Miami is a Mecca for Yacht & Brokerage Show
2/5/2006 11:33:03 PM by MIKE PETROVSKY
Amansion, a chauffeur-driven limo, a summer home, a collection of vintage sports cars all thats fine, but nothing says you made it like a yacht. If you have a superyacht with a helipad, a movie theater, a submarine and accommodations for a 20- member crew, then you really made it. And, if you have two such vessels, well, then you work for Microsoft.
Whether you made it royally or would like to know how it would feel if you did, then the 18th annual Yacht & Brokerage Show in Miami Beach is probably where you should be Feb. 16-20. The show starts at 10 a.m. each day and ends at 7 p.m.
Although youre not likely to see the behemoths described in the Quicksplashes accompanying this story (Power & Motoryacht and Forbes magazines top five yachts) you will see a few that will come pretty close. The shows promoters expect to have superyachts, express cruisers, sport-fishing boats, family cruisers and ocean-going trawlers ranging in size from 30 feet to 160 feet and ranging in price from $250,000 to more than $20 million.
The shows promoters, the Florida Yacht Brokers Association and Yachting Promotions Inc., describe the event as, a multi-million dollar presentation of yachts including the worlds most extraordinary and uniquely designed superyachts from the foremost custom boat builders nationally and internationally.
The promoters add that the totally in-water presentation covers more than 1.2 million square feet of space featuring over 500 new and preowned vessels valued at more than three-quarters of a billion dollars.
The show will take place on the Indian Creek Waterway off Collins Avenue (State Road A1A) and 47th Street. Yachts will be docked on the waterway from the Fontainebleau Hotel to the Wyndham Resort or off Collins Avenue from 41st to 51st streets.
You would think attending a seemingly exclusive event like a yacht show would come with an overboard admission price. Think again. Admission to the event wont cost you a thing and, the promoters say, there will even be continuous shuttle bus service to and from the Miami International Boat Show and the Miami Beach Convention Center also at no charge.
Sure, yacht shows attract many gawkers. But the big question is: do the shows attract buyers? The quick answer is a resounding yes!
Wave magazine spoke with representatives from two vendors who will be exhibiting yachts at the show: John J. Caruso, who owns Total Marine in South Norwalk, Conn., which deals in Formula, Fairline and the imported Jaguar brands of yachts and boats, and Peter Lenton, a vice president of sales for Tampabased Lazzara Yachts.
We will be displaying eight new models opposite the Fontainebleau on Collins Avenue, Lenton says, adding that Lazzaras collection will range in size from 68 feet to 110 feet and in price from $3 million to $10 million.
Asked if his customers buy yachts at the show or merely come to the show to look and then buy well after the show is over, Lenton says, Its a combination of both, really, adding that sometimes a potential customer he met prior to the show would come to the show and, after seeing the yacht alongside others, buy it on the spot. Other times he says customers take tours of the yachts and then make the decision to buy later in the year.
To take a tour of one of Lazzaras yachts, Lenton says potential customers (and those who just want to gawk) will have to fill out a boarding pass for a guided tour of the yacht. But dont expect to inspect the vessel right away. Lenton says because of the long lines of people wanting board the yachts, you likely will be asked to come back to show on the next day to take the tour.
We have such long lines at certain times of day that we cant get everyone on board, Lenton says.
Selling at a yacht show is much different than selling the smaller boats found at the boat shows. Both Lenton and Caruso say peer pressure a common occurrence at boat shows were potential customers come to the show with friends who end up coaxing them into buying for the most part does not exist at yacht shows.
Its more like buying a house,
Caruso says, adding that people
who buy yachts are most interested
in long-term service after the sale
from a nearby dealer.
Thats why when Caruso comes to the Miami Beach show he only sells to fellow Northerners who come to southeast Florida to escape the Northeasts frigid February. He says in Miami Beach he directs potential buyers who come to his sales area from Florida and other parts of the country to the dealers nearest them who sell the same brand names as he does in the Northeast. Carusos Total Marine serves customers almost exclusively from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and he says he is expanding to Rhode Island.
Even with his self-imposed limited base of potential customers, Caruso plans to bring 10 vessels to the Miami Beach show. Two are imported Jaguar yachts, a 60-footer and a unique center-console 30- footer. He says the eight other vessels will range in size from a 75-foot Caroline to one 35-footer.
If you are still wondering if its worth the time and expense for yacht dealers like Caruso to bring their boats to shows, particularly to one as far away from his dealerships as Miami Beach, heres something to consider.
Caruso says his company, which sells vessels priced from $20,000 to $20 million (most boats in his inventory are priced at around $400,000), has annual sales of about $200 million. At the New York Boat Show held around the first weekend of January, Caruso says he sold eight boats.
Still not convinced?
Although Caruso says he only sold two vessels at last years Miami Beach show, those sales totaled about $2 million. Thats right, the Miami Beach show accounted for 10 percent of his companys annual sales. No wonder Caruso praises the show so much.
Miami is a Mecca (for yachts), Caruso says. It attracts people from all over the world. It truly is an international show.
