At the recent NZ Marine Annual General Meeting, held 16 June 2020, members agreed to the establishment of a NZ Marine & Composites Training Academy. This exciting new initiative will further the world-leading training provided by the NZ Marine & Composites (NZMAC) Transitional Industry Training Organisation, and seamlessly transition existing apprentices to the new Training Academy. The Government’s reforms of the vocational education sector https://www.tec.govt.nz/rove/reform-of-vocational-education/ which will see the disestablishment of industry training organisations (ITOs) has provided the marine and composites industries a unique opportunity to pursue a dedicated training academy. This will be through an application to NZQA to… Read More

HamiltonJet has embarked on an exciting project to refit a newly acquired test boat with the company’s innovative new Electro-hybrid Drive (EHX) waterjets. The 15-metre aluminium hydrofoil-assisted catamaran enjoyed a former life as a recreational vessel, cruising the waters of New Zealand’s beautiful Marlborough Sounds. Now, with a significant refit well underway, she is bound for a relaunch as the showcase for HamiltonJet’s newest technology to be used for development, testing and demonstration of the EHX system. The test boat was designed initially by Teknicraft and built by Q-West boat builders. Q-West will also complete the refit. “We chose Q-West… Read More

Auckland, New Zealand – Built Boats has created the new Tuff 540 for fishing enthusiasts. The boat is available for purchase from the Built Boat website from 19 May 2020. The Tuff 540 is a 5.4-metre-long hardtop powerboat designed and built in Auckland, New Zealand from 15mm-thick Tuff-plate™ specifically engineered to withstand the harsh marine environment. Unlike their aluminium counterparts, boats built from Tuff-plate™ will not corrode. An excellent boat-building material, Tuff-plate™ floats, resists harsh chemicals and marine growth, and has a carbon footprint approximately five times smaller than aluminium plate. The body of the Tuff 540 is filled with… Read More

A much anticipated aspect of the 36th America’s Cup, set to be held in Auckland, New Zealand in 2021, is the Youth America’s Cup which already has more than 15 teams from around the world confirmed to take part. The event will be raced on a new carbon foiling mono-hull – the AC9F – designed by the Yachting Developments design team led by Bob Graham. A fleet of AC9F models is set to be built at the Yachting Developments yard, which will allow for simultaneous match racing between participating teams. This first AC9F model was completed by Yachting Developments in… Read More

After a very successful 2017 pop-up shop in Tauranga, Surtees is coming back full force with a more extended “pop up” option on Tauranga’s busiest strip – Hewletts Road. The manufacturer wants to create an even better client experience for new and existing customers, inviting them into their new showroom at the Mount Maunganui site to check out what one of the biggest New Zealand trailerboat manufacturers has to offer. Open seven-days-a-week, clients can come and browse the boats on offer as well as book in demos out of Sulphur Point and compare all the different Surtees models. The doors will… Read More

After several months of close collaboration between the NZ Marine Export Group and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise we are excited to now share the new Marine Story, Edge Ahead – a marketing initiative designed to build awareness and preference for New Zealand’s boating and marine products, technology and services in key offshore markets. This video is a compelling way of promoting the New Zealand Marine sector internationally and is intended for use by New Zealand businesses who are currently exporting or looking to export, as well as organisations such as NZ Embassies/international NZTE offices involved in promoting and building… Read More

Fosters Ship Chandlery are proud to announce that they are the exclusive distributors for the Cyclops Marine Smart range.  Bringing America’s Cup technology to ordinary sailors, the smarttune® and smartlink® wireless load sensors allow sailors to accurately measure stay tension and line loads in real time, transmitting data either to your mobile device via a dedicated app or to your existing boat electronics. Remember your best race? Everything clicked. You were in a different gear than everyone else. You pointed higher off the start line. You were going faster than the competition. The following day you go to repeat it… Read More

Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders are proud to announce their latest custom project, an 18m high-speed, full-carbon sport-fisher from Dennis Harjamaa of Artnautica Yacht Design. The Artnautica 60 is a combination of light-weight and extremely efficient hull dynamics.  This combined with Volvo Penta’s latest generation D11 IPS 800s results in a boat capable of both 30+ knot speed, and long passage-making of 1200+ nm at hull-speed of 10 knots. Designer Dennis Harjamaa: “This boat is all about efficiency, sea-keeping, and performance. Three key decisions were made at the outset: The use of Volvo’s IPS2 propulsion system, to go with a low-profile shape… Read More

Leading branding and digital design agency, Onfire Design has recently completed the rebrand and build of a new website for New Zealand boat builder Haines Hunter. Onfire specialises in marine industry marketing, the work for Haines Hunter the latest of a number of design and branding projects from within the industry. Alongside the new website, Haines Hunter now enjoys a sharp new logo, new boat graphics, new sales and marketing material and a new brand phrase – The Ride Just Gets Better. “Over the past six months Onfire has been working closely with Denis Kendall and Lionel Sands at Haines… Read More

As a student at St Peters College Auckland, Josh was a passionate rower.  His involvement in the sport and an enthusiasm for boats created an interest that Josh decided to pursue as a career. Enter Tracey Eaton, NZMAC ITO Transition Advisor for the Launch it, School to Work programme. Tracey visited Josh at school to discuss the marine and composite pathway options.  Traditional boat building was the area Josh chose to explore and introductions followed by work experience organised. Josh had a comfortable mix of work for one day per week while still attending school. After a couple of months,… Read More