AMIF Boat of the Year

The massive popularity of the Australian Marine Awards resulted in a huge number of entrants presenting themselves for judging in 2005. The awards are conducted under the auspices of the Australian Marine Industries Federation (AMIF), and sponsored by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, Navman Limited and Saint-Gobain RF.

Continuing the approach initiated in 2004, three major Australian boating publication groups co-operated to provide expert judges and other resources for the Awards. Publishers Trader Classifieds - publishers of Trade-A-Boat and Trailer Boat - as well as Federal Publishing and the Yaffa Publishing Group worked with the AMIF and instigated a new method of attracting entrants into the various Australian Marine Award (AMA) categories.

This approach was taken to widen the scope of the entries and to enable as many boats as possible to be considered. Manufacturers and importers could still directly nominate their boats, but additionally every boat tested by the media partners for their magazines between the March 1, 2004 and the February 28, 2005 was automatically included in the judging process.

The result was that some 161 boats were considered for the awards. From that large entry, the first round of assessment selected 80 craft for the finals judging that was held in Sydney at the Cruising Yacht Club and at the Southport Yacht Club on the Gold Coast during April. However, 16 of these boats were withdrawn by manufacturers or importers leaving 64 to face judging that included specialised evaluation of safety aspects as well as review by experienced boat-testing journalists from the media partners.

The Australian Marine Awards are concerned not only with boats, but also with a number of other fields within the marine industry. Whilst the vessel categories tend to gain the most attention, awards are also given to encourage excellence in marinas, new and innovative products and for exporting.

For 2005, the winner in the Marina of the Year category was the d'Albora Marina at Nelson Bay in central NSW, and Ronstan has been assessed by the judges as Exporter of the Year, for a second time. Two entrants for the New and Innovative Product category were impressive and, although neither the variety of Cranes from Australian Davits and Cranes, nor the Fractional Boat Ownership of the Cruising Club qualified as outright winner, both were granted Commendation Awards.

There are 12 vessel categories in the Australian Marine Awards plus an overall Australian Manufactured Boat of the Year winner. Even with this spread of classifications, it was difficult to do justice to the wide range of boats entered that varied from sailing dinghies and small alloy fishing craft to large yachts and multi-million dollar luxury cruisers. Allowance was made for individual boating applications and styles of boat, and the awards further differentiated between locally built and imported craft.

Imported entries competed in their own trailerable and non-trailerable categories, and were not eligible for the overall Australian Manufactured Boat of the Year title which is strictly the domain of Australian designs. These Aussie boats were divided into categories by application such as sailing, fishing or cruising (again with splits for trailerable and not) or dayboat and custom built. There was no emphasis on the construction material used, typically aluminium or fibreglass, as the judging instead focused on how well the boat suited its intended purpose.

Judging was divided into aspects such as performance, safety, ergonomics, presentation, planning and overall impression, and each boat was scored independently by multiple judges. Safety carried 20 per cent of the total score, and was an area that could be better addressed in a number of boats so that results for the safety aspect became a crucial factor in some categories. Unlike last year, there were entrants, and finalists, in every category.

THE WINNERS
In the Sailing Trailerable category, neither of the two finalists gained enough points to be designated as winner (90 per cent of the overall winner's score has to be achieved for a boat to take out a category title). However, the Nippa from Sydney Yachts/Nippa Sailing was granted a Commendation Award.

In the Sailing Non-Trailerable category, the Perry 57ft Sailing Catamaran won a Commendation Award, whilst category winner was the Seawind 1160 Catamaran.

Six finalists in the Imported Sailing category were presented to the judges, and the DK 46 from Workforce Marine came through with a Commendation Award whilst the winner was the Beneteau First 44.7 from Vicsail.

In the Imported Trailerable section there were seven finalists from which the Tracker Marine Nitro 901 CDX emerged with a Commendation Award and the Cobalt 200 came out as champion.

For the Imported Non-Trailerable classification, Sunseeker Motor Yachts dominated, with the Portofino 46 gaining a Commendation Award and the Sunseeker Yacht 75 the category winner.

Amongst Australian-built power craft, the Fishing Trailerable category is always hotly-contested. Ten finalists fought it out with the Haines Hunter 650 Classic taking home a Commendation Award and the Cruise Craft Explorer 625 scoring best to be the winner. Two larger boats were finalists in Fishing Non-Trailerable and this category was won by the Powercat 3000 Sports Cabriolet.

From six finalists in the Dayboat category, the Theodore Coastal 720-01 was seen by the judges as worthy of a Commendation Award, and the Quintrex-Telwater 540 Freedom Sport came out as category title-holder. The Custom Built category attracted four finalists from which the Ocean Master 651 was presented with a Commendation Award after the Norman R. Wright & Sons Custom 47 Passagemaker out-scored the field for a category trophy.

In the specialised Ski/Performance category, just two finalists resulted in another category without a winner, but with the Performance Marine/Skicraft X-Air gained a Commendation Award.

