Events

The CruiseCraft factory supports a number of key events held around around Australia each year and we would love to have you join us at them. These events also provide a great opportunity for Team CruiseCraft members to get together in conjunction with key personnel from the CruiseCraft factory.

Events fall into two basic categories - those of a general nature such as boat shows and family fun days; and those related to fishing tournaments. You don't have to be a fishing guru to take part in a tournament - the emphasis is on having fun and helping to show novices the ropes. Many in Team CruiseCraft have said they have learned more about seamanship and fishing skills in one tournament with seasoned Team CruiseCraft owners, than in years of boating.

Events provide a great opportunity to get to know the people behind the CruiseCraft brand and to discuss new design ideas. The CruiseCraft factory often makes special arrangements for Team CruiseCraft at many of these events - have a look at the program below to learn more about these activities. Those coming soonest are on top.

JUNE 2010

Boyne-Tannum Hookup

A fantastic showing of Team CruiseCraft “first timers”, a million laughs, bags of great fish for those who ventured out wide and an outstanding performance by CruiseCraft’s Gladstone dealership ... They were just some of the key features of Team CruiseCraft’s participation in the Boyne Tannum Hookup 2010. The event was initially designed as an event to boost tourism numbers to the region in the colder months, but has since developed into a major regional event for all members of the community.

Fifteen CruiseCrafts and 44 people formed the hub of Team CruiseCraft’s representation at the event this year. Almost a dozen Team CruiseCraft vessels travelled in convoy from the Gold Coast, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast to the event. (Len Scorey and his team – Robbie, Jo-Anne and Carolyn)  even had Y-Knot Fishing Team polo shirts made up for the event. Y Knot is the name of his Explorer 500.

Many thanks to David Green (who also manufactures the stainless steel fittings on CruiseCraft boats) and Richard Love for sharing their knowledge so willingly.

Furuno’s Shane Beardmore attended the event to help owners of Furuno electronics fine-tune their equipment. Some were using the very latest Furuno equipment for the first time.

Oz Blacker’s Gladstone Marine Centre mounted an impressive display of CruiseCraft boats in the exhibition area of the Boyne Tannum Hookup headquarters in Bray Park. The dealership’s manager, Mick Tedford was a great help throughout the event and CruiseCraft’s Peter Benston was in attendance every day to answer queries from the public about the models displayed which included the new Explorer 485 and Explorer 530. Gladstone Marine Centre also supplied the prize boat – a CruiseCraft Explorer 575 complete with targa and full safety gear powered by a Yamaha outboard on a CruiseCraft trailer. The prize boat was won in a lucky draw by a very appreciative Trevor Gallehawk from Maryborough.

Good fishing conditions at the start of the tournament later turned into fresh south-westerly and westerly winds making conditions wide offshore, uncomfortable. But upon arrival, several Team CruiseCraft vessels seized the window of opportunity and headed straight out to the wide grounds. Their journeys (some ventured 130km from home), saw them return laden with coral trout, sweetlip, red throat, mackerel, cod and hussar. But others decided to hug the protection of Facing Island and snare a few parrot and cod which were on the bite.

The way in which the event organisers, volunteers, service clubs, the local police and community work together to host and manage the Boyne Tannum Hookup so professionally, is simply outstanding and a real credit to the region

April 2010

Port Stephens

It surely must be one of the prettiest venues on the east coast of Australia for a fishing tournament. (It also must be the only event where Team CruiseCraft participants tried to out-do each other with the quality of flathead caught!) And with all those lines from the movie Top Gun which seem to get used a fair bit by Team CruiseCraft owners, there were plenty of smiles when the team saw the name of the bar next to tournament headquarters – Maverick’s. Talk about karma.

November 2009

Peel Island Picnic

More than 220 people and 56 CruiseCraft boats starred in another hugely successful Team CruiseCraft family picnic day at Horseshoe Bay. Hosted by the CruiseCraft factory and supported by all members of the Nichols family, it was an outstanding day as indicated by the cross-section of photographs shown here.  

A magnificent cavalcade of models was represented – some of them personalised and kitted out to a standard that had to be seen to be believed.

This annual picnic puts the emphasis on family participation and fun activities for everyone. Water volleyball was a major hit on a very warm day and there was a casting competition run in four categories – men, women, boys and girls.

