|
A excellent reputation in the US for Sail and soon to be ... in Power
 Wayne: We’re very happy to be here, because for us it definitely is a new niche, and a new business for Beneteau USA . As a solely owned company by a French parent, we have not ventured into the powerboat market until now.
 Building
upon that great foundation we have laid for years with our sailors, and
the quality of the boats that we build in South Carolina, and we decided
to bring that to the powerboat market.
Free
Case of Dom Perignon Champagne
with all Beneteau Powerboats
The introduction of the Swift Trawler 42 is a natural progression for Beneteau USA. As our market continues to grow, we have seen an increasing demand for sailors and powerboaters alike ready to make a switch to a new generation of passagemakers. The Swift 42 fulfills that demand by offering a performance, safe, seaworthy hull in combination with a sumptuous interior highlighted by the lustrous joinerwork for which Beneteau is so well known.
Timing is everything. We've been building sailboats in the US for 17
years and have proven success in meeting the American boater's desire
for highly refined production sailing yachts. In Europe Beneteau has been
building and promoting powerboats for decades. It seems the time is right
for Beneteau to now enter the American powerboat market.
|
Rex: When discussing the Trawler market with manufacturers,
they tell me that many of their customers are people moving out
of sail. Do you find this to be true?
Wayne: What we are seeing so far at this show is about 50/50,
with half of the people that come aboard being serious lookers who
are transitioning out of sail, which we are very well known for.
The American market does not know that we are building several thousand
powerboats a year in Europe, but they recognize the name.
|
x |
|
 Then
the traditional power cruisers are coming aboard and saying “we didn’t
know you guys did this.”
Even those that have owned the 35 knot macho powerboat are coming aboard and saying ... "Well, we don’t really want to get bashed up so much; you know nobody’s really cruising at 30-35 knots. A good boat that can travel at 18-20 knots is something we’re very interested in. You can still get to far horizons in a short period of time and have a great time while you're at it.'”
Let's face the truth: The motion of cruising at 30-35 knots is too severe, the boat can take it, but the people can’t!
 That was the whole impetus behind this design. Our creative genius ... Francois Chalain. Five years ago he started talking about this project. He always had the vision of first a great sea boat. That is one of the most important things to Beneteau with every one of the products they’ve ever built.
 Their history, of course, is the Bay of Biscay, with some of the worst weather in the world, and their design emphasis is that it has to be able to travel at cruising speed in their normal conditions, which is 2 meters of fairly steep stuff.That's about six and a half feet of tough chop, and be able to go flank speed through that, and not have the bad motion or the boat jeopardized by safety or security of structure.
The Swift 42 delivers the ability to travel at a rapid pace in sublime comfort while carrying a crew in seas that many typical cruisers would find too challenging. Truly impressive.
| 
I just had to see it and find out more. So, I tracked down Wayne Burdick, President of Beneteau USA and met with him aboard the Swift 42 on the sundeck. Here's what he had to say:
Rex: When I walked up to the Beneteau dock at the Annapolis boat show, I saw the Swift 42 and I thought to myself, ...
Subscribe to our FREE Boating eNewsletter.