Staying in your lane – a Robertson and Caine story
by John Curnow, Global Editor, SailWorldCruising.com 10 Apr 15:00 UTC
Leopard 46 Sailing cat © Leopard Catamarans
It's not an easy thing, this boat building caper. It is quite happy to hand out Degrees from the University of Hard Knocks, at will, and frequently. Much like on-the-spot fines from an overzealous parking inspector.
There is but one quantum of success. Number of boats sold. It is a kind of popularity contest, of sorts. Only from that point can you do things like, remain profitable, thereby ensuring you'll be around for the future. Don't forget R&D to deliver new products with things people really want from their boating dreams, and thereby build a queue of delighted families all wanting to put their cold, hard shekels down.
Cats, both power and sail, is all Robertson and Caine do these days. Specifically, between 40 and 53 feet, and that's it. Well defined lane that, me thinks. Don't know 'R&C', as they call themselves internally? They're OK with that. In fact, they almost welcome it. "That's how we like it, we want to be under the radar, so you must know how difficult this is for me. This is the last thing that I want to do," said Theo Loock, R&C's MD, as our discussion began.
You will, however, know Leopard the brand, and then the mammal that gave its name to the brand is a member of the big cat family, of course. As we will come to see, both feline, and family are words virtually imbued into, nay absolutely mixed into the resin of the GRP that creates the multihulls themselves.
Now, despite navigating down a very specific channel, R&C are actually number four behind firstly the Beneteau Group, then Fountaine-Pajot, and Bali/Catana. At their designed manufacturing capacity of 210 to 230 boats a year or so, they are no also ran, either. Considering they do not go out to 80 feet, nor down below 40, their dominance in said well-defined band is quite noticeable.
Loock was a delight to speak with, and so very proud of team Leopard, which consists of the 2500 staff, then all the sales and distribution partners, as well as the owners. Initially, Loock may have been like the leopard surveying the scene from in amongst the blades of grass on the Savannah, but once warmed up he was definitely more like the spotted patterned cat in full flight, nudging 60km/h.
Before we move on, it is important to note that whether you are reading this on SailWorldCruising.com, or Powerboat.World, it applies to both genres equally. The reason is that R&C cats have different hulls for the job. The deck and superstructures have common elements, but the hulls are specific. If you have read any of our Big Cat series, especially the last Big Cats IV, you'll know why that is important.
Big times means big celebrations
The moment was auspicious, for on the very day we were having our call, R&C had wheeled out their 3000th vessel, a Leopard 40 powercat, as it turns out. "It's a big milestone for us. What makes this so significant is that Travelopia, who are the exclusive distributor for Leopard catamarans, flew out the owners from the USA to us here in Cape Town (RSA), so that we could roll the boat out of our new facility that we bought on Neptune Street, right over from the harbour. Everybody that had a hand in building the boat put their handprints on the boat, as well as the two young daughters of the owners. After that it is the splashing, and the Christening," said Loock.
"It's such a fantastic privilege. For us, it's the 3,000 lovely families that have made it all possible over the last 34 years. We want to honour them, and all the partners we have in our business."
If you are standing atop Table Mountain looking back over to the West, this new 20,000m2, 10 bay facility (one of six that R&C have) is down and to the right. What it also means is that if you are at this particular R&C facility that was once upon a time a wool store, you are under the majesty of the rock, and all the wonderment it weaves. Just setting the scene for this special launching... BTW, the ceremonies occur at the nearby Royal Cape Yacht Club.
We talked about investment before, and R&C purchased the former wool store from the Wool Trust of South Africa for about 200 million South African Rand (ZAR) and they're investing another hundred million ZAR (where 1USD gets you a bit over 18ZAR) in upgrades and infrastructure to the facility they used rent a portion of and now own outright.
The bonus is its very direct access to the water, literally just metres away, and as it is their 'newest' facility, per se, it is where they deliver the most modern of production methods. Namely complete infusion of hulls and bridge deck for the 40-footers. This will go across to the other models and four manufacturing facilities, over time. New technology raises the quality stakes, and that is always a good thing.
"The other plants either produce one model, or two in separate lines if they are lower volume vessels. We are deeply vertically integrated, so the other two facilities that make up the six we operate are a CNC joinery shop, where we do all of fitouts in house, including the upholstery, and also our in-house electrical shop that creates the harnesses that then go out to production for installation. We also have central warehousing and part distribution to ensure everything is delivered on time, in time," added Loock.
