November 18, 2025

For a boat company to take out exhibit space at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and to bring in their staff and all the décor and other items, must be a major expenditure. In my work with Boating Industry Canada News Week Digest, I get press releases from all over the world. Recently, there have been a string of press releases from the UK builder, Sunseeker. Last week I got a release saying, “Eight Sunseeker Yachts Find New Owners at Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show 2025.”

Is that a little, or a lot? The release was more detailed than I might normally expect and it went on to detail what the sales were. Quoting their press release: “…Reflecting this buoyant market sentiment, Sunseeker secured the sales of and welcomed 8 new owners to the Sunseeker family for multiple models in the range, including three Manhattan 55’s, a Manhattan 68 (2025), a Predator 75, a 76 Yacht, an 82 Ocean Enclosed, and a 95 Yacht.”

The wording seemed to say that these were confirmed sales, not just pending deals. I often wonder what is meant by “sold”.

Andrea Frabetti, CEO at Sunseeker, commented: “The level of interest we’ve seen this week is a very encouraging signal that the yacht market continues to strengthen. While global conditions can be unpredictable, the enthusiasm and confidence demonstrated by our clients reaffirm the enduring appeal of luxury yachting and the resilience of our industry.”

It should be noted that in September, Sunseeker had issued a notice of some 200 potential redundancies in their staffing and also other aspects of a corporate restructuring, yet at about that same time, the company announced four new models in their superyacht series.

There have also been announcements of a new Executive Director of Marketing and a promotion to Director of Sales for a former sales director.

Sunseeker also announced an injection of new capital in their restructuring process. Clearly, there has been a lot happening at Sunseeker but back to my original question, “Is that a little, or a lot?”.

Eight boats doesn’t sound like many, yet these are all between 55 and 95-feet. I assume they are multi-million-dollar yachts and the total sales at the Fort Lauderdale show may be very significant.

To add to the conversation, Sanlorenzo Yachts also announced a sharp rise in their Q3 orders.

From this, I might think that the superyacht market is booming and perhaps it is, but it costs very little to send out a digital press release to thousands of marine writers globally. I find it difficult to keep my perspective on some of these stories.

Then again, I find it difficult to grasp the level of wealth that some of our Canadian boat show buyers probably have. Perhaps Sunseeker and other builders of large yachts are a barometer of global wealth in today’s world. From all these musings, I do feel positive about our business prospects in the coming year. We will soon see how sales shape up when our big Canadian boat shows open in about 8-weeks. I’m hoping for a lot.

Andy Adams – Editor