Scott Alle

It doesn’t take long shivering on the heaving deck of a race yacht in 45 knots off the southeast coast of Tasmania before you start questioning a number of things. You also quickly come to realise that what matters most on any boat is not the type of faux marble in the benchtops nor the shape of the cushions, but the quality of the design and the engineering integrity of the hull beneath you.

When you create a game-changing design, and you do it really well, there are bound to be imitators. When Axopar first hit the market in 2014 with the Axopar 28, its distinctive, rugged styling and strong performance made a big impression. Axopars quickly became a phenomenon, and export sales mushroomed. Now, there are dozens of Axopar lookalikes and spin-offs.

Despite being an icy few degrees below zero and located over 200 kilometres from the nearest coastline, the ancient Rhine riverport of Düsseldorf in January is a magnet for sailors from all over the globe, including a dedicated contingent from Australia and New Zealand. Among the estimated 260,000 attendees was Anthony Bishop, Managing Director of Windcraft Yachts, who calls Sydney home but packed the fleeces to make the trip to Germany and the world’s largest indoor boat show for a third time.