Exporter a modern legend

Rayglass director Tony Hembrow among some of the boats at the company's Mt Wellington showroom. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Tony Hembrow, the man at the helm of Rayglass Boats, this country's biggest boat exporter, is unusual in the marine industry.

His background is the automotive sector and he took control of the company in 1987 just as the stockmarket crash was biting.

While doom and gloom was the order of the day for an industry regarded as producing top-end luxury products, Hembrow took the opposite view.

"I knew what boaters wanted was quality and the standard of finish that people expected when they went looking for a new car," he says.

"Right from the start we stuck to the formula of pride in the product, innovation and a commitment to quality."

Time has proved him right. The company has won swag of awards at boat shows here and in Australia, including six in 2001, among them Family Boat of the Year and the Propeller magazine People's Choice Boat of the Show.

It hasn't always been easy. A fire in 1995 destroyed the Pakuranga factory and for several months Rayglass production was deployed to locations scattered through the region.

The mould for the most popular boat in the company's range, the Legend 730, was destroyed but Hembrow quickly contacted a 730 owner to use his boat for a mould.

Last month the company moved into a huge new headquarters on the banks of the Tamaki River in Mt Wellington.

There to do the honours was Peter Hamilton, president of Brunswick Boats, the big American company that now owns 49 per cent of Rayglass.

Hamilton heads what is by far the biggest boat manufacturing company in the world. Its brands include Bayliner, Sea Ray, Hatteras, Boston Whaler, Maxum, Sea Boss and Trophy.

He also handles the corporation's Mercury Marine division and leading leisure companies in the fitness, bowling and billiards sectors.

Hamilton is also responsible for several new-technology companies, including the New Zealand industry leader Navman.

The Rayglass headquarters houses a showroom, workshops, specialist production bays and the company's head office.

"We now have the ability to double our output capacity," Hembrow says. "This is vital to keep up with international demand, as we are now exporting to the United States, Russia and Sweden as well as virtually every European and South Pacific country."

One of the company's big successes has been the range of Protector RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) that first created a worldwide impact as chase boats in America's Cup campaigns.

Seventy Protectors, ranging from 8.5m to 19.8m, are already working in the waters off Valencia and by the time the regatta proper starts in the middle of next year there will be more that 100 there.

As well as providing support boats for the organising committee and chase boats for most of the syndicates, they are popular with the owners of many of the superyachts.

They are also used as rescue and workboats throughout the world, and one was purpose-built for Ginger Gibbs' successful Sydney to Auckland record attempt last month.

The company's worldwide promotion of the range has been so successful that the word Protector has become synonymous with RIB in much the same way as jetski has come to include all types of personal water craft.

Despite the company's international success, Hembrow is quick to emphasise that the company's extended capacity is needed to service an increasingly sophisticated local market.

"We are now building one new top-of-the-range Rayglass Legend 4000 a month to satisfy the demand for these new launches," he says. "We are also about to release a replacement model for the nation's most popular 7m hard-top, the Legend 730."

The company's website is www.rayglass.co.nz (see link below).