The Cruiser Trailerable field saw four finalists between 5.0 and 7.2 metres challenging each other until the Theodore Coastal 720-01 from Theodore Marine scored its second Commendation Award, out-scored only by the category-winning Whittley Cruisers Sea Legend 700.

An impressive line-up of nine finalists in Cruiser Non-Trailerable fought it out before the Riviera Group M400 Sports Cruiser gained a Commendation Award and the Maritimo 60 Cruiser won the category.

And it was Bill Barry-Cotter's Maritimo 60 Cruiser that also topped the entire entry list as overall winner of the 2005 Award of Australian Manufactured Boat of the Year.

For more details, call Lori Burns, AMIF, tel (08) 9371 8872.

Winners and finalists

2005 Boat of the Year
Overall winner: Maritimo 60 Cruiser

Sailing Trailerable
No category winners
Commendation Award: Sydney Yachts Nippa

Sailing Non-Trailerable
Category winner: Seawind Catamarans Seawind 1160
Commendation Award: Perry Catamarans Perry 57ft Sailing Catamaran
Other finalist: Sydney Yachts Sydney 39CR

Fishing Trailerable
Category Winner: Cruise Craft Explorer 625
Commendation Award: Haines Hunter 650 Classic
Other finalists: Horizon Aluminium Boats 445 Northerner; Noble Engineering Supervee 6.8 Centre Cabin; Northbank Marine 600 Cuddy; Theodore Marine Coastal 720-01; Sailfish Catamarans Platinum 5500 Series; Sea Quest Pleasure Boats Olympian 6.1 Super Cab; Stacer-Telwater 470 Pro Tournament Elite; Whittley Cruisers Sea Legend 700

Fishing Non-Trailerable
Category winner: Powercat 3000 Sports Cabriolet
Other finalist: Capricorn Cruisers Classic 38

Dayboat
Category winner: Quintrex-Telwater 540 Freedom Sport
Commendation Award: Theodore Marine Coastal 720-01
Other finalists: Brunswick Asia Pacific (Savage Boats) Scorpion SL500 Bowrider; Haines Marine Signature 500BR; Haines Marine Signature 500C; Quintrex-Telwater 435 Coast Runner

Custom Built
Category winner: Norman R. Wright & Sons Custom 47 Passagemaker
Commendation Award: Ocean Master Marine 651
Other finalists: Coracle Marine Hammer BowRyder; Plate Master Aluminium Boats Kingfisher 7000

Ski/Performance
No category winner
Commendation Award: Performance Marine/Skicraft X-AIR
Other finalist: Tige Boats Switch

Cruiser Trailerable
Category winner: Whittley Cruisers Sea Legend 700
Commendation Award: Theodore Marine Coastal 720-01
Other finalists: Haines Marine Signature 500C; Noble Engineering Supervee 6.8 Cuddy

Cruiser Non-Trailerable
Category winner: Maritimo 60 Cruiser
Commendation Award: Riviera Group M400 Sports Cruiser
Other finalists: Capricorn Cruisers Classic 38; Haines Marine Signature 770C; Mustang Cruisers 3500 Sports Cruiser; Perry Catamarans 44.5 Power; Powercat 3000 Sports Cabriolet; Riviera Group R3300 Flybridge Convertible; Sunrunner Cruisers 2800

Imported Sailing
Category winner: Vicsail Beneteau First 44.7
Commendation Award: Workforce Marine DK 46
Other finalists: North South Yachting Bavaria 46 Cruiser; North South Yachting Bavaria Match 38; US Yachts Hunter 44 Deck Saloon; Vicsail Wauquiez Centurion 45

Imported Trailerable Powerboat
Category winner: Cobalt 200 from Cobalt Boats Australia
Commendation Award: Tracker Marine Nitro 901 CDX
Other finalists: Adrian Bright Powerboat Engineering Sunsation 288 Mid Cabin; Haines Group Nautique SV211; Sea Ray 200 Select Sport Boat from Brunswick Asia Pacific; Triton Boats TR-175 CC Bass Boat; Vail Imports Crownline 206 LS

Imported Non-Trailerable Powerboat
Category winner: Sunseeker Yacht 75 from Sunseeker Motor Yachts
Commendation Award: Sunseeker Motor Yachts Portofino 46
Other finalists: Cobalt 263 from Cobalt Boats Australia; JW Marine Beneteau Swift Trawler 42 JW Marine Beneteau Antares 1380; Offshore Marine Chaparral 256 SSi; Offshore Marine Chaparral 290 Cruiser; Sydney Boats Sales Cranchi Atlantique 40; Vail Imports Crownline 250 CR

Exporter of the Year
Category winner: Ronstan

Marina of the Year
Category winner: d'Albora Marina, Nelson Bay, NSW
Other finalists: d'Albora Marina, Cabarita Point, NSW; Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club, NSW

New and Innovative Product
No category winner
Commendation Awards: Australian Davits and Cranes; The Cruising Club Fractional Boat Ownership