Evolution of timber & glass

WHILE growing up on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, boats played a large role in Robert de Graaf’s life. Up until relatively recently though, boating was more of a downtime hobby for the businessman. That situation changed for the better a couple of years ago when de Graaf found himself in the fortunate position of being able to turn his passion for boats into a business venture. Having set up a successful timber packaging business in the early 1970s, which continues to be a going concern to this day, gave de Graaf the financial assurance and flexibility to pursue his dream of going boating full time.

“I had an interest in getting into the boating business two years ago,” he told Marine Business.
Extensive internet research on boats and manufacturers followed, however, before de Graaf could eventually shortlist boat companies he hoped to form an alliance with.
“I liked what the owners of [Norway-based] Windy Boats were saying,” he said.

“People were talking about owning a Windy for thirteen, fifteen, eighteen years … and were still happy with it. So with a bit more research I approached the
company and found they had a good philosophy … they build boats, they don’t ‘manufacture’ boats, and the quality is exemplary,” said de Graaf.

Ultimately the approach made to Windy Boats was successful and de Graaf went on to form Windy Boats Australia with son Robert joining in a sales role, making the fledgling dealership a
family affair. The business commenced operation from its Sydney showroom at d’albora Marina at the Spit Bridge, Mosman, with administration managed out of de Graaf’s timber factory base at Sefton in Sydney’s west. The company’s first example of a Windy, an impressive twin IPS-600 Volvo Penta equipped Triton 48 – also the first ever into the country – now takes pride of place alongside the Graaf Marine office.
Experienced boating salesman Ben Hammond has also joined the company in an executive sales role. The dealership also provides boat brokerage service.

In the first quarter of 2011, Windy Boats Australia was rebranded to become Graaf Marine, a restructure that saw the business take on the agency for the US-manufactured Pursuit
sportfishing boat range. Marine Business was on hand at the official Pursuit launch in Australia in May this year. Pursuit boats originate from Port Pierce in Florida, the line-up encompassing a number of high-end sportfishing models from 20’ (6.1m) in length, and upwards, in centre console and cabin configurations.
Before taking on Pursuit representation in

Australia, de Graaf had to be confident the brand was the right fit for his burgeoning company.
“The market for luxury boats is a small market and we needed something to complement the Windy range. They didn’t have a fishing boat, so I discussed this with Windy … I chose Pursuit
and said to Windy ‘would you be happy having your Australian distributor selling a fishing boat by Pursuit?’ and they knew the brand and said ‘yes’.

“It all came together, it was a good marriage,” he adds.
The first Pursuit landed in Australia in early April, a C 280, and was pre-sold to a Sydney buyer. Fitting out the first of the brand also meant Graaf Marine needed to form a relationship with an outboard company. Honda Marine now appears the most likely to fill that role after successfully supplying motors for the C280.

Graaf Marine will soon boost its stock of Pursuit boats with more models already shipped from Florida. The dealership also offers a brokerage service.

“In August we will have a showroom where will be displaying three to four trailer boats. We’re going up from twenty, twenty three [foot], which will be on trailers, and we’ve got an eighteen footer coming out that we’re quite excited about,” de Graaf said.

Graaf Marine exhibited boats at the 2011 Sydney International Boat Show and de Graaf has plans to expand to cover all east coast shows in 2012. While he has high hopes for his
relatively new foray into the boat industry and ultimate acceptance of his imported brands, de Graaf is realistic of the prospects in the current economic climate. “We are hanging in but it is certainly a very slow market. The grey boat market out of America, with the strong Australian dollar is certainly affecting everyone”.

On grey imports he says, “I think the BIA is looking at it, they are frustrated, their members are all frustrated … it’s something we’ve got to look at. Four out of five people that bring a boat in [to Australia] from the States end up with problems and end up not really saving much.”

Graaf Marine’s director though is quite confident the Australian economy will pick up in the next 12 months or so. Until then Robert de Graaf appears more than happy to be just realising his dream of mucking around in boats, full time.