Boats remain buoyant as retail keels over

Yours for a lazy $8.5 million … a Princess V85-S at the Sydney International Boat Show yesterday. It is one of the largest - and most expensive - boats on display. Photo: Wolter Peeters

IT is a tale of one harbour, two economies.
At the Darling Harbour shopping precinct the fashion boutiques and restaurants are suffering from a slump in tourist numbers and the widely reported reluctance of Australians to open their wallets.
''Mate, trade's soft,'' says Brian McDermott, the owner of a local landmark, the South Steyne floating restaurant. ''Domestic spending is quieter and the tourists are down.''
At the other end of Darling Harbour it's a rather different story. Multimillion-dollar dream machines are clustered around a pontoon for the Sydney International Boat Show and there appears to be no shortage of buyers.
''We've sold four boats in Australia in the last four months and we're closing on another two sales,'' said Alan Paterson, the local representative of the British boat builder Princess.
''The dollar was buying 66 pence this morning - it was buying about 38 pence when I started this in 2006. You certainly get a lot more bang for your buck at the moment.''
These are no ordinary boats, of course. The Princess V Class sport yacht tied up at Darling Harbour costs a cool $8.5 million and sleeps 10 people. The price doesn't include the jet-ski inside the garage at the stern, the chef to whip up dinner for your guests or the 500 litres of fuel the twin 2434 horsepower engines guzzle during an hour's cruising at a leisurely 24 knots.
Mr Paterson says the buyers of luxury boats have become a little more ''considered'' - they were never exactly an impulse buy - but the market remains solid.
''These people don't finance the purchase of the boats - we just get a bank transfer,'' he said. ''For some it's the fulfilment of a lifetime dream. They're in their late 50s or 60s and friends and family are falling off the perch.
''They think, 'I'm not going to take it with me,' and they splash out.''
At the Boat Show the notion of ''fly in, fly out'' has nothing to do with miners in the Pilbara and everything to do with jetting off to Hamilton Island, Fiji or Noumea to spend a few days on your peripatetic yacht.
Local boat builders may not have the advantage of a favourable exchange rate, but sales are still, erm, buoyant. Riviera has been building superyachts in Australia for 30 years and its brand director, Stephen Milne, said the sector was firmly afloat.
"Our clients have the money to buy the boats, but in the last few years it has been a confidence issue,'' he said.
In the last couple of years they have seen a steady rise in the number of luxury craft sold.
"What we're seeing now is that the people who delayed their purchase decisions after the global financial crisis are sick of putting it off and have decided to go for it."
The marketing manager of the Sydney International Boat Show, Domenic Genua, said ticket sales were up 10 per cent from last year, when 73,000 people attended.
Typical turnover at the event is between $5 million and $6 million an hour. "Over the whole show we expect that our exhibitors will turn over about $300 million on site,'' he said.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/luxury/boats-remain-buoyant-as-retail-keels-over-20110727-1i0d6.html#ixzz1TNDYJUcY