APSA Grand Tour Takes Off
by Suzy Rayment, APSA 15 Jan 2021 22:19 PST
12 January 2021
The Asia Pacific Superyacht Association (APSA) proudly presented the first of its three-part ‘APSA Grand Tour 2021’ and Nigel Beatty, APSA Chairman, opened proceedings by reminding participants that 2021 is indeed the 10th anniversary of the Association. Formed in 2011, APSA’s primary aim as a regional association is to promote APSA members to the global superyacht community, and showcase the Asia-Pacific region as the world’s third great superyacht cruising destination.
Beatty noted that, “over the last 10 years we have seen a huge upswing in the business of yachting in Asia fuelled by many yachts visiting from the West, as well as a large swell of domestic demand. As we are unable to have a big birthday party, we decided to hold this webinar to highlight the Asia-Pacific region, and let a global audience know more about this cruising circuit. We have adopted a simple concept of having a superyacht (M/Y APSA) cruise around the Asia-Pacific region. Three weekly, one and a half hour sessions, featuring three cruising regions and nine countries.”
Starting in New Zealand on 12th January, M/Y APSA voyages over to Australia and then up to Papua New Guinea for the first session. The next webinar on the 19th January, continues the cruise to Japan, then onto Taiwan, and stopping in Hong Kong. The final session on the 26th January, explores Southeast Asia with the focus on Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, thus completing one of the many circuits of the Asia-Pacific cruising area.
David Good, CEO of AIMEX, Superyacht Australia, and the Australian Commercial Marine Group since 2018, believes that the Asia-Pacific region has a massive amount to offer. “The Asia Pacific region has it all,” says Good. Destinations. Service yards. Refit facilities. We would like the superyacht industry to know that they can come to the Asia-Pac, enjoy themselves with wonderful exploring and cruising, and not have to go all the way back to the Med for a fuel fill and a paint job.”
Good also announced that in December 2019, changes to Australian charter regulations were finally achieved. “We have been battling the Government for 10 years to ease charter regulations, and one of our biggest weapons was to be able to show that destinations such as Fiji, Tahiti and New Zealand were already welcoming charter operators, while Australia was missing out. With our fantastic cruising ground such as the Kimberly coast, the Great Barrier Reef and Sydney, we should be welcoming superyachts to come and stay for several seasons, not just five minutes. Being able to charter is key to keeping superyachts in the region.”
First panellist for Session 1 which focused on the Oceania/Pacific Region, was Nigel Wightman (Integrated Marine Group) reminding us that New Zealand boasts some of the most picturesque and even spectacular cruising scenery in the world. There’s unique fauna when you step ashore; mountains, volcanoes and fjords to visit, fabulous produce and world class wines to sample. The superyacht service industry is mature, top class, and world-renowned. The work ethic is “casual but professional – and owners like it.” With the Prada Cup in full swing and the 36th America’s Cup just around the corner, the spotlight is on Auckland. Wightman says that the AC boats in action are a sight to behold, and that New Zealanders are all sailing mad, “so everyone who can be is out there on the water watching and supporting the home team. The only problem at the moment is a little bug called Covid-19 which is hampering the movements of fly-in-fly-out owners and their guests, but fortunately not full-time yacht crews.”
Across the Tasman Sea in Queensland, Australia, Trenton Gay (Gold Coast City Marina) is very happy to be ‘open all hours’ at 27°S. “The Gold Coast is (just) sub-tropical, so we really are a year-round operation.” Trent took the webinar audience on a whistle stop cruise around Australia, pausing in Tasmania, along the Victorian coast, nearby the Margaret River vineyards in Western Australia, and in the Kimberley (top left corner) where the land just falls into the sea, tides reach 14m, and the waterfalls are horizontal. Then of course there’s the Great Barrier Reef: “I was there a couple of months ago. It’s not all dead, or bleached, or disappeared. It’s still the biggest living thing in the world, and still one of the all-time top must-see places in Australia – and how better to do that than on a superyacht?” At the end of a circumnavigating cruise of the world’s largest island you can stop at the Gold Coast, where all, repeat all, service and refit facilities are available. “There’s nothing odd, or tricky, about the regulations hereabouts,” says Gay. “In common with the rest of Australia, the boating industry professional provide top service and enjoy what they are doing. C’mon Down Under and see us.”
Papua New Guinea has hardly made a mark on the superyacht chart to date. Angela Pennefather is PNG-born, and aiming to change the misconception that PNG is a ‘difficult’ destination. Pennefather is a qualified master chef, spent eight years working on live-aboard dive boats, and a further 13 years on superyachts. The founder of Melanesian Luxury Yachts admits that “we don’t have the yacht support infrastructure in PNG, but Australia is really very close. This is a country with a population of 8m people speaking 850 languages. Not dialects – languages. Today’s bay does not speak the same language as yesterday’s mooring.” Angela says that in the last several years she can remember sharing a bay with another yacht on only two occasions. PNG is an adventure destination calling for self-sufficiency. The diving in the Trobriand Islands is nothing short of spectacular, and the coastline is breath-taking. New Britain is the volcanoes-and-hiking sector, and everywhere is deserted, but above and beyond everything else, PNG is about the people. It is “the biggest anthropological museum in the world.” Yes, there are security issues, but like the perception of Asian piracy a couple of decades ago, it is substantially overstated. “Away from built-up and populated areas, the biggest problem is likely to be an infected coral cut.”
Nigel Beatty wrapped up proceedings, reiterating the function of APSA as being an avenue of communication that aims to help the players in the Asia-Pac superyacht industry pull together, and in turn make the region more attractive as a whole. “With these nine countries we are only scratching the surface of the fantastic cruising in this region (which is why the yachts that come here come back again and again). In the future we will be adding more episodes to the APSA Grand Tour, including the South Pacific Swing and Indian Ocean Adventure. There are also plans to build on the APSA webinar concept with episodes for Asia-Pacific Superyacht Brokerage, Asia Pacific Repair and Refit, Asia Pacific Charter, and lots more.”
A recording of the webinar can be found at:
drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1m_uq9drWuGhtmfueZBg-EVRhsZ-rRB9G
The next stage of the APSA Grand Tour (covering Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) is on Tuesday 19 January, 2021 at 1700hrs HKT (GMT +8).
Sign up here: (us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DEknFsHbQ1SlWL1upJzeQw)
www.apsuperyacht.org