EYES ON THE PRIZE

With a retail price of over $220,000, the 2019 Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show’s Surtees-yamaha Grand Prize will be the most valuable must-be-won prize ever offered at a boat show. The Prowler-red Surtees 750 Open Cabin Game Fisher, complete with Surtees SIQ and Offshore Transom, is powered by a pair of Yamaha 150hp four-stroke outboards with digital electronic controls. It will be the first boat in New Zealand with Yamaha’s new Helm Master boat control system.

A fully-integrated boat control system, Helm Master delivers supereasy joystick-controlled docking when coming into the ramp and precision boat positioning out at sea.

Helm Master’s Fishpoint allows the user to automatically follow a school of fish, while Driftpoint enables the skipper to set the direction and speed for a drift and then automatically maintain it. And with Staypoint, you can position the boat over a point of interest, such as a deepwater reef, and hold it there, hands-free without the need to drop anchor.

The Grand Prize also comes with a comprehensive Garmin electronics package, a Loan Star drum winch system, Fusion stereo, Hella LED lighting, Seadeck flooring, Oceanblue outriggers and Hitech Plastic seating. A set of Hutchwilco lifejackets and a year’s Yamaha Marine Insurance are also included.

The Show will be held at the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane, Auckland on May 16-19. Tickets to the show are $20 each and are now available on-line at www.boatshow.co.nz