48 AUGUST–SEPTEMBER 2019 | International Boat Industry ibinews.com
Markets & Regions
BOATBUILDERS | SOUTH AFRICA
JOHN ROBERTSON, CO-FOUNDER
ROBERTSON & CAINEThere's no such
thing as a charter
boat. Everything
that makes a boat
good for charter is
equally important
for private ownersBOATBUILDERS
EQUIPMENT
& SERVICESBOATBUILDERS
ROBERTSON & CAINE
Robertson & Caine has come a very long
way since it was founded back in 1991 by
namesakes John Robertson and the late
Jerry Caine. Having started out building
monohulls, it has been ‘cats-only’ for
around 20 years now and for most of those
has had an exclusive supply agreement
with the various entities responsible for
The Moorings and Sunsail, presently
Travelopia. As of June 2019, that adventure
holidays specialist boasted no fewer than
793 charter boats within its Moorings
and Sunsail programmes – 312 monohull
sailboats, 368 sailing cats and 113 powercats- according to Franck Bauguil, Travelopia’s
vice-president of yacht ownership and
product development. Travelopia not only
buys R&C’s models for its two charter
fleets, but also serves as the worldwide
distributor for Leopard, the R&C brand
used for private-owner sales. Since the
first 45ft ‘Moorings 4500’ was delivered in
March 1997, R&C has gone on to deliver
in excess of 2,000 cats across 23 models
spanning 38ft-62ft. The model portfolio
presently spans 40ft-58ft and includes four
sailing cats and a couple of powercats. The
favoured designer is now Cape Town-based
Alex Simonis, who has been responsible for
the entire present range. Depending on the
model, they deliver with combinations of
Leopard, Moorings and Sunsail branding:
the Leopard 40/Moorings 4000/Sunsail
404, which was shown with a facelifted
interior at Miami 2019; the new for 2016
and best-selling Leopard 45/Moorings
4500/Sunsail 454; the Leopard 50/
Moorings 5000, which is the newest model
having had a world premiere at Miami
2018; and the present flagship, the seven-
year-old Leopard 58/Moorings 5800, only
a handful of which are built a year. The
powercats are the 2015-introduced Leopard
43PC/Moorings 433PC or 434PC, the
final digit revealing the number of guest
cabins, and the 2013-introduced Leopard
51PC/Moorings 514PC, which will soon
be replaced by the 53PC/Moorings 534PC,
the first of which launches for October
2019 and should debut at Miami 2020.
Basic-spec prices are keen across the board:
US$399,000 for the 40, US$549,000 for the
45, US$729,000 for the 50, US$1,329,000
for the 58; US$525,000 for the 43PC; and
US$920,000 for the brand new 53PC. Key
suppliers include Z-Spars, which does all
spar sets save for the 58’s, which comes
from Sparcraft Masts, Cape Town. All sails
now come from the local Ullman factory
and all engines come from Yanmar. Since
2015 Robertson & Caine has been majority
owned by a private-equity fund managed
by Johannesburg-based Capitalworks,
although John Robertson has retained a
significant minority stake. The company’s
previous investment partner was Treacle,
which acquired around 30% back in spring- Capitalworks’s founding partners,
Darshan Daya and Shaun Frankish, tell
us they are working to a “four to seven-
year horizon”, which translates to likely
exit soon. They entered the company in
autumn 2015 with a reported investment
worth US$25m (ZAR350m). Certainly R&C
is back in strong growth mode. Last year
it delivered a total of 160 boats, a record
output. And this year should see turnover
hit US$100m (ZAR1.4bn) from a record
190 boats delivered, roughly 75% or 140
of which will be sailing cats and 25% or 50
powercats. And the production plan for
2020 is well over 200 units, according to
Franck Bauguil. R&C should have an 11.1%
share this year of a total 2019 world sailing
cat market worth around 1,260 units, so
R&C comfortably maintains its third spot
behind Lagoon and Fountaine-Pajot and
ahead of Bavaria subsidiary Nautitech.
And R&C is presently number one in the
world for powercat cruisers from 40ft-55ft,
a segment estimated to be worth around
150 units this year, which means its market
share in that segment is approximately
one-third. R&C’s new powercat model
will be a game-changer, according to John
Robertson. “Up to now the powercat
market has piggy-backed on sailing models,
but the unit volumes are high enough now
to justify dedicated designs. For instance,
we gave Alex Simonis a blank sheet of
paper for our new 53PC and what he has
come up with is definitely not ‘yachtie’,
more glitzy, much more of a motorboat...
She’ll do 23 knots and has proper engine-
rooms, rather than having engines
tucked under bunks sailboat-style.” The
Moorings and Sunsail fleet requirements
will account for around 50-55% of R&C
production in 2019, whereas just four
years ago that charter percentage would
have been at least two-thirds. “People
say that we build charter boats,” says
Robertson. “Wrong. To me, there’s no such
thing as a charter boat. Everything that
makes a boat good for charter is equally
important for private owners.” Despite
its considerable experience, 2018 proved
to be a more difficult year than most for
R&C. Following the substantial Caribbean
charter fleet losses to Hurricane Irma inCOMPANY LISTING
Robertson & Caine’s production line