Have you been wearing shirts emblazoned with the same logo since college? Do you always reach for a familiar shaving cream in the drugstore? Do you consistently order a preferred gin for your martini? It’s not the worst thing to be a creature of habit. When you know you have a good thing going, logic dictates that you stick with it. Take Westport Shipyard, for example. Since 1964, this Washington-based yard has been successfully cranking out high-quality production yachts, focusing recently on its 112 and 130.

Daryl Wakefield, president of Westport, identifies two types of yacht owners: those who rejoice in a project and those who want to go boating. Westport has catered to the client who clearly would rather be cruising in Alaska or Baja than spending years attending yard meetings and making change orders. From the time you sign your contract, Westport can have your yacht in the water in nine months! With time perhaps being a yacht owner’s most precious commodity these days, rapid delivery is certainly a plus.

But the yard recently "broke its mold." Actually, it created a new one. Recognizing a shift in the marketplace, it recently launched a 164-footer (50-meter), the largest GRP-constructed boat ever. Our cover story on the first Westport 164 showcases the fruit of the yard’s work and workmanship. With yacht owners’ appetites for big, bigger and biggest, the 164 is laying claim to its niche in the megayacht market.

So, perhaps you used to be an Izod addict, or a devout user of Gillette or a die-hard Tanqueray fan. Regardless of your habit, chances are that it has led you to collecting. If you prefer Armani suits, it’s likely that you own more than one. Such is the case for many yacht owners. In another of our features, "No One Can Have Just One," we talk with three high-profile yacht owners who are in the habit of collecting boats. We discover why each has a personal fleet.

As one might expect, we at ShowBoats International are addicted to the world’s best megayachts, and we’re in the habit—for the last 16 years—of singling out the most distinctive new boats. The 2006 ShowBoats International Awards represents another awe-inspiring year of launches, from Vitters’ Ghost, winner in the Most Innovative Sailing Yacht category, to Vancouver Shipyards’ masterful rebuild of the Feadship Attessa.

While we have a 15-year history of picking winners, and despite the fact that our editorial staff has more than 150 collective years of boating experience, the selection process only seems to get harder each year. It’s no reflection on the editors, but rather a clear indication of the quality, imagination and engineering advancements that go into these yachts every year. A scan of the nominees list bears this out.

We had nine finalists in the category of Best Full-Displacement Motor Yacht Under 56 Meters. The yachts launched from yards in Italy, the Netherlands and America and originated from venerable builders such as Benetti (Galaxy) and relative newcomer Bloemsma & van Breemen (Flying Eagle).The Most Innovative Motor Yacht category included builds from a 90-meter yacht driven by azipods, to a trimaran, to a 33.5-meter monohull that is Hull No. 1 from an Australian start-up. After hours researching and inspecting yachts and pouring over GAs, compelling arguments were made for each nominee. (It’s a good thing our staff is spread around the world, or the debate could have come to blows.) Yet, in the end, only one yacht can win in each category.

Two new twists on our awards tradition are the Readers Choice and the Distinguished Yachtsman honors, which will be given out for the first time at this year’s Monaco Rendezvous, to be held June 22 to 25.

Another ShowBoats tradition—and one shared by the majority of mariners—is a reverence for the sea. "An Ocean Agenda" looks at the International SeaKeepers Society and how owners are stepping up to protect the waterways that are essential to the yachting lifestyle. Of course, the Bal de la Mer, ShowBoats’ annual fundraising gala for the SeaKeepers Society, is part of our Monaco Rendezvous, where we present the SeaKeeper Award—this year to Walter Cronkite—and the ShowBoats International Awards to the winners.

Stick with a good thing; try something new—simple concepts of life. Have an open mind, an open heart and maybe even a few extra open boats….