Three views of the Sunseeker 105 (105 ft. or 31 m, with up to 4800 hp diesel motors)

Sunseeker Yachts

By Thomas K. Grose
Time, March 20, 2008

Edited by Andy Ross

British yachtmaker Sunseeker launched its biggest boat yet at last year's London Boat Show: an $18 million, 121-ft. (37 m) superyacht. So far, it has built three of them; two are under construction at its boatyard in Poole, England; and eight more are on order. That kind of demand surprised Robert Braithwaite, managing director. "If we had sold five or six by now, I would be very happy." At this year's show, the company unveiled two more big boats, a $4.8 million 89-footer (27 m) and a $14 million 112-footer (34 m).

Annual sales over the past five years have grown 10% to 15% and show no signs of tanking, thanks to increasing numbers of wealthy buyers from developing countries. In the fiscal year ending September 2007, Sunseeker's sales jumped 18.5%, to $473 million.

The rising-sales tide isn't lifting all boats. Sales of smaller yachts are somewhat adrift. For instance, demand for Sunseeker's $550,000, 44-ft. (13 m) Superhawk 43 is languishing.

Sunseeker built 318 boats last year, but Braithwaite doesn't expect to better that pace five years from now. Why bother? He can keep revenues climbing by building bigger instead. Rapid growth in Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, particularly Russia, is taking up the slack in the U.S. and Western Europe, where sales are softer.

There are about 85,000 people worldwide with liquid assets of $25 million or more, and their numbers are increasing. Sunseeker's dealers in Dubai "will take anything we can give them," Braithwaite says.

There are more superrich than there are superyachts to go around. But scarcity doesn't hurt this industry. The small number of yachts it builds makes it less vulnerable to economic upheaval: manufacturers need only rely on a handful of customers.

Boatbuilding is highly labor-intensive, yet the industry's biggest players remain based in Western Europe and the U.S., where workers are well paid. Braithwaite compares it to luxury automobiles. "If you built Rolls-Royces in China, you'd never get another sale. The product has to be fantastic." Yachts are still mostly handcrafted, although manufacturers now rely more on new technologies to improve quality and speed production. Sunseeker has a tech center outside Poole where robots help churn out components, ranging from dashboards to furniture.

Customization rules in yacht-building. Onboard gyms and saunas are common, and some of the bigger yachts even have swimming pools. There are also megayacht toys such as small helicopters, minisubmarines, diving bells, and tenders that can accommodate sailboats and speedboats. Annual running costs--including maintenance, crews and berthing fees--tend to be 10% to 20% of the boat's price.

To meet the enriched demand, Sunseeker is spending nearly $30 million this year expanding its boatyards in Poole and nearby Portland. So the yachtmakers have it going for them.
 

Left: View forward from saloon to main bridge of a Sunseeker. Right: View of flying bridge on another Sunseeker

Models of a couple of future Sunseekers

Left: Plan view of the Sunseeker 90. Right: Robert Braithwaite, CEO Sunseeker Yachts, stands with a model of the Sunseeker 53 Portofino in Poole, Dorset, UK

AR   I grew up in Poole. I watched the rise of this company. As a kid, I wanted to be a marine architect, designng such boats. I could have been rich, happy, settled ... oh, the tides of fortune!
 

Sigh ... keep dreaming, old boy.