May 16, 2008 We’re always up for writing about new ways for people to get together and have a good time and we’ve hence covered some great moveable entertaining concepts such as the Pedalpub, the Fuya-Jo party van, Red Bull’s nightclub on wheels and the floating beach party. Now there’s another ingenious conveyance to add to the category – part restaurant table, part BBQ, part lounge and part water activity platform, this electric-powered, water-going party platform for ten is primarily aimed at the rental market where its versatility makes it suitable for myriad applications. Indeed, it’s an entrepreneurs’ dream.

Firstly, it’s a no brainer to make money in any water-side location as it offers seating for ten plus a central BBQ that turns into a picnic table, silent electric propulsion so it can gently cruise even the most delicate of marine environments without spoiling the ambience, a powerful sound system so you can party long and hard if you want, and it has enough on-board storage to support many other activities. Then, if you have a few of them, they all fit together to make an exclusive VIP lounge on the beach.

From the entrepreneurs viewpoint, it’s a hirer’s dream – ten people can cut a sizeable hire fee into manageable fiscal contributions, and there’s enough external, slow-moving advertising space to make a promotional platform which is guaranteed to capture the attention of anyone within view.

The bbq-donut® is the brainchild of German inventor and entrepreneur Sebastian Schmitt, and we think it has applications globally for everything from singles get-togethers, company getting-to-know-you events, a customer magnet at carnivals and festivals, waterside and beachside promotions and as a floating catering service.

Motive power to the bbq-donut® is supplied via a Torqeedo Travel 400 Electro-outboard motor giving it a top speed of around 4km/h – more than enough for gentle noiseless, pollution-free cruising with ten souls aboard.

Take several bbq-donuts® and they can be assembled into an array of configurations of different sizes and shapes, making it suitable for use as a VIP lounge on the beach. Offering the right mix of private boothes and opennessl this additional aspect to the bbq-donut® is perfect for promotion purposes.

The main floating body of the 3.6 meter diameter donut is constructed of Polyethylene (PE) with a very strong UV protection as well as an antistatic additive, and all-up, ready to go, it weighs in at around 500 kg, and is capable of carrying a payload of around 1000 kg. There’s an optional trailer for the rig, so it can be towed to different locations.

On the water in BBQ configuration, the bbq-donut® uses a low-smoke, charcoal-burning barbecue from Outdoorchef as its centrepiece and there are integrated cavities in the table for safely holding drinks, plates and cutlery.

Underneath the seats are eight 48 litre storage boxes, one or more of which can be used as wet chillers to keep the beverages cold.

The translucent sunshade uses a stainless steel frame and aluminum clamps and is available in a variety of colours – indeed, it can be supplied from the factory printed to a customer’s individual design.

The sunshade can be adjusted into many different positions should the sun’s glare get too strong, and is designed to fold down very quickly if the wind comes up suddenly.

Quite clearly, from its shape, it’s not suitable for rough or open water – it’s apparently quite happy in choppy conditions up to a wave height of 40-50 cm, but we suspect it’ll be heading for home long before that as it’s a low powered, leisure craft designed for low speed leisure activities.

Bottom line, we’re very impressed with the bbq-donut® and can see it playing a role in social engagement of all types around the world. Perhaps not quite as suited to seaside resorts as inland and sheltered waterways, we warrant you’ll be seeing one of these somewhere near you sooner rather than later. And for entrepreneurs anywhere near a river, go to it. Each bbq-donut® will cost between EUR 14,500 and EUR 23,500, depending on the model you choose, the graphics, the accessories and so on. From our viewpoint, it’s a profitable franchise if we ever saw one. Entrepreneurs should contact Sebastien via his design studio.

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September 16, 2002 Sporting identity Neville Crichton has set his sights firmly on line honours at this year’s Rolex Sydney to Hobart having recently christened the most technologically advanced Super Maxi ever built: Alfa Romeo.The 90-foot long, 135-foot high super maxi is constructed almost entirely from carbon fibre and is odds-on favourite for a successful S2H campaign since clocking up a series of convincing wins and course records since its debut at Hamilton Island Race Week in August. Owner/skipper Crichton spoke with Gizmo after Alpha Romeo completed her first overnight ocean race, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 85 nautical mile race from Sydney to Bird Islet (south of Newcastle) and back. Crichton was understandably “very happy with the way the yacht performed”, finishing outside the race record due to light winds but still 5 hours 41 minutes in front of her nearest rivals including 80-foot S2H challenger Brindabella.

Crichton puts the outstanding performance down to the use of latest, lightest gear and excellence in yacht design - almost everything is made of carbon fibre including the mast, hull, rudder and boom, plus the working sails. The spinnaker has a load capacity of up to eight tonne and the Reichel/Pugh designed craft also incorporates a water ballast system capable of moving six tonnes of water - Crichton points out that the use of water ballast is illegal in the Sydney to Hobart race so a second keel configuration will be used.

A name familiar to many Australians from his days as a champion touring car driver, Sydney-based New Zealand yachtsman Crichton is aiming to win both line honours and first place on corrected time overall under the IRC rating rule in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart, although he concedes that anything can happen in such a gruelling race.