So, CATS are not just what R&C do, it also encapsulates their whole ethos. 'A Big Theme', as Loock explains. Each of the letters describes their way of boat building.
C is for Connectivity
"This is the man-machine interface. Today with things like Starlink, you want to have very fast Wi-Fi Communication on the boat. New owners, especially on the powercat side, want to be able to start the air conditioning remotely and know the state of charge of the batteries."
A is for Autonomy
"Autonomous sailing/steaming - It's a little bit easier on the sea to have autonomous 'driving', because you're not following a specific road. There's the autopilot, for sure, but now there are remotes with a tablet and so forth, and AI is already allowing a level of unmanned navigation, which will only increase over time."
T is for Thrust Technology
R&C has already adopted the alternative propulsion system from Alternative Energies that harnesses, solar, wind, and hydroregeneration (sailing cats only). We featured that here. "Integrated solar panels are a big part of it all. The days of the panel atop the davits are thankfully over, as this is now part of the design process. The outcome is 3500 to 4000 Watts, which in right weather conditions, and in conjunction with the other two sources adds range and days without the need for ICE to be part of the mix.
"Biofuels and maybe even hydrogen may form part of the mix moving forward. Electric does work in a sailing situation, but there's a big difference when you change out the 45 or 60 horsepower engines in a sailing cat, as opposed to a pair of 320 or 370hp motors in a powercat. They are two completely different animals, and a big part of our success has always been we've never again take a sailing cat and try to adapt it to a powercat."
S is for Sustainability
Not surprisingly, S is for sustainability. Green materials, eco-friendly resins. Recycled resins and their percentage against virgin resins. In short, the overall R&C impact.
So that makes it D for Design
"We've got a completely different design philosophy with Simonis and Voogd, which means totally independent hull platforms between power and sail from the keel up. One of the main reasons is that a powercat owner wants to be able to achieve 22 knots or more as a sprint speed, even though this will be regulated when that craft may be in charter mode."
Given the high proportion that are charter vessels, Leopards have numerous accommodation options. Of course, these all need distinct design and prototyping stages, to say nothing of differing production specs/methodologies/practices. The design brief stage commences with a 'concept cruise' as Loock puts it, where management, designers, engineers, and clients come together to chart the different options available in that market segment, and they go out on a different boat each day to provide feedback on what they like, don't like, where are the improvements, how comfortable is it, how well does it handle, and of course, who gets to the nightly anchorage in first place.
If there are 240 working days in a year, then at 210 to 230 boats pa, it is almost a boat a day, in what is a three-to-five-month cycle depending on vessel type and size, so co-ordination and streamlining are key. Currently the mix is 60/40 sail to power, but it is often 50/50. A hull is the best part of five days including lay-up to cure. Some models from the six-boat range are 50 boats per annum, and others more like 25.
Having the centralised distribution that sends out materials made in cages that is a mixture of built in-house, sourced locally, and imported is the grease that keeps the wheels turning.
There is a slow and steady sort of approach to the company, that Loock is clear about stemming from John Robertson's days at the helm. To this end, R&C did not increase production drastically during the Covid era, and equally, does not have to downsize dramatically now. Their oscillations might be 20 boats a year, not 100. Part of this is also that they train carpenters, laminators and so forth in-house, as South Africa does not have a huge skilled workforce. The upshot is that a great majority of the 2500 workers are lifelong family members.
Loock explains, "We build the people that build the boats. It is a subtle but none the less distinct way of looking at our business. Slow and steady, better and better is the R&C way."
Yet progress has its way of permeating everything, and R&C is no different. Three bays in the new facility are for prototyping, then tooling, so plug and mould creation for the entire business, and these are then shipped to the various production yards once ready. 140 people are employed here, alone. A larger CNC machine has also been ordered for this arm of the business. This means a boat can come from four main parts now. Speed equals time equals money, with all three being the holy grail, and always accompany it with the desired level of quality.
"Our philosophy is that we've got a handover from design to manufacturing and the first boats that we built in the past were the prototypes, because she only had one type of cabin configuration and one thrust technology. Now you can have electric or ICE, you can have two, three, four or five cabin options, and so there is far more prototyping that we need to do, and testing of spaces, heights, steps, and access etc. This is so design and engineering can oversee the development, and accurately pinpoint materials, manhours, as well as final drawings, so that joinery, for instance, gets 100% accurate files to cut from."
Where to from here?
