LATEST NEWS

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

On Friday 14^th May 2010, The Cruising Club Australia Pty Ltd (TCCA) acquired one of Australia’s leading boat-share companies, Sydney Boat Share, from Ardent Leisure Ltd. Although TCCA did not acquire the existing boats or the management rights to them, TCCA will operate the business and the business model it bought from Ardent Leisure Ltd from premises at d’Albora Marina at The Spit from 1 June 2010.

"The Board of Ardent Leisure Ltd made a strategic decision to focus and grow other areas within its leisure business. Today, Sydney Boat Share is trading extremely well and we will continue to manage our existing syndicates with our existing dedicated staff. The Sydney Boat Share model works and it makes sense that one of the most experienced operators in Australia continues our boat share model,” advised Craig Karpin, CEO of d’Albora Marinas and Sydney Boat Share.

The Principal of The Cruising club and new owner of Sydney Boat Share, Rod Cunningham, is planning to bring new boats online almost immediately. The new boats will include the up-market Nimbus Nova 42 Sports which is already located at The Spit Marina and new and existing Maritimo boats, including the just launched Flybridge 47 and Cabriolet 47.

Rod Cunningham, CEO of The Cruising Club advised - “We are all looking forward to the expansion of the fleet with some outstanding syndicate opportunities. Boat syndication is surprisingly affordable. By joining The Cruising Club and / or staying in Sydney Boat Share you can access Australia’s wonderful waterways by owning a share in your own luxury boat. Unlike membership or timeshare operations you always have the security of owning the asset, which belongs to you and not to a faceless management company”.

With more than 70% of existing Sydney Boat Share customers wanting to roll into new syndicates, the Cruising Club is an ideal operator to take over the name and intellectual property of Sydney Boat Share.

Rod Cunningham said that, although the Sydney Boat Share name and basic business model will remain the same, changes will be made to ensure that the equity ownership program will comply with the NSW Maritime Authority Guidelines for Boat-share Operations in a similar way to TCCA at this time."

The existing Sydney Boat Share locations at The Spit, Rushcutters Bay and Pittwater will continue to operate and may even expand to include other locations in Sydney Harbour and in Botany Bay and Port Hacking later in 2010."

This acquisition follows on the recent merger with Boat Syndicates International and makes The Cruising Club the largest boat-share operator in Australia which has not gone unnoticed by leading manufacturers who are now supplying boats to the group. TCCA now operates a range of boats including the following:

Mustang (now owned by Maritimo), Cruisers Yachts, Maritimo, Four Winns, SeaQuest, Bavaria Yachts, Nimbus and Mainship.

This huge range of types and brands of boats provides customers with a great choice when accessing our fabulous waterways and, additionally, TCCA can assist those wishing to buy their own boat through any of those manufacturers.

Should you have any further queries or comments please contact –

rod@cruisingclub.com.au   (0419 776 090)

or phone TCCA Head Office on 02 8213 6300.

Friday, February 05, 2010

 

The Cruising Club and Boat Syndicates International merge.

 

The Managing Directors of The Cruising Club Australia Pty Ltd, Rod Cunningham, and Boat Syndicates International Pty Ltd, Stephen Hennessy, today jointly announced that they had merged their syndicated ownership businesses to form Shared Boating Pty Ltd.

Both companies have weathered the downturn in the boating industry over the last 18 to 24 months and, in fact, have enjoyed positive growth mainly due to the boating community’s acceptance of shared boating as a mainstream option for boat ownership.

Rod Cunningham said that the timing was excellent for those people wanting to enjoy boating at a fraction of the cost of owning a whole boat as boat prices have been very competitive due to the world financial situation and the strength of the Australian dollar. 

“We have more than doubled the size of our fleet at Birkenhead Point with the inclusion of some larger, more luxurious boats including a Nimbus Nova 42, Mustang 4600 Sports Top IPS, Riviera 47 Sports Yacht, Cruisers Yacht 560 and a Riviera 56 Enclosed Flybridge (in survey) due to increased demand.” , he said.

Stephen Hennessy said that the buying power of the new company and the economies of scale possible due to the merger would result in better opportunities for customers and a higher level of service.

Both companies have been Accredited by NSW Maritime Authority under the new guidelines in 2009 providing both existing and potential customers with the assurance that they are in compliant and safe programs.

Over the course of the next few months the BSI sites at Bobbin Head and The Spit, will change to Cruising Club and the planned Pittwater site will commence as Cruising Club around March 1^st 2010.  The Cruising Club shared boating packages will be supplemented at all our sites by customised syndicate options under the Boat Syndicates International banner. 

As a result of the merger, The Cruising Club will be possibly the largest boat-share operator in Australia with a total of around 26 boats under management including the 14 Cruising Club boats at Birkenhead Point and one boat in the fabulous Whitsundays.

Rod Cunningham will be the Managing Director of the new company with Stephen Hennessy as Executive Director. Head Office will be at Birkenhead Point Marina.

With operations in Birkenhead Point, The Spit, Bobbin Head, Pittwater and Airlie Beach our Members will have a wider choice of where and how they enjoy their boating. The variety of boats and locations provides a huge range of packages priced to suit all budgets.

Members Functions are being organised at all sites for the Members and share owners to meet the new management team, inspect new boats and to see the great new deals on offer should Members wish to upgrade.

For Bobbin Head, in particular, there are some great deals on offer to upgrade from boats that have finished their syndicate periods. Rod and Stephen are working hard with suppliers to clinch deals over the coming days and Members will be contacted individually before Friday 12^th February 2010.

Please let your family, friends and colleagues know that they, too, can enjoy shared boating at any site they choose in and around Sydney across a whole range of boat types and price options.

April 2009

Boat Syndicates International Programme Recognised by NSW Maritime.

On 3rd April, 2009 BSI was advised by the Commercial Vessels Policy Branch of NSW Maritime that our programme had satisfied NSW Maritime guidelines and had been granted "Boat-Share Status".

Recreational not Commercial

This is a significant step for BSI as it means that our boats are considered to be recreational and do not need to be in commercial survey.

This determination by NSW Maritime means that we are not restricted in the boats we can syndicate.  We can utilise boats from all manufacturers, not just those who can manufacture to commercial survey requirements.  There are very few boats less than 50 feet in length that are manufactured in commercial survey. Overseas manufacturers are not prepared to specially manufacture modified small to medium sized boats to suit a small market such as Australia. The handful of Australian boatbuilders who will manufacture in commercial survey have to charge a significant premium to cover the costs of such manufacture.

Ownership Rights Option

Also approved in our submission to NSW Maritime was our option of "Ownership Rights", whereby a person can acquire all the rights of an ownership share for a period of time without taking an equity position in the boat.

This is a great option for people who are not able to commit to a full syndicate term of three years but still want all the benefits of shared ownership under the BSI programme for a limited time.

Annual Ownership

We will be offering a new annual ownership programme, where people can buy ownership rights for 12 months and then optionally upgrade to full equity ownership with recognition given to what they have already paid.