Recently news broke that Fairline Yachts was in trouble again. This was after a fall in sales from around £48M to around £42M. Another group had taken over the concern in between times.
The ins and outs of the pain being felt by investors is far above my head, but they know the risks… It looked like the company was heading for a winding up if funding or new owner could not be found.
They are described as ‘historic’ in terms of British Yachts. Really, when the company dates from only 1963!
The company was bought late in 2024.
However, although initially it looked like the company was going to move onwards. This would have been good news for UK boating and leisure industry, but are their products really what the boating public needs: the craft advertised are bordering on ‘super-yachts’ and far outside the yachting norms.
And, what does £42M actually buy? How many boats does it represent?
Well, it adds up to very few craft: they are all big and damned expensive – up to a little under £4M.
Moving into 2025, within two months, the new owner enacted a winding up order and an administrator is now in charge…
If you look at the company’s history, they began with small run-about weekenders before gradually climbing the length ladder, until anything less than 40′ (other than a 33′ sports-weekender) was not catered for.
In a news briefing it was announced that currently apart from a hand full of staff released before Christmas 2024, no one further had been laid off and work on orders was to continue whilst a future was looked for.
Meanwhile way down the line, the UK’s Caravan, Camping & Motorhome show is to reintroduce ‘starter boating’ in its format.
See:
Now, there is a market in this sector. One only has to look around the creeks and small ports that abound in our rivers to witness the phenomenal growth of canoeing, kayaking, paddle-boarding. In my own locale, large groups of ‘canoeists’ are oft seen whilst out sailing.
One of the sailing clubs in Maylandsea has actively encouraged new memberships from this fraternity. It was something that developed in a big way during Covid pandemic.
Too little attention is paid to the small craft market. Whatever happened to the builders of boats of 18′ to 30′ that used to proliferate our waters? Some got just too damned expensive, like Cornish Crabbers, niche yes. £130K for a open plan 24-footer – madness!
The 1960s onwards into early 1980s was a time of huge increase in leisure boating and designers and builders ran with it. Many were poorly produced whilst others were heavy but there were also some great boats form Westerly, in particular…
My own came from this period, but of wood, starting at 21′ growing to 24′ and finally to 28′.
Then, I believe, the ‘big is beautiful’ ethos in marketing circles encouraged larger and larger craft. This destroyed that ‘starter’ buzz of working up through size with family and age.
However, there becomes a point when a large craft becomes a deterrent to actually going boating and one only has to look around yards and marinas to see this.
In my own patch, there are a couple of large yachts which are unused. One is coated in green verdigris – fresh water algae.
The yard and moorings are also filled with far smaller under-used or unused vessels – something else that is a common sight.
One wonders how many more craft are actually needed? What of those many thousands of unused vessels?
So, what is the future?