Whilst exhibiting at this years Ft Lauderdale International Boat Show, the Yachting Developments built “Bristolian” was judged “Best Sail” 24 – 40m by the International Superyacht Society.
In addition to this, Bristolian also won the coveted Showboats International “Best Sailing Yacht Interior” award.
During the presentation ceremony at Ft Lauderdale, Yachting Developments’ Managing Director Ian Cook, described Bristolian as “An absolute team effort from Designers through to apprentices. Bristolian is a very advanced vessel and it is great to see others agree.”
Congratulations Yachting Developments and the Bristolian Team!
Urban Voyage is proud to announce the recent collaboration with the famous German Frers Naval Architecture & Engineering office for their new 62m Panamax Ketch. This is an extraordinary yacht of modern classic style which will make use of the latest building technology.
The Panamax Ketch is designed with a beam length of 10.8m, a draft of 4.2/8m, a displacement of 340 000kg, and a ballast of 70000kg.
Please see below the latest 3D yacht renderings produced by Urban Voyage:
Well, the 2009 Monaco Yacht Show has drawn to a close with the sounding of the horns! Our impressions of this year’s show are mixed with many positive reviews from businesses and quite a few new builds being signed up during the show.
Overall it seemed quieter than the ‘08 show with less businesses having stands and less foot traffic. It appeared as though less boats were at the event with several high profile builds and recent launches not shown as Owner’s concerns over privacy and keeping a low profile seems the trend these days.
The Kiwi companies presented at the Monaco Show all seemed to have a strong event with much business done over the week and more to follow I’m sure. On Friday night was the New Zealand drinks and networking event that went down excellently with the best in the business present drinking kiwi wine/beer and listening to kiwi music.
The highlights for us during the show was obviously the stunning networking, connections and friendships made with many industry leaders and elite of the Superyachting world.
Quick review:
The Great
- 30,000 visitors, 40 new builds, 100 Superyachts (25-90 metres)
- The new “Icon 62″ build by Icon Yachts – simply a beautiful boat created by a genius
- The “Chrisco” build by CNB
- The Engine Room onboard “MY Ingot” (work of art)
- The German Frers stand (incredible renderings done by Urban Voyage)
- The Red Arrows (Elite UK flying group with three kiwi pilots)
- Casino supermarket (super close to the show, nice food and half the price of the local cafe’s)
- The BMW courtesy cars!
The Not so Great
- Short tempered Monaco Traffic Police
- The heat (it was a scorcher, 30 deg+ most days)
- The expensive and hard to find parking
- The serious lack of wi-fi access (what century is this?)
Stay tuned for some exciting new projects from Urban Voyage!
Check out this amazing new sail technology called Stratis from Doyle Sails New Zealand.
Stratis GPX – Unsurpassed racing technology
Stratis pre-impregnated fibre technology provides unmatched flexibility in fibre orientation, accuracy of placement and superior lamination. All fibres are load bearing, converging to every load point. Producing stronger, lighter sails that are much smoother when set, hold their shape better with significantly less stretch, and last longer than conventional panel sails.
The Monaco Yacht Show (MYS) is a major highlight of the world Superyacht calendar. The 19th MYS will be held on the 23rd to 26th September in Port Hercules, Monaco.
The show brings together professionals from the international luxury yachting sector; ship-builders and designers, equipment suppliers, brokers and service providers. It is the only show dedicated to Superyachts over 25m in length.
There are over 30,000 visitors expected, with over 500 exhibitors and over 100 of the finest luxury yachts on display.
The majority of visitors to the show come from Europe, notably from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and Great Britain. Over recent years, a new clientele has been emerging from Russia, Asia (China and Japan), the Arab Emirates and from the South Pacific.
Urban Voyage is planning to be there in full force! Watch this space.
Social Media has changed the way many companies have conversations with their customers. If you’re unsure what Social Media is and the impact it could have on your business please check out the following presentation.
You’ll most likely have seen or experienced the Red and Blue Anaglyph “3D Glasses” of old that gave viewers the perception of 3D. You may also remember how well or not that they worked and the excitement of experiencing entertainment in a new way.
Zareh, Rich & Anita experience "3D" at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Growing up in New Zealand I recall a big promotion that KFC ran in conjunction with a TV Movie (the B-Grade 1954 horror mystery Gorilla at Large) that when you purchased a certain KFC meal you received a pair of “3-D Viewing Glasses”. The hype seemed to extend across the entire country with the glasses being a “must-have” item. The hype quickly faded when the movie was broadcast and the quality of the 3D experience was less than stunning. Similar experiences has been repeated around the world when hyped technology (aka Fads) that fail to deliver are promoted as the next big thing.
