The Superyacht Gathering Long Lunch 2024
March was a very busy month for the yachting community in Oceania, with a flurry of events taking place in both New Zealand and Australia. In partnership with the 2024 Auckland boat show, The Superyacht Gathering’s annual Long Lunch took place on Waiheke Island on March 14th, 2024.
Under sunny skies, the event saw 43 attendees from throughout New Zealand and Australia, as well as from Fiji, the UK and the USA, meet up at Mudbrick Vineyard restaurant. Guests included superyacht owners and their representatives, brokers, captains, and industry leaders. Tourism Fiji’s COO Leigh Howard attended the event as the guest of honour.
An afternoon of relaxed networking amidst the grapevines was complemented by a lunch menu of locally sourced delicacies, with an interlude provided by Stewart Campbell, Editior in Chief of BOAT International magazine. Stewart presented an overview of data from the Global Order Book, as well as his own insight into the future of the industry based on figures from the magazine’s award-winning market intelligence source, BoatPro.
The event’s supporting sponsors included insurance broker Pantaenius Australia and shipyard Yachting Developments NZ. Cabin bags provided by homewares company Coast NZ were gifted to Leigh Howard and Stewart Campbell, as well as guest Chris Santon of Burgess brokerage as the first guest to buy his ticket for the event. Ticket holders of the Long Lunch were also given access to the Auckland Boat Show during their visit to the City of Sails.
“With every one of the Superyacht Gatherings the community grows, and this Long Lunch was no exception” commented founder Linda Berry. “Alongside our guest of honour Leigh Howard and key speaker Stewart Campbell, we were joined by a sprinkling of ambitious start-up leaders, overseas captains, enthusiastic owners reps and philanthropic scientists who came to spread ideas, inspiration and make meaningful connections with The Superyacht Gathering family”.
Since Linda founded The Superyacht Gathering in 2019, the Asia-Pacific yachting community has been united by her events in Fiji and New Zealand. Each gathering is designed to connect the industry and highlight guests’ philanthropic actions – whether it be for marine conservation, scientific research, youth empowerment or the preservation of Pacific cultural heritage. Organisations that The Superyacht Gathering has been directly involved with include LiveOcean Foundation, the Manta Ray Conservation Project on Kokomo Private Island, and Silentworld Foundation.
The Superyacht Gathering’s next event will take place from 28th to 30th August 2024 with the launch of the organisation’s first ever South Pacific Superyacht Rendezvous in Fiji, followed by a symposium in Auckland this November.
To purchase tickets for upcoming events, visit https://www.thesuperyachtgathering.com/