Hey Tom,

Looks like Wauquiez is going away, and Dehler and Grand Soleil will likely as well, unless maybe they're bought by Hanse or Bavaria...

In this country, I'm hearing talk that Tartan may be bought by Hunter... The parent company of Hunter - Luhrs - has closed up their factory in FL, and retreated to their old plant in NJ...

Boatbuilders in NJ have been devastated, I used to do a lot of deliveries for Ocean Yachts... The Leek family has been in boatbuilding for 5 or 6 generations, until now... Viking Yachts has always been one of the most robust boatbuilding businesses in the country, they're down to a skeleton crew now, sounds like they're barely hanging on... Of course, on the other end of the spectrum, Derecktor recently launched the 280' CAKEWALK, the largest yacht built in America since J.P. Morgan's CORSAIR back in the 30's... Still, I know an electronics guy who does a lot of work on megayachts who passed on bidding on the job on CAKEWALK, as Derecktor does not pay their subs until 4-6 months after invoice... They're still reeling from the shafting they got from that asshole Dennis Koslowski, I suppose...

Sabre is smart, they started building powerboats a while back... J-Boats seem to be doing OK - which is nice, since they build boats that sail... (grin) Still, it's a bit suprising how many of their boats are built offshore - do you know that some J-80s are now being built in China?

I've seen the future, and I believe it is Hanse... (grin)

best regards,

Jon