Cruising_World_2016-06-07

june/july 2016

cruisingworld.com

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As for Cape Town, orienting your-

self is easy. Take the funicular to the

top of Table Mountain on a clear day,

and you’ll see the whole region laid

out before you. To the south stretch-

es Cape Peninsula and some 50 miles

to the Cape of Good Hope, as the

Cape of Storms is known on modern

charts, much of it national park that

off ers spectacular hiking and cycling.

To the southwest lie Hout Bay and

the modernist beach neighborhoods

of Llandudno, Camps Bay, Clifton

and Sea Point. Out west across Table

Bay, 8 miles off , lies Robben Island,

the prison where Nelson Mandela

spent 18 years of his sentence, now

a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Spread out just below are the city

center and the Victoria & Alfred Wa-

terfront, where Cape Town’s marine

services mix with high-end shopping

and entertainment. And northwest

of these, out near Table Bay’s west-

ern strand and the industrial zones of

Woodstock and Montague Gardens

and Atlantis, lies the real interest:

Here is where the boats get built.

WHY BUILD BOATS IN

SOUTH AFRICA?

South Africa’s business climate dif-

fers in some ways from the climate

in North American and European

countries, and in other ways from the

climate in Latin American and Asian

countries. Three forces shape any

business environment: labor markets,

government regulation, and procure-

ment of materials and components.

South Africa’s blend of these forces

is unique. When Rudi Pretorius

examines the costs in a new Maverick

440, this is what he sees: components,

35 percent; raw materials, 19 percent;

labor, 14 percent; overhead, 17 per-

cent; and tooling, 15 percent. The

big-ticket items are not labor or real

estate or marketing, but components

and equipment that come in from

abroad. “If you were in Australia,” said

Rudi, “labor would have been much,

much higher.”

Phil Berman, of the Philadelphia-

based Multihull Co., conceived the

broad outlines of the Balance 526

performance-cruising catamaran,

then commissioned Cape Town yacht

designer Anton du Toit to design

it and Nexus Yachts of St. Francis

Bay to build it. I met Phil in Cape

Town for the launch of hull num-

ber one. Over the last decade or so,

Phil has commissioned other new

builds in Brazil and China. “The big

advantage of South Africa over Bra-

ing versions of that boat, with some variations

optimized for performance and others for day

charters. When I visited Matrix, an all-carbon

hybrid-electric 60-foot performance cat was in

development. Matrix Yachts employs roughly

40 boatbuilders. To date, the company has built

seven 76-footers and four 45s.

Maverick Yachts, Cape Town

maverickyachts.co.za

In the last eight years, Maverick Yachts has built

17 Phil Southwell-designed cruising catama-

rans — nine 40-footers and eight 44- footers

— as well as ambulance boats for inland lakes

in Africa. With its 24-foot-6-inch beam and

open saloon, the Maverick is uncommonly spa-

cious. Today you’ll find Mavericks cruising in

multiple locations. Before building boats, Rudi

Pretorius built a successful logistics company

in Cape Town, sold it, and retired at age 45.

With plans to voyage around the world, he and

his wife, Deslynn, ordered a new Knysna 440

that launched in 2003, but those plans were

tragically interrupted when their oldest son

was killed in a traffic accident. After months

of refl ection, Rudi began focusing on the best

times of his life. “Building the Knysna was like

a second honeymoon,” he told me, recounting

visits to the boatyard. And so a boatbuilder was

born. Today Maverick Yachts employs 24 peo-

ple, plus contractors. The company builds four

boats a year, with room to grow to 12.

Nexus/Balance Catamarans, St. Francis Bay

balancecatamarans.com

In South Africa’s world of composite structures,

the Paarman brothers are beachfront royalty.

Their uncle John Whitmore pioneered South Af-

rican surfi ng in the 1950s and was the country’s

fi rst surfboard builder. Jonathan Paarman, now

62, learned the trade at his side before moving

on to building Hobie Cats and then larger sail-

boats and Grand Prix speed machines. In 2007,

Mark Paarman decided he wanted a fast cat for

himself that could carry plenty of kit for long ex-

peditions to unpopulated surf spots. He wanted

a boat strong enough to withstand the treacher-

ous seas of the Agulhas Current and fast enough

to sail out of dangerous storm quadrants. That

meant epoxy construction, a foam core and

a tough laminate schedule. Together with his

brothers, Roger and Jonathan, and a partner,

John Henrick — all top-level sailors, surfers and

deep-sea fi shermen — the gang built four all-

epoxy Nexus 60s designed by Antony Key. In

the meantime, Roger Paarman hooked up with

Phil Berman of the Multihull Co. in 2012 and

BOATBUILDER

PROFILES

Maverick 440

SOUTH AFRICA BUILDERS

TIM MURPHY; BILLY BLACK (FAR LEFT)