Yacht Builder Sails Pricey Seas

The Tampa Tribune
May 7, 2003
Section: MONEYSENSE
Page: 1

MICHAEL SASSO <msasso@tampatrib.com>
Memo: Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.

A Manatee County company is launching the making of expensive sport-fishing yachts.

PALMETTO - There's a new toy for the person who has everything, an 811/2-foot sport-fishing yacht with
4,000 horsepower.

But getting one will set you back $5 million plus.

Yacht builder Sea FORCE IX of Manatee County is gambling that America's jet set is clamoring for
multimillion-dollar sport-fishing yachts. Less than a year old, the company has not yet finished its first
boat but is planning to roll out as many as five mega-yachts a year by 2005.

It is joining a competitive market.

"[Our competitors] are not going to tolerate us; they're not going to ignore us," said company President
Ron Rookstool. "They're going to hope we fall flat on our face."

From its shop on U.S. 41, Sea FORCE IX is finishing the hull of its first sport-fishing yacht, bound for an
anonymous billionaire. Company marketing director Andrew Distler would say only that the customer is
a leading corporate executive who values his privacy.

Among the vessel's features: twin 16-cylinder, 2,000-horsepower engines; bedrooms for the owner, a VIP,
another guest, and the captain and his crew; and, of course, a top-of-the-line fighting chair for battling billfish.

The yacht holds 3,800 gallons of fuel and can travel 1,700 nautical miles without refueling. That makes trips
to exotic fishing grounds such as Venezuela and Costa Rica accessible, Distler said.

To be sure, there are bigger, pricier yachts out there. For example, multibillionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul
Allen bought a 301-footer for a reported $100 million.

But when it comes to sport-fishing yachts, the super-rich have had to settle for 65-foot yachts, Distler said.
Sea FORCE IX is gunning for those people who want the next level of sport-fishing yachts, longer than 70
feet. Sea Force is planning three models: 761/2 feet, 811/2 feet and 861/2 feet.

"Every 10 years the boats get bigger and bigger," said Distler, a 27-year veteran of the industry. "It
wouldn't surprise me if the next batch were 90 to 110 feet."

The name Sea FORCE IX refers to the Beaufort scale, which measures wind Force on a scale of 1 to 12,
with 12 being a hurricane. Level 9 refers to severe gale Force winds.

Rookstool, the company president, was the general manager of a competing luxury yacht builder called
Donzi Yachts by Roscioli, which has a manufacturing plant in Bradenton. Last June, he broke off to form
Sea FORCE IX and recruited several industry veterans to join him. Today, the company has 25 employees.
Seed money from an investor group should allow Sea Force to build three to five yachts while it is still getting
its footing, Rookstool said.

One of the challenges for the young company may be finding a clientele.

The typical buyer of a $5 million megayacht is worth $100 million or more, so yacht builders do not buy
TV commercials or take ads in yachting magazines. Instead, they build relationships with high-end yacht
brokers who wheel and deal in multimillion-dollar vessels. And they keep a running list of wealthy individuals
who own 50- or 60-foot sport-fishing yachts and may want to move into a 70- or 80-footer, Distler said.

Sea Force will build some for specific customers but also will build them on a speculative basis, a huge risk
for a new company building boats priced at $4.5 million to $6.5 million.

"We will build them that way because we're convinced that there's an interest," Rookstool said.

Sea FORCE IX will have to hope that the economy strengthens. In general, people who can afford a $5 million
sport-fishing yacht are not pinching pennies. But that does not mean the industry is completely immune to
changes in the economy or war fears, according to a competing yacht builder.

Bob Roscioli, president of Donzi Yachts by Roscioli, said he had to cut his work Force from about 90
employees to 35 in the past few years because of slowness. Just recently, things have started looking up,
and the company has enough work lined up to keep it busy for a couple of years, Roscioli said.

Luxury yacht dealer Jon Burkard of Stuart, who is familiar with Sea FORCE IX, said the start-up firm may have
found a niche. There are plenty of sport-fishing yachts in the 50-foot range, but very few 80-foot ones, he said.

"In the niche they're in, there is room for a better mousetrap," Burkard said.

(CHART) SHIPSHAPE

Company Name: Sea FORCE IX Inc.

President: Ron Rookstool

Headquarters: 12277 U.S. 41 N., Palmetto

Employees: 25