One of the advantages of reaching a certain age is that you know what you want and aren’t afraid to ask for it. The owner of this Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 490, having owned a slightly smaller Jeanneau for more than 20 years, knew he’d come back for more when it came time to upgrade.

The latest addition to Ownaship’s Auckland-based fractional ownership fleet is a French-built Fountaine Pajot MY 40, hull #5 and the first of this new model in the southern hemisphere.

I reviewed the Offshore 650 Pro Dive for the May 2020 edition of Boating NZ, coming away impressed by the quality of construction and the superb ride. Her new hardtop sister doesn’t disappoint either.

Once a ‘party trick’ with a limited market, amphibious boats have been steadily gaining traction with a wider audience of boat owners. Smuggler’s latest Strata 700 – with its centre-console configuration – will add further impetus.

Frans ordered the 12m yacht two years ago, but due to a few hiccups along the way it wasn’t until November last year that his new baby arrived here in New Zealand. After a bit of Wednesday night racing and a spot of cruising last summer, he is now back out on the water again and starting to race her. In keeping with the X-Yacht naming tradition, she is named eXpatria – also a nod to Frans’ Dutch origins.

The new 64 SMY takes the very best from Riviera’s largest luxury cruising yacht models and incorporates them in a more compact design. It’s smaller, but includes all the features that make the 72 and 68 SMY so outstanding.

Most buyers contemplating a mid-sized launch face the prospect of dealing with inboard diesels. Apart from their weight and noise, these take up a fair amount of hull space. But the emergence of compact, powerful and fuel-efficient four-stroke outboards has changed all that.

We like to think of ourselves as a nation of boaties but let’s be honest – for a large part of the year the weather is either marginal or downright hostile. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a practical boating solution even when the weather isn’t so good?