Many thanks to Kord Luckus from L. Wilson & Co. fishing tackle for joining us and allowing the winners take home the rods and reels they used.

There were some fantastic lucky draw prizes given away as well. Australia’s foremost marine insurance company, Club Marine donated a $500 voucher for insurance as well as two other vouchers, both worth $250.

Greens Marine Stainless, the company which produces the outstanding stainless bow rails and other stainless work on CruiseCraft boats, donated two rocket launchers designed specifically for storing fishing rods and rigging them in the garage. Ron Wilkinson from Ron’s Organic Meats at Ney Road, Capalaba donated a Christmas ham. Yamaha Australia also put up some great promotional prizes.The CruiseCraft factory generously picked up the tab on the rib fillet steaks, snags, salads, watermelons and soft drinks for the day.

August 2009

Moreton Bay Fishing Classic

July 2009

All Tackle Masters

Between them, they took out the Champion Boat , the heaviest snapper, the second heaviest snapper (10.3kg and 9.6kg respectively), as well as the heaviest cobia and second heaviest cobia (43kg and 38kg) and the prize for most fish.

The All Tackle Masters was hosted by Little Ship Club on North Stradbroke Island, near Brisbane.
With guys aboard like Chris Eaton and Zeke Wolf offering great support, how could they possibly have been beaten?

And if there had been a prize for the best Mel Brooks look-alike, the affable Zeke would have nailed that award as well.

Well done guys and in support of some very good charitable causes backed strongly by Rotaract of Redlands.

June 2009

Boyne-Tannum Hookup

How good can an event be? Boyne Tannum 2009, held just south of Gladstone was outstanding again this year. Calm conditions which saw some in the Team CruiseCraft contingent head 100km-plus out to sea.

The Green brothers, David and Ken in Predator logged a 235km return journey in one day. Robbie Bertram in Bad Attitude, Richard Love in Sea Hawk, RodWatt’s team aboard Code 7, Mark Newman in Serial Killer – what an event.

Furuno’s resident technology guru, Shane Beardmore pictured here with a couple of impressive reds, seized the opportunity to double-check or tweak everyone’s sounders, plotters and radar systems. He also has introduced a new style out on the water – rock ‘n fishin’.
That’s where he uses rock band AC-DC to coax fish up from the deep, while making a video of the whole proceeding and simultaneously tracking everything on the sounder.
Make no mistake, it works!

Many travelled up in convoy with a departure from Brisbane at 2 a.m.– others met up at the event.

Once again many thanks to Kevin Nichols in Broomstick for organising the convoy, the accommodation and the logistics in conjunction with the other Team CruiseCraft participants.

The results? Well just have a look at Kevin’s grassy sweetlip here, Shane’s reds and John Brown’s coral trout to get an idea. And also note how calm the seas are in the background.

May 2009

Fraser Island

Around 25 CruiseCraft vessels entered this 2009 Toyota Fishing Expo at Fraser Island. This year’s, the last event in its current format, was the biggest in the 26 year history the tournament. The increasing popularity of Explorer and Outsider 685’s was clearly evident.  The CruiseCraft Explorer 500 which was one of the major random prize draws was won by Terry Harvey of Regents Park in Brisbane who attended the event with his brother-in-law Brian. That’s Terry pictured below with CruiseCraft identities Barry and Kevin Nichols along with a representative from Yamaha.

Remember last year’s event when Team CruiseCraft participant Christopher Dougherty won a brand new Toyota HiLux 4x4 Dual Cab SR Pickup V6 petrol ute in the lucky draw? Well this year his father Peter “Pedro The Practical Joker” Dougherty from Grafton managed to make the final draw for the car. Pedro was eliminated after 40 draws which certainly had hearts beating fast in Team CruiseCraft before it was his turn to sit down in what is a last man standing lucky draw.

Conditions for the first three days were not good which allowed the unbelievable talents of Bill Corten to shine. He took around 21 corporate guests of Toyota offshore in a series of runs to the Gardner Banks and brought home some magnificent fish like the red he is pictured below holding.

By Tuesday and Wednesday, the weather had deteriorated to the point of prohibiting launching from the beach. The photos below show how everyone kicked in to assist the launches and retrievals while the weather window remained open.