18TH ANNUAL YACHT & BROKERAGE SHOW
When: Feb. 16-20
Where: Miami Beach on the Indian Creek Waterway at Collins Avenue (S.R. A1A) and 47th Street from the Fontainebleau Hotel to the Wyndham Resort, from 41st Street to 51st Street on Collins Avenue.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Cost: No charge.
Directions: Take I-95 to S.R. 195 East (Miami Beach on-ramp), continue east on Arthur Godfrey Road to Collins Avenue. At Collins Avenue head north (left turn). The show is on the left side along the waterway. Continue on and follow the signs for parking and free shuttle buses.
For more information: Call Yachting Promotions Inc. at 954-764-7642 or 800-940- 7642; or log on to www.showmanagement. com
WORTHY OF NOTE: NO. 9
Blockbuster, Waste Management and Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga's 228- foot yacht, Floridian, is ranked No. 9 in Power and Motoryacht magazine's America's Top 100 Yachts.
Huizenga bought the yacht used. Built by Oceanfast in Australia in 2003, it was originally owned by professional golfer Greg Norman. When Norman owned the boat its name was Aussie Rules and it featured a 42-foot sportsfisherman.
An article on Huizenga and his yacht appearing in the magazine Tenders & Toys December/January issue reports Huizenga decided to pitch Norman's big tender overboard (not literally) and use the space left on the aft main deck, where the sportsfisherman had been stored, to accommodate his helicopter. His twin engine EC 155 helicopter, one of a dozen he owns, seats 12 the same amount as there are guest accommodations on the yacht and two crew members.
In addition to the dozen guests, Floridian has room for a captain, a tending stewardess and up to seven crewmembers. Also aboard the yacht is a 14- foot crew/rescue tender, two 22- foot Nautica rubber inflated boats and four Yamaha WaveRunners.
Floridian is powered by two 1,492 horsepower Caterpillar diesels.
15 LARGEST YACHTS
The following are the top five yachts listed in Power and Motoryacht magazine's America's 100 Largest Yachts edition last year.
1. RISING SUN
Size: 425 feet, 8 inches
Cost: Rumored at $200 million
Owner: Larry Ellison, Oracle
Features: A basketball court; three
tenders in the 40-foot range custom-
built in New Zealand (two
being traditional monohulls to carry
guests and crew and the third being
a twin-hulled landing craft to carry
a four-wheel-drive vehicle); powered
by four 20-cylinder, 12,000 horsepower
MTU Series 8000s.
Builder: Lürssen Shipyard in
Bremen, Germany
2. OCTOPUS
Size: 414 feet
Cost: Not listed
Owner: Paul Allen, Microsoft and
Portland Trailblazers
Features: A basketball court; a pool;
a music studio; a movie theater;
alfresco bars; a submarine; powered
by MTUs (horsepower unknown).
Builder: Lürssen Shipyard in
Bremen, Germany
3. LIMITLESS
Size: 315 feet, 7 inches
Cost: Not listed.
Owner: Leslie Wexner, Limited and
Victoria's Secret
Features: A 60-foot expanse of open
deck (aft); a number of day saloons
on her first two decks; equipped
with dynamic positioning (a system
that allows a vessel to maintain position
and heading by means of active
thrust); an incinerator that reduces
garbage to ash; and powered by
three 7,268 horsepower Caterpillars
(diesel-electric drives).
Builder: Lürssen Shipyard in
Bremen, Germany
4. TATOOSH
Size: 301 feet, 8 inches
Cost: Not listed.
Owner: Paul Allen, Microsoft and
Portland Trailblazers
Features: Five decks; a master suite,
a saloon and other rooms on the
top deck; a saloon with a French
limestone fireplace, a dining area,
staterooms and a ladies' powder
room on the main deck; a lobster
tank; a shaded pool; a movie theater;
can transport two helicopters
on the top two decks; a custom
Hinckley powerboat (about a 40
footer); a sailboat of about 40 feet;
and powered by two 3,360 horsepower
Deutz-MWMs.
Builder: H.D.W. Nobiskrug, Germany
5. BART ROBERTS
Size: 265 feet, 6 inches
Cost: Not listed
Owner: Not listed
Features: An 18-passenger, 50-foot
catamaran; a landing craft for
transporting a car or SUV; a 25-
foot-long pool; 11 Jacuzzis; a piranha
tank; nine guest rooms named
after pirates (the Blackbeard guest
room has a bed outfitted in black
leather and a portrait of Blackbeard
holding a pistol that eerily seems to
follow you); a halved cannon and
cannonballs adorn the stone fireplace
of a 65-foot by 30-foot
saloon; a curved aft-to-starboard
bar has a glass-topped ocean floor,
pirate-themed design; an inlaid
wood dance floor; fully operational
machine shop with milling machine
and welder; and powered by two
2,000 horsepower Rustons.
Builder: Canadian Vickers, Canada
To get the complete list of 100 yachts, log on to www.powerandmotoryacht.com