Sabre Yachts

PMY: What lessons from the past has helped move your business forward?

AARON CRAWFORD: Sabre is fortunate to have an almost half century heritage of boat building. Starting as a blue water sailboat builder ingrained the importance of quality, practicality and safety at sea into our corporate culture. As we moved from building sailboats to powerboats, and as the boats became larger and more complicated, these core beliefs remained and are still evident. Thoughtful design supported by quality craftsmanship allows us to produce a boat that is as elegant as it is safe and practical. Our typical customer is and experienced yachtsman. The feedback that we receive from thousands of customers in the Sabre family is invaluable as we conceptualize, design and build new models. The suggestions, requests and comments provide a constant source of opportunity to improve our product and ensure we are able to exceed our customers’ needs and desires.

PMY: How will your products change to meet the needs of the evolving marketplace?

AARON CRAWFORD: Time on the water is increasingly limited as our lives become busier. Ease of operation, quality and reliability has never been as important as they are today. Our boats are designed with the owner operator in mind, and even as our boats increase in size, our focus on user friendliness has intensified; easy access to the side deck, well-arranged mechanical spaces, and ample storage to name a few. Our customers are becoming accustomed to a “smart house” and we anticipate that they will increasingly expect their boats to be clever as well. All of the systems on board are becoming integrated with remote access and telemetry becoming more common. One requirement of the market that has remained unwavering over time is the desire for efficiency. Combining the latest driveline technologies with state of the art hull design will result in both more comfortable and more fuel efficient boats.

Due to the changes in technology, the pace of new product development is quicker than it has been at any point during my career. Sabre’s inhouse design, engineering and product develop-

ment teams ensure that we can embrace these new features in every one of our new models, while maintaining our roots of Downeast craftsmanship. PMY: How have your customer demands shifted in recent years?

AARON CRAWFORD: Over time, our scope as a company has broadened from delivering boats to customers to delivering a high quality ownership experience. This experience begins with the sales process, where we have experienced a higher level of customization in recent years, making the build process much more personal. This relationship allows us to understand what is important to our customers, how they will use their boat and ensure we build a boat that fully meets their expectations. The process continues after the sale with support from our in-house customer service team as well as support from our nationwide dealer network. When we deliver a new boat to a customer, we are welcoming them into the Sabre family.