Winning the bid for a 70-foot Volvo Ocean Race boat is a big deal for any boat builder, be it domestic or foreign.
For Bristol-based Goetz Custom Boats, being selected last month to build the boat for the Puma Ocean Racing team enhances the company’s existing reputation as one of the top builders in the world, said president and owner Eric Goetz.
Not to mention, it could provide up to a third of the 50-employee boat manufacturer’s revenue this year.
“It’s prestigious to be involved,” Goetz said. “There are only eight boats in the whole race.”
The Volvo Ocean Race is for sailboats what the Indianapolis 500 is for race cars, Goetz said. One difference is that the Volvo Ocean Race takes place every three to four years, whereas the Indianapolis 500 is an annual event. And the Volvo race provides international recognition because the racing teams stop in 11 ports on four continents.
Puma, sponsor of one of the seven confirmed Volvo racing teams, chose Goetz Custom Boats to build the first boat it has ever sponsored or entered into the race because of the local boat builder’s experience and investment in new technology, said Ken Read, of Newport, skipper of the Puma yacht and head of Puma Ocean Racing, the company created by the sports apparel giant to manage all aspects of the race.
Goetz Custom Boats specializes in building racing sailboats, and it built the winning boat for the 1992 America’s Cup. In addition, the company has built winning boats for the Admiral’s Cup and Maxi Worlds. The last Volvo boat the company built was for Tyco, which placed third in the 2001-02 Volvo Ocean Race.
This year the company is taking its boat building capabilities up a notch for Puma and other customers by adding a new 38,000-square-foot, freestanding facility adjacent to its current 22,000-square-foot facility, Goetz said. The new building will house new equipment, including a 75-foot milling machine (large enough to carve the shape of the 70-foot long Volvo boat) and an automatic oven.
Goetz invested more than $5 million in the equipment and the new facility, which will be completed in August, he said. Construction began in February, before the company even knew it got the Puma account, because Goetz realized the company needed the investment in order to achieve the most accurate builds in the most efficient amount of time.
“[The expansion] is part of our general philosophy,” Goetz said. “If we want to remain competitive … if we want to keep our position as one of the top builders, we need to push technology forward.”
The milling machine in particular could make Puma’s boat faster, Read said, because of its accuracy and ability to shape the entire hull.
“None of the other builders we spoke to had technology like that,” he said, adding that he had no influence on the decision because he has too strong a tie to local boat-builders. And while Goetz would not say how much he expects the boat will cost to build, Read has been on record as saying that it can total upwards of $5 million.
Goetz said the company will start building the Puma boat in the fall. The boat will be sailing by next spring, therefore giving the Puma racing team plenty of time to prepare for the 39,000-plus mile race starting October 2008 in Alicante, Spain.
He said having Puma Ocean Racing based at Newport Shipyard, just 12 miles away, is a real treat.
“If we have any questions they are right there,” Goetz said.
And it’s great to have the team and the sponsor close at hand from a publicity standpoint, he said. One of Puma’s main marketing departments is located in Boston, which makes organization of events marking significant progress in the building of the boat easier to coordinate.
The benefit for Goetz Custom Boats is the enhanced international recognition, which leads to future business.
“Our philosophy is to keep pushing the envelope in every event,” Goetz said.
