modifications within the fleet. Each boat was logged daily for fuel usage, performance and operation which allowed us to make comparisons once the data was in.

"The fleet logged 1760 days on the water and two modifications stood out. One was noticeably drier and the other 6 per cent more fuel efficient. We combined the fine points of those hulls into a prototype which was used to finalise the 2150 design after an unprecedented on-the-water test programme."

The decision to brand the new models in imperial rather than metric measurements (the 650 is replaced by the 2150) reflects Rayglass' growing strength as an exporter, with 50 per cent of its production sold offshore.

While Rayglass will be hoping for another award or two to add to its trophy wall, there are strong challengers from New Zealand and overseas. These range from imported yachts from France and Germany, Australian specialist gamefishing launches and dozens of classy, New Zealand-built GRP and aluminium powerboats.

Two of the more notable entrants in this year's awards are the new Haines Hunter SS 720 (a replacement for the near-legendary SF700) and the new Lincoln, a South Island joint venture between aluminium-boat builder McLay Boats, from Milton, and Christchurch-based GRP manufacturers Reflex Products.

The presentation of the awards on the second night of the show is one of the most important events on the New Zealand marine industry calendar. The awards are highly respected and are extensively used by the winners in their marketing and promotion.

This year's awards will be presented at a function at Alexandra Park, adjoining the boat show venue at the Auckland Showgrounds, and are open to the public. Geoff Bryan is the MC for the evening and the Mayor of Auckland, Christine Fletcher, will present the awards with Team New Zealand syndicate stalwart Tom Schnackenberg as guest speaker.

The Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show 2001 runs from Thursday, May 31, through to Monday, June 4. The show is open from 10 am to 6 pm daily with a late night (until 9) on Thursday.

The Rayglass 2150L is featured in the June issue of Propeller magazine.