Latest News - St Francis Bay Boat and Jetski Sales

International TV adventurer and survivalist Bear Grylls has chosen two of Suzuki’s new DF300 Lean Burn outboards to power his personal RIB. Built to meet the ‘Born Survivor’ star’s own specifications, the 10m craft is the biggest that British maker Ribquest has ever constructed.

Suzuki’s flagship 4-litre, V6 DF300 offers the ultimate in power and performance. The original Innovation Award-winning DF300 – the very first 220.7kW(300PS) 4-stroke outboard – set a new benchmark for compact and lightweight outboards.

Now the addition of Suzuki’s Lean Burn Control technology and new Oxygen (O2) Feedback Control System deliver dramatically improved fuel economy as well as environment-friendly operation without sacrificing any of its famous power. In-house testing shows that while cruising, the new DF300 is 14% more economical than the current DF300.

Bear Grylls remarked that, “The new DF300 Lean Burn is the most exciting outboard on the market - a real credit to the Suzuki engineers.”

SUZUKI SUCCESS AT SOUTHAMPTON BOAT SHOW

Suzuki had a very busy and successful Southampton Boat Show in the UK, in September 2010. As one of the main sponsors of the show, there was plenty of Suzuki branding around the site, which included logos on the perimeter fence, flags and banners along the pontoons plus sponsorship of the bar, which has now become the “Suzuki Marina Bar”!

After much anticipation, the new DF40/50 and DF 300 Lean Burn made their UK debuts at the show and in a real show of strength there were more Suzuki outboards on display throughout the event than any other brand.

On the water, activities included running free RIB rides for visitors in the form of the “Suzuki RIB Experience”. The boat that was used for the Suzuki RIB Experience was a Ribcraft 7.8m powered by a single DF250, which delivers exciting power and performance but is also compact, lightweight and fuel-efficient, making it the ideal power unit for this type of commercial application.

This proved to be an extremely popular attraction and gave people a taste of some Suzuki powered boating fun.

Meanwhile, on the stand a guest appearance from Suzuki-powered TV adventurer and survivalist BEAR GRYLLS created a buzz. Bear spent a couple of hours on the Suzuki stand doing media interviews and signing autographs for hundreds of fans. He also had his own personal RIB on display at the show, which is powered by a twin-rig of the new DF300 Lean Burn outboards. Bear has described these new models as “the most exciting outboards on the market”.

SUZUKI APPOINTED SOLE SUPPLIER OF OUTBOARD MOTORS TO THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES SAILING REGATTA

Suzuki is celebrating being appointed as the sole supplier of up to 90 outboard motors to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Sailing Regatta.

It is the first time that any outboard manufacturer has been chosen as a sole supplier of products to an Olympic Games. The specific models that have been selected are the all-new DF40, the DF90, DF140 and DF200, which will all be used on a variety of support boats. These boats will used to lay the racing marks prior to each event as well for safety and jury boats during the competitions.

After signing the contracts, Managing Director for Suzuki GB PLC Yasuharu Osawa said, “It is a great honour to be supplying our outboard motors to the London 2012 Olympic Games. It is a great endorsement of Suzuki’s outboard motors and a once in a lifetime opportunity so we are very excited to be involved.”

I COULD COUNT ON THEM - (Letter to Ski-Boat Magazine - March/April 2011 - Vol.27 No.2 )

I had a nightmare turned into a wonderful experience during the past December holidays, which I feel I just had to share with you and the readers.

I am based in Bloemfontein with my boat kept at my son’s house in Gordon’s Bay. Last year we towed the boat from Cape Town to Jeffreys Bay a week before the December holidays. We all arrived on 10 December and launched our boat at Port St Francis the next day. While manoeuvring inside the harbour the one Suzuki DF70 four stroke motor died on us with alarms sounding.

We decided to take the motor to Bayview Boating (the local Suzuki Dealer) where Kerwyn referred us to the head technician, Warren of Kouga Marine (local Service Agent for Suzuki). Warren put all his work aside – and, I assure you, they were very, very busy! – and attended to our problem immediately. Eventually he determined that the rectifier was faulty and had to be replaced. Being Saturday afternoon we would have to locate the part on the Monday.

Monday morning before 8am I had contacted each and every Suzuki dealer in the country via e-mail, only to find none of them had this part in stock. As a last resort I made contact with Suzuki SA who informed me that they had never before had a faulty rectifier on a DF70and consequently they had no stock anywhere in the country.

We were devastated. After all the expense of getting our boat to Jeffreys Bay and the excited anticipation of our holiday building up to the climax of actually getting there, ready to go to sea, we were sitting on dry land with a broken motor. These motors, although in perfect condition with a full service history, were 2005 models, so I simply had no leverage on Suzuki SA as far as warranties were concerned.

The next morning I received a phone call from a lady called Tanja from Suzuki SA. She explained that she was investigating different options regarding the location of the part abroad and the cost implications of getting it to South Africa. Nothing happened the rest of the day and I visualised our fishing holiday going down the drain. We were very, very depressed.

At 4:15pm I received a call from Tanja who informed me that she had located a dealer with a demo DF70. She had instructed him to remove the part and courier it to me overnight. I could not believe it. She explained to me that this was not normally done, but that the team had decided to assist us this way to get us on the water ASAP.

The next morning the part arrived, and again Warren put aside all his other work, fixed our motor and had us back in the harbour before noon (on a public holiday too!).

I was simply overwhelmed by the exceptional service we received from Suzuki SA (Tanja), the local Suzuki dealership (Kerwyn) and local Suzuki Service agent (Warren). In a place like South Africa, where “service” is slowly becoming a very foreign word, they showed us that we still have business people who are proud of their products and serious about their customers.

Ten-out-of-ten for Suzuki. It makes me proud to have those two black babies hanging on the back of our pride and joy!

Thanks for a great magazine. PJA (ZIETS) ZIETSMAN

BAYVIEW BOATING LAUNCH THE NEW BUTT CAT 8.65 SPORT FISHER!

The new Butt Cat 8.65 Sport Fisher was launched in the St Francis Bay Port Harbour on Monday, 16 February 2011.

Built by Kamassi Craft, situated in Port Elizabeth Harbour, they have taken their teams experience of 23 years, and combined it with Mr John Butt’s 40 years experience in order to take the Butt Cat boats to a completely new level. Sporting a new designed hull, all new top deck and deck mouldings, this boat will impress fisherman and last them a lifetime!!