On Thursday conditions improved but with swells of three to four metres running. That still allowed the Team CruiseCraft participants to bring home a haul of parrot, hussar and red throat emperor.

Friday also was a “no go” day with very light winds but a huge swell. The Team decided to sit it out, but one non-CruiseCraft identity decided to chance his luck. In doing so, he finished up with a swamped vessel on the beach.

November 2008

Tea Tree Snapper

It was a long haul for Queenslanders Kevin Nichols, David Green, Richard Love, Brendan Watt and John Daffy, but they towed two Explorer 685's down to Melbourne to join local CruiseCraft owners in Victoria's premier snapper fishing tournament held on the Morning Peninsula.

Local knowledge was a major factor in determining the results which saw local and visiting Team CruiseCraft members over-shadowed by some great results including Allen Rayner claiming the championship title with a 7.22kg snapper. Jason Angel nailed one at 7kg and John Dafilis brought in a 6.54kg specimen. Of the Team CruiseCraft members, it was local enthusiasts aboard Master Blaster - an Explorer 600 - who managed to get snapper aboard.

There were plenty of Australian salmon around which made for a spirited session of fishing, but the snapper were a little rod-shy. The event provided a great opportunity to catch up with Team CruiseCraft members which is one of the main reasons for entering events such as this.

June 2008

Boyne-Tannum Hookup

Offshore conditions just do not get any smoother - have a look at this photo taken 30km offshore in this year's Boyne-Tannum Hookup. Mirror-like conditions with plenty of red throat emperor just waiting to be caught.

This event is held just south of Gladstone each Queen's Birthday long weekend in June.
All the regular Team CruiseCraft fishing guns were there as well as a few additional first-timers which was great to see.

Mind you two years ago the conditions were positively evil and last year they were good - it is a changeable event in terms of weather so don't think "glassy" is the norm. But one of the great attractions of this event is that despite inclement weather, you can always find a place to fish even if it's up river, hugging the shoreline.

May 2008

Fraser Island

The Toyota Fishing Expo at Fraser Island saw another strong contingent of vessels from Team CruiseCraft. They included Bill Corten in his brand new, special build Explorer 685 Reel Affair; diesel engines guru Richard Love in his Outsider 685 Sea Hawk, David Green his Explorer 685 Predator, Rodney Waite in his Outsider 625 Code 7; Brett Seng in his Outsider 625 Black Jack and Kevin Nichols in his twin engined Explorer 685 Broomstick.

Leaving aside the honor of winning daily prizes for the best fish species, the stand-out part of the event for Team CruiseCraft, other than the camaraderie, was Christopher Dougherty winning himself a brand new Toyota HiLux 4x4 Dual Cab SR Pickup V6 petrol ute.

It is valued at over $50,000. Christopher won the vehicle in a "last man standing" lucky draw. That's Christopher pictured above with Toyota's Marketing Manager for the Northern Region, Simon Clarke.

And also in the winners' circle was Leanne Read who took home a CruiseCraft Explorer 500 with Yamaha F100 motor and trailer valued at over $45,000. A number of Team CruiseCraft owners were 'first timers' this year at Fraser.

By being part of the team, they were able to get a few great tips on trailering up the beach, extended drawbar beach launches and places to stay as well as having the safety of other Team CruiseCraft vessels nearby when fishing offshore. Peel Island - September 2007

June 2007

Boyne-Tannum Hookup

Another strong showing with Richard Love's Sea Hawk (that's him pictured below with a serious nannygai and laughing deckie, Laurie Jenson); Ken Green in his beautifully refurbished Explorer 570; fibreglass repairs guru Arnold Kurz in Cher (which carried a stack of 11kg-plus red emperors back to shore); fine wine aficionado Ray Osborne in his appropriately named Jag 1; event regular Robbie Bertram in Bad Attitude; stalwart David Green, gentleman Brett Seng, ski racer David McInnes, Kevin Nichols, CruiseCraft director Justin Nichols, southern rogue Pedro Dougherty and John Daffy on rotating shifts aboard Big Predator and Broomstick; as well as red hot fisho's Rod and Brendan Watt in Code 7 and Sniper.

The weather improved markedly over the three days raising the stakes from the nearby cobia grounds east of Facing Island to the Cod Shoals and then a serious offshore assault on Fitzroy Reef around 90km offshore.