The charter market has been an integral part of R&C, and it does bring a lot of people into boating. Many of these do go on to be owners, and then also put the vessel back into the fleet. At a time when a lot of brands do not have the next generation taking up the boating lifestyle shown to them by their parents, Leopard actually stands apart. "Many of the 'children', once they come into financial maturity, go straight to buying their own boat, and they have 20 plus years of experience behind them. We have a lot of that," stated Loock.
So, with a bit more space now at the new facility to look at expansion, you wonder if the one area they do not cover thus far is on the cards. Namely express powercats with monohull type speeds of 28-35 knots. Despite sounding easy, it is a fair departure from said lane, however...
Could it be that they may appear with a monohull like the days of yore, or play in the under 40-foot multihull bracket or show up in the larger, smaller run cat spaces? This latter one is probably more likely, and my money goes on entry level. "There is a requirement at both ends of the spectrum," said Loock. "So, I think in the future, there's sort of two possible directions that it goes. What is the demand on the smaller 40-foot size, something closer pricewise to a monohull, a first-time charter experience or first-time boat owner experience, or is it on the more expensive of luxury side? This is why we've kept those three bays open. The investment in the upgrades is to ensure the correct electrical supply, and backup supply, because it's not an independent three-bay system anymore. All ten bays are now ours. There's also the right ventilation, as we are all about the health and safety of our work environment."
"Then there are the market requirements, which are the key determinants, as we are a family, and all 3000 owners have made it possible."
"I think for now the only monohull we will be involved in is the refurbishment of the 40-year-old John Roberston built, Impact, and it is not for sale. It is for sailing..."
The existing production facilities may be the root cause of the 55-foot limit. That can change now, but as the size goes up, the owner only element also increases, and here we are back at the lane discussion. "That will take a completely different mindset in the quality that you design, the affordability of the boat and all of that. For us and our exclusive distribution partner to break out of our mould will take a little bit more study and a little bit more understanding of the market. Yes, there's a market there, but we've not been there because we've always had this balanced focus. Whatever we make must be able to be sold privately, but also to be used in charter."
The other element to consider is that some of R&C's partners do not operate in the more rarefied spaces, and so a distribution discussion is also required. "Somebody considering a vessel like that wants a completely different sales experience, and you're not going to be able to sell that necessarily in the same way that you're selling Leopards that we're selling today."
"We're very good at designing a boat. We're very good at putting it through the design spiral with our partner, Simonis Voogd. We're very good at making the tooling for a boat. We're good at manufacturing. We're good at training the people. We're good at putting the infrastructure in. We're good at having successful partnerships. And our boats perform well, especially in comparison with our competition. Sales has not been our forte. It is however the forte of our exclusive distribution partner Travelopia with Sunsail, The Moorings and Leopard Catamaran brands. Simple as that, so we would need to step out a plan if we changed lane to go into the bigger craft."
I think it could be a Honda/Acura case, right there. Equally, you also have to ponder that many tried to change lane, sunk inordinate amounts of money, and often went off to meet Davey Jones. Boat building is not easy, as we said. The days of private equity wanting to get involved in the glitz and glamour would be done. Profitability is king. Plain and simple.
R&C rely on values like respect, responsible, reliable, innovation, teamwork, and excellence. Greatness comes with consistency. The more you can improve that consistency is very important from a client experience point of view. We probably call that, 'no sudden moves'...
There's a rhythm to R&C. Five-to-six-year product cycles is their cadence. Head down, tail up is their posture. It is their modus operandi. No games of 'Whack-A-Mole' going on here, and Loock is thoroughly delighted about that!
"I think we could be in the appreciation business. There are 3000 families out there that make up our journey. They touch all of our current 2500 staff, and over the journey we have had 4200 souls create the vessels from R&C. The dependence ratio in South Africa is 1:10. Every worker has 10 people who are dependent on them for food, shelter, medical, schooling, care, and across the age divide. So that's 25,000 lives. We want to thank all of the families who buy Leopards," said Loock in closing.
So don't expect anything too different in the next while from Robertson and Caine. They're quite content getting on with the job of delivering Leopard cats to their ever-expanding family.
If you want to see what is happening in the other Hemisphere, go to the top of the SailWorldCruising home page and the drag down menu on the right, select the other half of the globe and, voila, it's all there for you.
Finally, stay safe, and let's see where it all goes now.
John Curnow
Global Editor, SailWorldCruising.com