The Hauraki Gulf, Waiheke Island and Man O’ War Winery.

This weekend just passed saw the hosting of another fabulous Maritimo Muster, this time in New Zealand. It provided an opportunity to bring together a fleet of magnificent Maritimo Luxury Motor Yachts, their owners, family and friends to experience the warm hospitality of Man O’ War Winery, and other fun filled activities on the agenda.

With the twenty plus vessels and 110 participants that signed up for the event, the plan was for two groups – an early departure on the Saturday morning from Westhaven Marina for those that wanted a leisurely 8 knot toddle for the 3-hour voyage, then followed by those who would depart later as part of the 20 knot steamers. Why do it in three hours if you can do it in less than half the time. Right?

Leaving Westhaven Marina and heading east takes voyagers through the Hauraki Gulf, which boasts an area of around four thousand square kilometres, and stretches from the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula, and Great Barrier Island. Most of the Gulf is part of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.

The planned journey to Waiheke Island is mostly well protected and is home to many small islands, which offer magnificent scenery en route. The Man O’ War Winery is located on the eastern side of Waiheke Island, which is the second largest island in the region with a population of over nine thousand permanent residents, and as such is the third most populated island in New Zealand.

But don’t let the name Man O’ War Winery alarm you – it’s named after the Jewel that it looks across – Man O’ War Bay. There’s absolutely no ‘agro’ here. and only the warmest of New Zealand hospitality provided by everyone at this family owned and operated 4,500 acre farm, vineyard and winery with over seventy-five vineyards across the farm and specialising in Bordeaux Blends. There is also an abundance of orchards, olive groves, restored native forests and beehives.

Danny Jordin, Maritimo’s Australasian Sales Manager, has just returned from the event and shared some of his experiences of the weekend. “I guess this was our first opportunity to put together something on behalf of Maritimo in New Zealand. It was great to be able to show that we support our clients, and we truly appreciate that they support the Maritimo product and brand in New Zealand. The response from owners was absolutely amazing. They clearly love their Maritimos, and share stories about how capable and how well suited the Maritimo vessels are for the New Zealand environs,” Jordin added.

“When we released the event and started to go out to our consultants to reach out to their clients, we thought well if we got eight to ten boats then this would be great outcome and it would be a goer. Well, we actually had 31 boats register, and after a few cancellations as happens with busy diaries, we ended up with over 20 vessels. That equated to about 110 people and we had a capacity of 120 at the winery for catering purposes. Perfect.”

“Once they arrived, we had a RIB service ferrying people to shore, and that was lots of fun, with passengers utilising the opportunity to interact and laugh. Some had met before, but many didn’t know one another. On arrival at the winery, we had a wine tasting, and again this gave everyone an opportunity just to kind of mingle and say hello. After that, we sat down for a terrific, shared lunch, which also encouraged more interaction between the greater group, so that was fantastic. At the lunch we gave out 16 tickets for the forest flight experience, which was the zip line ride for the next day. It was a ton of fun on the Sunday for those that attended.”

“The attendees loved creating new relationships with the other Maritimo owners. They’re all like-minded people and they’ve all got similar interests. This was a great opportunity where they could take their boat and a couple of friends or family members to meet up with other Maritimo owners. We had two or three boats that had rafted up that knew each other, and other boats that then joined them and didn’t know each other initially. They were all moving from boat to boat, mixing and mingling, with little parties everywhere. The weekend really provided an opportunity to create some future long-term friendships. We really set out to make it a low key, relaxed affair, and that definitely shone through.”

“We received so many positive messages from Maritimo owners and their guests on our WhatsApp group, saying how they loved the weekend and that they’ll be signing right up for the next one,” Jordin said.

“I did hear also there were a few owners that are talking about doing a Fiji trip next year, and I can guarantee you that if it was initially two or three boats planning that, well, after this event, there’s going be a lot more that end up doing that trip, because they’ll all stay in contact now. They’ve formed great relationships, and they’ll do more voyages together.”

“The clients love this Maritimo Muster format of a one, two or three-day event, as it’s so relaxed. We get all our teams involved. We had our Maritimo Factory Representatives there, we had 36 Degrees Brokers and also Ownaship Consultants attend. So, a real tour de force. We’re definitely going to run this NZ event, again, at a similar time next year, and we hope to organise something else some in another time of the year as well, so we have a couple of events in the diary to catchup with owners and bring them together to say thanks.”

“Of course, we’ve always supported our clients, but this event totally reinforces that we’re here to support them and to look after them, whether that be after sales or upgrades, or for the time when they are ready move into a new model Maritimo,” Jordin said in closing.

To get in contact with our Maritimo sales team in New Zealand click here.