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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).
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