Alfa Romeo would have been the sixth boat named Shockwave owned by Crichton, who has previously won the world Two Ton Cup races and represented New Zealand in the Admiral’s Cup, but the decision to change the name was taken for marketing reasons given that Chrichton owns ATECO, the Alfa Romeo in Australia and New Zealand.

Designed to be the fastest maxi afloat, Alfa Romeo is now in full racing trim and will take part in lead up races from her Sydney base as part of her S2H preparation. On debut at Hamilton Island the yacht achieved line honours victories in all nine races of the Big Boat Class and won two longer races on IRC corrected time, once agian out performing potential Sydney to Hobart challengers such as Australian Skandia Wild Thing and Brindabella. Her average speed of 9.52 knots over the new course was the fastest long race average ever recorded in the 19 year history of Hamilton Island Race Week.

Reichel/Pugh predict that on a spinnaker reach she will be capable of 30 knots and according to Crichton, Alfa Romeo’s the full potential has not yet been shown: “I believe she will be a great all-round boat, but you won’t see her at her best until after the Sydney Hobart when we fit a lighter keel, use the water ballast and carry full size spinnakers,” says Crichton.

“I was very happy with the way she sailed at Hamilton Island, despite the fact that the first time we hoisted the racing sails was on the morning of the first race.” Built in Sydney’s northern suburbs by McConaghy Boats, construction was completed in New Zealand with the addition of the 135-foot mast, US made keel and completion of the rigging. Winches and deck gear are from Harken and the sails are by respected Australian manufacturer North Sails.

The visual impact of the yacht at sail is obvious. The sleek hull is silver on the outside, black on the inside and the state-of-the-art interior including 12 berths, seating area, galley, head and navigation section are finished in carbon fibre or silver polyurethane lacquer and teak and red trimmings.

Currently based in Sydney at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Alfa Romeo will sail to Auckland after the 630 nautical mile Sydney to Hobart for the Millennium Regatta as part of the 2003 America’s Cup Pageantry of Sail, followed by a stint of competition in the Northern Hemisphere including the 2003 New York to Hamburg Transatlantic.

Alfa Romeo - TECHNICAL DETAILS:

Owner/skipper: Neville Crichton

Clubs: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Cruising Yacht Club of Australia

Designers: Reichel/Pugh, USA

Builders: McConaghy Boats, Sydney, Australia

Mast: Southern Spars, Auckland, New Zealand

Rig: Fractional with backstay runners and checkstays

Sails: North Sails, Sydney, Australia

Construction: Carbon fibre hull, keel, mast and working sailsLOA: 27.43m (90 ft)

Beam: 5.6m (18.3 ft)

Draft: 4.0m (13.1 ft) - two configurations, one keel when using water ballast; heavier keel to meeting IRC speed rating of 1.600

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February 21, 2008 With 200 bhp PWCs now commonplace, there seems to be a trend emerging of using the PWC as a dockable powerplant for a larger craft, significantly extending the versatility and recreational options of the ski, the docking craft as a water platform, and the carrying capacity to five people and beyond. The Waveboat is to be launched next month and it offers some compelling functionality – just add your Yamaha Waverunner PWC and you have a high speed (video here) jetboat with ultrasweet handling and all the trimmings. With prices starting at US$8000(EUR5600), it’s a bargain accessory – sadly available for Yamaha Waverunners only.

Assembling the Jet Ski and the Waveboat takes less than a minute out of the water and only a few seconds on the water, though the soul of the product is its sweet handling as can be seen from the accompanying video. “The product was conceived to offer a pleasure and an unforgettable riding experience due to its feather weight incisive hull, its solidity and its reliability, which preserve all the liveliness and handiness of a jet ski,” said Fun Factory’s Vladimir Nunez.

“The aim is to offer a diverse range of customisation options and accessories so that people can set up their own Wave Boat to suit themselves – tables and cushion layouts and headrest handles and … it’s essentially very customisable.”

The Fun Factory is already well versed in the rental and resort markets where its ingenious Yelo 260 is a recreational watercraft with all the bases covered regarding safety – it’s almost entirely idiot-proof, 100 percent reliable and there’s no access to the propeller. It is hence suitable for rental. Designed around a Yamaha outboard motor, though you’d never know, the Yelo 260 will reach 15km/h quickly, is very stable with three comfortable seats and is fun to drive, as it is very responsive at low speed and driven by joystick and hence appeals enormously to the youth market.

For water sports centres and rental companies alike, the Yelo gives you peace of mind as there is no access to the propellers and the construction is safe and robust.

The company is seeking to expand its business in as many countries as possible, and would welcome distributor inquiries.

We’ve previously written about PWC docking devices here and some recent news is that Dockitjet is developing its entirely different take on the same theme as WaveBoat– docking a PWC with a Dockitjet results in one of the fastest lightweight RIBs on the planet. They’ve now taken things a step further using carbon fibre panels and adding surfboard racks and rod holders. The versatility of the package is impressive as it leaves a platform for exhausted surfers to replenish, and enables the ski to be cut loose for transport, recreational heaven and maybe even towing surfers onto waves. The prototype is reportedly being used to great effect putting surfers right where they want to be with ease and comfort.

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