Blunder From Down Under

Never Count Your Lamborghini Before They Hatch

It is a sadly familiar story: a very successful entrepreneur decides to indulge in his hobby by spending a lot of money and making it a business. It happens all the time – all too frequently for the wrong reasons. Some of these high rollers make their hobby business work by their sheer determination and skill. Many others fall by the wayside. These are men who made their fortunes from wise and carefully calculated decisions involving thorough planning and detailed knowledge of their market. When the entrepreneur’s hobby is involved, all this often goes down the scuppers as business decisions are made quicker than the tail cones on their private jets take to cool. This is the story of one such man from Australia – a very successful automobile dealer and land developer whose passion was sportsfishing. We will call him Mike “Bloodnguts.”

“Let’s Build Boats Mates”

It was the early 80’s and, at the time, my business was hot and heavy into the design of exotic sportsfisherman, one of which was the radical, 48-foot Cheoy Lee Sportsfisherman introduced in 1980. Mike Bloodnguts was a Cheoy Lee dealer in Australia, loved the 48 and, after one scary night at sea in a typhoon on the boat decided to build his own boats (things got so bad that 20’ waves repeatedly inundated the cockpit. Those on the bridge were trapped there and, for a time, there was talk of intentionally running the boat up on the beach). But the boat and crew survived. 

Mike deemed this “the greatest bloody boat in the world” and decided then and there to build his own faster, bigger, better version. It was that simple. There was no planning and no real knowledge of the market. And, so, we were commissioned to design a line of Sportsfisherman that would “blast Bertram and Hatteras out of the bloody water.” The new company was called “Southern Cross” and its first offering was a slick 52-foot sportsfisherman, designed and built in accordance with the very latest techniques and materials.

A Boat from the Future

Mike was a character – a big, bold, loud, Aussi. You could not help but like the man. He was a guy you could picture wrestling crocs in the river as well as conducting meetings in the boardroom. The design started in 1984. As far as styling was concerned, Mike was a rather conservative guy – he had me remove all curves from the superstructure opting for the conservative “square look.” Otherwise, the boats were quite radical. 52-foot overall with a huge 12-foot-long cockpit, construction was to be 100% foam cored fiberglass using Vinyl ester resin, knitted fabrics and carbon reinforcement (at a time when most production sportfishing boats were mostly solid, heavy construction. 

A radical underwater exhaust was designed (the first in a production sportfisherman) which proved a fish raiser. A unique air induction system was conceived for the engine room. She had four fiberglass integral fuel tanks (a first) and a wave deflector on her transom. But, mainly, the boats were to be fast – considerably faster than what was available in the production market at the time. 

A first-class Miami ad agency was retained and ads began to appear in Marine Periodicals. The most notable was high overhead shot of four boats running. The competition was shown as two hulls with wakes behind them. The Southern Crosse’s hulls did not show at all – only their wakes well ahead of the competition. Yours truly appeared in a double spread add for the boats (ridiculously holding a roll of prints and a T-square for God’s sake). 

At the time, everything Australian was “hot” in the US inspired by their recent America’s Cup victory. Southern Crosses ad blitz campaign “locked in” introduction of the boat for the Fort Lauderdale Boat ‘85 Boat Show. There was no turning back now. The prototype 52 was built at a small boatyard in the Gold Coast area of Brisbane. In order to make the show, after coming out of the molds, she had to go together in only 20 days.

Showtime

Mike had bold plans for introducing the boat. The scheme initially was to introduce the new boat in the swimming pool at Pier 66. “Men at Work” the smash Australian pop group at the time – was to be there performing the famous “Land Down Under.” Word on the docks was that Hatteras and Bertram had some “real competition.” I was going to be rich – at least as rich as a boat designer could become – due to a lucrative royalty arrangement made with the company. I had already earned my first Ferrari in 1981. Now I wanted something more exotic – a Lamborghini Countach in red would be just the ticket. 

The boat was introduced at the Fort Lauderdale Show (at the docks not in the pool and without “Man at Work” on hand). The prototype was a bit rough but the initial reaction seemed excellent. Engineers and designers from Hatteras and Bertram crawled around the boat taking notes. The public appeared to forgive the prototype’s roughness. Then Bloodnguts appeared on the scene that morning. Unbelievable as it may sound today, he was wearing a dammed T-shirt depicting a kangaroo “having its way” with an American eagle! He held press conferences and boasted big and confident. At least we did our part correctly propped the boat was a good six to eight miles faster than the best competition with the same horsepower. Professional captains who initially got into the boats loved them. They were winning “Bimini Starts,” raising fish and winning tournaments. A new 44-footer was designed and built and plans were under way for 72-footer. I decided to order the optional wing spoiler on my Countach.

Dropping millions on a boat start-up project was the easy part but Mike had made a fatal mistake – one, which any 5-year-old kid selling Kool Aid on the street wouldn’t make: have your product perfected prior to marketing. Slowly, the public and press turned against Bloodnguts due to the hastily completed boat the big talk and that T–shirt. Things went downhill from there. America loves an underdog but not a braggart. Bloodnguts was like a little kid with a minimum attention span. His efforts were turned to a huge new real estate project in Australia and the boat company was put on “automatic.” 

A number of boats were sold but, slowly, the tide receded. It wasn’t so easy taking on the big guys. “Bugs” were taken out of subsequent boats but it was too little, too late. Sadly, Mike has since joined the “Legion of Boatbuilders in the Sky.” Southern Crosses are highly thought of today – they were well ahead of their time and, even now, when they come on the market, they are snapped up quickly. Nowadays, when somebody approaches me and tells me they are going to make me “rich and famous” I grunt, half smile and think about that red Countach (with wing spoiler) that’s not in my garage. 

(Reprinted with permission of Regina Fexas.)

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