More recently DreamWorks Animation pulled off perhaps the biggest media-advertising event in history by broadcasting a 3D trailer for Monsters vs. Aliens during Super Bowl Sunday. Around150 Million 3D glasses were given away for free at Pepsi/SoBe Life Water displays at 28,000 locations around the United States. The promotion used Intel’s InTru 3D and ColourCode 3-D technologies (reported to be far superior than the old Anaglyph system). The campaign involved “tens of millions of dollars”.
What we have been seeing for a while now has been the evolution of 3D technology, being lead by the Games & Entertainment Industry, moving closer and closer to use of 3D in everyday life. It’s now possible to watch 3D TV without wearing any external devices (such as glasses) and it’s not long before many Hollywood films will be released in 3D. Hundreds of Millions of dollars is being invested across all areas of business, entertainment and life to leverage the power of 3D – enriching our lives, making entertainment more compelling and enhancing customer’s experiences of our brands, products and services.
On Friday Microsoft released information about “Project Natal” and the collective jaws dropped when Don Mattrick & Steven Spielberg presented a demo of a game that has no external “game controllers” other than yourself. If there were any barriers left for people to interact with technology, they have just smashed them. The applications outside of gaming are as wide as they are compelling. Click here for more information about Project Natal.
So what separates technology fads from technology developments that provide real value? It’s the opinion of Urban Voyage that ultimately the market will decide what it needs and wants. We don’t need a touch-screen interface to use a cell phone do we? We don’t need to have 3D to enjoy a good movie do we? We don’t need 3D for our project, do we? Well maybe and maybe not. And yet on mass there have been 6.9 Million iPhones sold world-wide, a group of Hollywood Studios are investing US$1 Billion to upgrade 20,000 North American movie theatres to digital projector systems and Superyachts (dreams) are being sold before a single frame has been laid.
The risk of not embracing new solutions is that you risk having to play a serious game of catch up when your competitors race ahead because they have. 3D is moving more and more into our everyday lives making interaction with information easier, more compelling and fun.
This exciting new yacht was the creative concept of Stefano Righini and the Azimut Design Team, who have combined their talents to design a prestigious sports yacht where the focus would be on freedom:
I’ve just finished reading an article in the April issue of Superyacht Business by Michael Howorth – a highly experienced Captain who has commanded a number of significant Superyachts.
Essentially Michael writes about his friend who was turned down for a position because of his age. Clearly laws around the world are different however that would lead to a significant claim in the Courts if that was to happen in New Zealand. It’s Michael’s opinion and ours that there is no substitute for experience, especially when it comes to command of large vessels.
We saw recently how Captain Chelsey B Sullenberger III, the airline pilot who had to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River, saved hundreds of lives through the expert application of skill and experience. He started flying aircraft well before the advanced automated systems that are now commonplace in today’s modern jets. This enabled him to draw on his 40 years of experience to safely land Flight 1549 on water – which is the first time in 45 years that a major aircraft has crash-landed on water and every passenger on board survived.
How can an experienced Captain be turned down for a job because of his age? It’s crazy and when considering the amount of people/lives on board large yachts now that are under the ultimate responsibility of the Captain one could be forgiven to think that real experience counts for something. “And at what point does looking good in a pair of white shorts become a better bet when employing a Captain to oversee a crew of 20-plus professional yachties?”
Michael points out that there is “no substitute for experience built on the solid foundation of top class training”.
We saw recently in New Zealand an American businessman setup a business with a vision to develop and provide multi-talented crew for Superyachts and he even went so far as to recruit crew from Law Enforcement and Military backgrounds. Unfortunately for him things did not progress as well as expected and he’s closed down the business. However the philosophy and relevance in today’s environment (piracy, etc) was sound. The team trained to STCW and MCA standards and held a wide vocation of skills that would be very useful to most private and commercial ships. The guys that went through the first cycle of training are doing very well on assignments around the world. What I think made this Unit exceptional was that they came from structured and demanding environments and applied their experience (and focus) to developing the specific skills required to be valued team players.
At Urban Voyage we think there is no substitute for experience and that the focused application of unique skills can achieve great things. I think it comes back to a concept of honoring those that have come before you by being humble and learning from their experience.
Cool video of the day featuring Tork Buckley, Alloy Yachts, Perini Navi, Wally Yachts, Edmiston, Ken Freivokh, Terence Disdale, David Linley, and many others (from the Luxury Channel).
Well, the 2009 Monaco Yacht Show has drawn to a close with the sounding of the horns! Our impressions of this year’s show are mixed with many positive reviews from businesses and quite a few new builds being signed up during the show.
