The first AGB, run in 2010, was held at
picturesque Pittwater, NSW. It was a shoestring
operation thrown together to celebrate the
industry and help you better understand how
we rate boats plus, obviously, crown some
winners. The team back then probably didn’t fully
recognise the size of the job or the monster they
were creating but hats off to then-editor, Barry
‘Bazz’ Ashenhurst, and the rest of the crew for a
job well done! AGB 2010 covered a wider range of
boats, from small producers to watersports, and
even products. Since then we have refined and
streamlined the event to focus on fishing boats,
split by construction; alloy and fibreglass.What
2018 will offer we don’t yet know, but rest assured
it will involve massive planning, long nights and
plenty of arguments – like every year.
2010 feels like an age away but our winners
feel as fresh as the day they took their gongs. Inparticular, our Fibreglass category winner, the
Haines Hunter 650R Limited is a boat seen at
ramps regularly by theTrade-a-Boatteam and
going by the listings on Tradeboats.com.au, it’s
very popular. Resale is strong too, and the hull is
starting to generate cult status among fans. John
‘Bear’Willis had this to say of the 650R back then:
“The Rolls Royce of boats has plenty of Ferrari in
it.” Looks like we were right!
Bar Crusher’s winning 760 Hard Top has been
superseded by the newer 780 Hard Top (now
available as enclosed Pilot House too) which
brought about some good upgrades, particularly
in fuel capacity and additional creature comforts.
Kevin Smith agreed back in 2010, proclaiming:
“The X-Factor is off the scale!”We rate the 780
highly, having tested one back in issue #458 so
it seems theVic-based team keeps turning out
winners in the big-boat game.2010
92 trade aboat.com.au
The Haines Hunter 650 R Limited made light work of the
choppy Pittwater conditions coming out on top with
80/100 after scoring highly for Design and Layout.WINNER^ AUSTRALIA’S^ GREATEST^ FIBREGLASS^ FISHING (^) B
OATS
(^2010)