Clipper- the name behind the brand

by Denby Browning on 17 Oct 2009 The name “clipper” conjures images of tall sailing ships of the 19th century streaming through the oceans of the world, racing from the far East to Europe with precious cargoes of tea and spices. The legendary Cutty Sark is perhaps the most famous of these ocean going vessels.

More recently in Australia, many boating families have owned or still own a Clipper 30 or 34 while holiday-makers will remember chartering a 34-foot Clipper on Sydney’s waterways or in the Whitsundays. Single-engine boats that slipped through the water at no more than nine knots, they were safe, reliable and comfortable.

Over the past decade the name and the brand has been revived and lifted to a new level of elegance, performance, size and quality by Australian boat builder Darren Berry.

Darren Berry grew up around boats. His grandparents owned the Whitsunday Wanderers resort in Airlie Beach in the 1970s. They also had the Wanderer Cruises Charter boat fleet with the “Island Wanderer”, “Reef Wanderer”, “Happy Wanderer” and the flagship “Whitsunday Wanderer”, the largest timber boat ever built in Australia – at Innisfail in northern Queensland. She was 365 tons, had four decks and carried up to 350 passengers on trips around the Whitsunday islands. They also owned the original Yellow Submarine coral observation submersible.

Darren moved on to work on boats at Hayman Island and then moved to Brisbane in the mid ‘90s to work as a manager for River Connections, the operator of the city’s river cat ferries.

“I believe that success in boat building comes from knowing boats, being immersed in the business. I talk with our yard and with Mark every day, sometimes four or five times. I know our owners and I listen to them closely. They use our boats and they know what changes we can make for the boats to work better.

“I had a business in the late 1990s importing and refurbishing boats,” said Darren. “We imported a number of displacement cruisers from Hong Kong and in the process sought out the yard that still made the boats known as Clippers in Australia. We modified the 38 in particular, extending the cockpit and relaunching it as a 40. There was a lot of work for Mark and me to get those boats right for introduction back into the Australian market.

“There are probably 100 of those boats in Australia today and they hold their resale value very well. By 2001 I could see a market trend toward the trawler style and decided to build my own boats. I wanted a brand of my own that had some history and the Clipper name is so well known.

“Primarily Mark and I wanted to produce a design of boat that I would like to own – semi-displacement boats with walk-around decks, stairs to the flybridge and classic teak interiors with contemporary design and interior components; ageless designs that will look as impressive over time as they do today.

“The Fuhau ship yard in China still had the original Clipper tooling. They had a good track record in building this style of boat over many years. One of the pitfalls of European boat builders moving into China is the number of yards that have little or no experience in ship building and most likely were making something else entirely different previously unrelated to hand crafted motor yachts.

Darren said building boats in China is a journey and takes time, patience and the right team to get world class quality.

“Our team in China is headed by Mark Campion. He’s an English boat builder who grew up in Hong Kong and worked with Ocean Alexander for 16 years. I met him when he helped to source and commission motor yachts with me in the late ‘90s. Steve Fitch and Gerald Scowen both worked at luxury boat builder Aquastar in Asia and Sunquest in the UK before joining Mark.

“My philosophy is simple really: use the best facets of Asian ship building, the world’s best motor yacht components wherever they are from, state of the art hull designs for each model and give each design a distinctly Australian layout for our market. Renowned Canadian Naval Architect Trevor Bolt develops the hull shape and running surface of our boats and we tank test each one before it goes into production. Our hull designs are a classic double chine in the style developed by the great naval architect Ed Monk. In fact, Trevor worked with Monk for a time. So we think we have perfected that design to provide great cruising characteristics at displacement speeds or cruising at 20 knots plus.

“The Cordova range with twin engines will cruise all day at 19 knots and equally comfortably at displacement speeds around nine knots, so you have the best of both worlds,” he said. “Our research has demonstrated that most owners enjoy the slow cruising most of the time. But it is helpful to have the extra turn of speed ( up to 24 knots on some models) when you want to get out of changing weather or have to be somewhere reasonably quickly.”

“Many of our components are sourced outside China. Our tapware, for example, is genuine Grohe, the stainless steel saloon doors and window surrounds are sourced from a factory in Taiwan that serves the superyacht builders there and all of our electrical equipment such as microwaves, TV’s, cooktops, winches and navigation aids are sourced in Australia and shipped to the yard in China. We are one of the few imported motor yachts that are 100% approved for Australian Electrical Standards.”

Darren said that the craftsmanship demonstrated by the yard’s staff is extraordinary.

“The Chinese still build ‘inside the boat’ whereas most European and American yards now use componentry – build everything outside the boat and then drop it in place. Our Chinese carpenters in particular are highly skilled and perfection driven. And they will work all day to get the joinery right. It shows in the interior fitout of our boats. You can see that the boats are hand crafted. There is not one part of our processes that mirror mass production line boat building.

“Our formula has ensured that throughout the financial crisis our phones kept ringing. And enquiries more often than not develop into sales. Our owners are very committed. A Clipper is rarely their first boat. And we are very proud both of the quality that we are able to deliver and the strong resale value that we can continue to deliver – even over the last 18 months.” It’s clear as buyers become more prone to research the market and look for value/quality products we are growing market share in our niche.”

Today, Clipper Motor Yachts builds two lines, Heritage and Cordova. The Heritage 36 and 40 are single engine displacement cruisers while the Cordovas include 45, 48, 52 and 60-foot models of semi-displacement cruisers.
“We will add a 72 in a similar style to the 60 to be launched in 2011,” said Darren. “I am also working on 78 and 86-foot models. The first of those will be launched in late 2011.”

The company also has plans to launch a third range, to be called Hudson Bay, in the second half of 2010. They will offer single-level living in a fully enclosed saloon with accommodation below decks.

“They will be great entertainer boats with the ability to cruise long distances with plenty of comfortable accommodation for a family,” said Darren. “The first model will be 54 feet and include a full-beam master stateroom.”
The launch of the Hudson Bay range will give Clipper Motor Yachts three ranges of classic-style cruising boats from 36 to 86 feet.

The company has now developed a strong dealership network in Europe, stretching north to Scandinavia, in Asia and Australasia and is working to build a skilled dealer group in the Americas.

Clipper Motor Yachts is set on a solid foundation for growth over the next few years with a lean management structure that ensures clean lines of communication and a factory in China that consistently builds high quality boats.
“I never want Clipper to be a high volume boat builder,” said Darren. “Our future lies in a boutiqu