Newsletters - Sail Ties Spring 2006

Friday was a spectacular day for all of us at Southwestern! We've been waiting for almost a year for the 57 and 523 to arrive since we ordered them. Two 57's and the 523 all arrived on the same ship from Antwerp, where they we trucked from Beneteau France. The links below are all of the shots of the offloading.

One of the 57's is sold and heading to Hawaii. The other is a sold and sailing locally. She is striking and loaded with offshore cruising equipment.

The new 523 is sold, but the next boat is available in January 2006. She is the new 2-cabin version. Please copy and paste the web addresses below to see our album of pictures of boats......the call us to make an appointment to see them. They are all on Shelter Island in San Diego being commissioned.

Photos of the 57's

Photos of the new 523

Swift Trawler 42 coming to California!

Press Release:

Southwestern Yacht Sales introduces New Swift Trawler 42 to West Coast

Southwestern Yacht Sales in San Diego was chosen as the dealer for the new Swift Trawler 42 for all of Southern California. Being one of the largest powerboat builders in Europe, Beneteau has created the new Swift Trawler for those owners who desire high quality construction, good value, traditional looks and impressive speed. The Swift Trawler 42. Drawn by the renowned firm of Joubert/Nivelt in cooperation with the Beneteau engineering office, launches a new niche of passagemakers with the ability to travel at a rapid pace in sublime comfort while carrying a crew in seas that many typical cruisers might find too challenging. She is being built at the Beneteau USA plant in Marion, South Carolina.

"The introduction of the Swift Trawler 42 is a natural progression for Beneteau USA. As our market continues to grow, we have seen an increasing demand for sailors and power boaters alike ready to make a switch to a new generation of passagemakers. The Swift 42 fulfills that demand by offering a performance, safe, seaworthy hull in combination with a sumptuous interior highlighted by the lustrous joinerwork that Beneteau is so well known for", said Wayne Burdick, President of Beneteau USA.

On top of her design emphasis of sea-kindly passages at quick paces, the Swift Trawler 42 offers upper and lower steering stations, a generous salon with an adjoining galley in a panoramic deck salon, a large master state room with a queen sized island berth, en suite head with separate shower, a great guest cabin, and a large aft deck with swim platform. The interior is finished out in the beautiful joinery work that is a hallmark of Beneteau, and her system offerings are "haute-couture". A true yacht-like flavor is evident throughout, from her sizeable flybridge/entertainment platform to her spacious, well-engineered engine/generator spaces.

Southwestern Yacht Sales, one of the largest Beneteau dealers in the U.S. and Beneteau's 2004 "Dealer of the Year" for North America will receive the first new Swift Trawler in the Spring.

New Beneteau 523 is on her way to Southern California

We have the first new Beneteau 523 arriving on the West Coast in February. This is the newest design from Beneteau and Group Finot, designers

of the highly successful Beneteau 473.

She is a 3 stateroom version with owner's stateroom forward. We've ordered her loaded with equipment.

Please email us for details, more interior and sailing pictures and price sheet. You'll be very surprised at the great value that this large sailing yacht has to offer.

Southwestern awarded "Dealer of the Year" 2004

10/6/04

Press release printed in The Log magazine:

On October 6th at the annual Beneteau Dealer Meeting at the Annapolis Boat Show in Maryland, Southwestern Yacht Sales of San Diego was awarded Beneteau's "Dealer of the Year" for superior sales and service of their Southern California customers. Out of 42 North American Beneteau dealers, Southwestern was chosen because of their top U.S. Beneteau sales and most importantly their reputation and record of superior service to their customers. "Any dealer can focus on high sales numbers, but we are most proud of our thorough service to our customers. That is our primary focus." said Barrett Canfield, Vice President of Southwestern. "We do well in sales because of our goals of delivering beyond our customer's expectations....sales are a result of great service, and we are continuously trying to improve how we serve our Beneteau owners. That is why almost half of our new boat sales in 2004 are from repeat customers."

The Southwestern Sales Team in San Diego is the first complete sales force in history to all win Beneteau's coveted "Top Gun" award in one year. This sends them all to the Paris Boat Show to preview the newest Beneteau designs, see their customer's boats in production, and have a little well deserved fun. Pictured in the photo are Stephen Rodi, Mike Dorgan, Alan Hardwick, and Barrett Canfield.

Beneteau is the worlds largest production boat builder with seven factories in France and one in Marion, South Carolina, which builds most of the boats for the North American Market (452 boats delivered in 2004 from Marion.) They have a reputation of being a well built, stylish, "best value", performance cruiser in their markets. They also build the "First " series of racer-cruisers which make up the fastest growing one-design fleets in the U.S. They build performance cruisers from 32 to 57 feet and First Series racer-cruisers from 36 to 47 feet. In Annapolis, Beneteau introduced their new Tommy Bahama 473, which, as you might imagine, is designed and decorated to take you to the islands upon first sight of her....and she does!

"Congratulations to the Southwestern Yacht Sales team", says Mike Thoney, Regional Sales Manager for Beneteau U.S.A in Charleston, S.C. "We are proud to see Beneteau sales skyrocket in Southern California over the past few years and we are proud of the team at Southwestern for making that happen. They are at the top of our national C.S.I. (customer satisfaction index) performance ratings for our dealers, so obviously what they are doing for their customers is the right thing."

More Rendezvous Shots

We sailed out of Two Harbors on the Beneteau 382 and took some great shots of Brad Albert's new Beneteau First 47.7 "El Sueno", and Dr. Michael Busch's new Tall Rig Beneteau 423 "Novia Del Mar" sailing in 15-18 knots at Two Harbors. What a day! If this doesn't make you want a boat..........

The Tall Rig 423 sailed very well side by side with the big 47.7 speed machine. All of the Beneteaus sail like a dream. Give us a call if you'd like to experience their stability, ease of handling, and grace on the water.

We couldn't resist throwing some more great sailing shots on the web of this sailing day....Here they are! -The SWYS Team