2016 Asian Marine and Boating Awards - Overall report

by Alistair Skinner on 10 Apr 2016 The Asian Marine and Boating Awards Ceremony 2016 was held at the venue of the China (Shanghai) International Boat Show on the first evening of the show.

Over 200 guests were welcomed to the event with cocktails followed by a couple of short speeches then it was straight on the ‘meat’ of the evenings.

The individual winners across 16 categories were introduced with a brief reasoning by Alistair Skinner and Helena Gao across four sections with the winners coming onto the platform to collect their trophies.

The panel of judges was made up of Bob Fisher, perhaps the world’s best known yachting journalist, Alistair Murray, CEO of Ronstan, Andrew Chapman, Chairman of Australia’s Marina Industries Association, Marlov Shroff, President of the Asian Sailing Federation, Roger Eastham, Marine Consultant, Hong Kong’s go to person in most matters, Simon Boyde, Director of Storm Force Marine, one of Hong Kong’s major marine suppliers, Yang Xin Fa, Secretary General of China’s Shipbuilding Association and Judges Chairman, Alistair Skinner, founder of China’s first members run boating club and President of Team 4 Dragons Marine.

In addition to the judges there were votes from a selection of relevant media and a carefully monitored online public voting system, all designed to ensure the voting was across as wide a spectrum as possible.

The winners in the various categories were as follows;

• Best Dayboat (Sportsboat/Dinghy) - Far East 28R
• Best Sailing Yacht Under 45' - Jeanneau 3600
• Best Sailing Yacht over 45' - Beneteau Oceanis 60
• Best Motor Yacht under 40' - Bavaria New Sport 360
• Best Motor Yacht 40' 75' - Sunseeker Predator 57
• Best Motor Yacht over 75' - Azimut 77S
• Best Brand Penetration - Mercury Marine
• Best Yacht Designer - Ed Dubois
• Asian Regatta of the Year - China Cup
• Asian Boating Capital of the Year - Hong Kong
• Personality of the Year - Dongfeng Race Team in the Volvo Ocean Race
• Yacht Club of the Year - Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
• Most Eco-friendly Marine Business - Torquedo
• Best Sports Boat - Regal 2100 RX Bowrider
• Best Sports Fishing Boat - Boston Whaler Outrage 350
• Most Innovative Company - Furuno - Wi Fi Radar

Some votes went down to the wire, as they say while others were runaway winners and all were well received.

There was one bitter sweet moment however. Less than 24 hours after the final votes were tallied the Asian Marine and Boating Awards learned of the untimely death of Ed Dubois, the winner of the Asian Yacht Designer of the Year. Ed’s early career was influenced significantly by boats from Hong Kong and the Dubois 50 built by Farnova in Shenzhen was almost a return to some of his early roots.

Sad that this award should have to be made posthumously.

The official awards over the evening moved on to a buffet dinner at the venue, allowing those gathered to gently chat without having one eye for a prospective customer walking on to their stand. A pleasant culmination of a journey which started with nominations being received many months ago producing the 16 worthy winners of the sixth Annual Asian Marine and Boating Awards.

A new cycle begins with judges and other knowledgeable people keeping they eye out for the likely nominees for the 2017 Awards. The China (Shanghai) International Boat Show is one of the best places to spot next year’s crop after all.

In the meantime at least one of the winners was happy enough to have their victory on social media within an hour after receiving the trophy. As one recipient has said “it’s nice to receive an award that you know you have actually won and isn’t just a gift.”