Power play: Bruce Scott

Scott’s Refrigerated Freightways grew steadily during the 1980s and, when he took the reins from his father, Scott implemented various changes and took the business to the next level with his impressive team, becoming a prominent refrigerated transport company in Australia. In 2012 he joined Keith Hanson and his son Ryan – who is a current partner in Whitehaven and the Design and Production Manager – and Whitehaven was officially reborn. When the time was right, Scott sold the refrigeration business to focus fully on boatbuilding.

At the media event at SCIBS in 2024, Scott emphasised that the company was ushering in a new era for Whitehaven, marked by revolutionary features and a different approach to marketing the brand. “My journey with Whitehaven goes back to Komotion (now Hells Bells), the original 7000 Flybridge on display here, which is also our focus of change and the platform for the new generation 7000 series,” he stated.

“This year, 2024, represents significant change for the Whitehaven brand. We’ve welcomed new dealer representatives in Alexander Marine in Queensland and Marine Riley in New South Wales. Most noticeably among the changes is that Whitehaven is now distinctly separate from the other brands the group represents, Aquila and Integrity.

“We’ve collaborated with Steve Ford of 4D Designs, which has brought a new, dynamic level of creativity to the Whitehaven range. This collaboration has already seen the designs of new Harbour Classic models, in the compelling 52, but for now, the focus is on the 7000 series as the platform for change – the Whitehaven revolution. There’s no better place to start than where our Whitehaven journey began, mine and Julie’s, in 2010,” he said.

Scott recounted their frustrating search for a motor yacht that ticked as many boxes as possible. In the market for a bigger boat to accommodate their extended family, they attended the 2010 Sydney International Boat Show to inspect what the major brands had to offer. They found them lacking in certain respects and brands were either unable or unwilling to accommodate the Scotts’ wish list. “We wanted something suited to us, not just a boat someone had built.”

“At the boat show, Julie bumped into Vicki Hanson. Keith and Vicki Hanson were friends of ours and shared our passion for boating, and Vicki took Julie to see their Whitehaven, telling her they could build whatever we liked.

“We both loved the boat but I asked if they could build it with a flybridge and mezzanine, a freestanding dining table, a full-beam master and a full-size tender garage. Keith told us it could be custom built to our specification, ticking all our boxes, and we immediately signed up for our Whitehaven 7000.”

Komotion, as they christened their boat, was delivered in 2011 and declared the stand-out motor yacht at the Sydney boat show that year. The Scotts and their friends and family enjoyed nine years of cruising the Hawkesbury and Sydney Harbour aboard their custom-crafted dream boat, but in 2022, they said a fond farewell to Komotion.

After undergoing a comprehensive refit and upgrading the electronics and entertainment systems, the renamed Hells Bells has travelled to the Whitsundays and Great Barrier Reef on various fishing and diving voyages, and looks as good as the day she arrived. The Scotts, meanwhile, await the delivery of their new Whitehaven 6500 Coupé, which is due for delivery early next year, 2025.

With Hells Bells as the backdrop, Scott revealed the radical innovations he hailed as “the dawn of a new era in Whitehaven’s history,” and enumerated the ingenious features that are the product of the creative partnership with 4D Designs, starting with a reimagining of the foredeck as the Vista Deck, a revolutionary re- engineering of access from the saloon direct to the bow.

The Vista Deck allows access to the luxurious lounge and sundeck bow area with absolute ease for all guests and seamless flow through the entire vessel – from the aft cockpit through the saloon and onto the foredeck leisure space. The all-new foredeck now offers an expanded seating and dining space for up to 10 people, and a removable Euro awning for sun protection over this spacious entertaining area.

Next is the awe-inspiring Atrium, with its large swathes of open space that let light stream in from the flybridge windows to the saloon below and even further down to the lower decks. This visionary feature evokes the bright, airy ambience of a Manhattan loft-style apartment. The Atrium also provides a clear view from the flybridge to the saloon below, creating an unsurpassed social connection between guests on board.

“Offering cutting-edge yachts is our mission, hence the need to further expand Whitehaven’s collaborations with the most accomplished designers in Australia and introduce innovations to the world of boatbuilding, of which the Vista Deck and Atrium are the new standard bearers,” Scott enthuses.

“The Vista Deck and Atrium flybridge are true firsts in cutting- edge innovation – they’re not modifications or the evolution of a past idea. Whitehaven asserts they provide clear and distinct benefits that will enhance the onboard experience and add new dimensions to the boating lifestyle.”

At the heart of the Whitehaven offering, according to Scott, is customisation. “Which has been a difficult proposition to convey,” he admits. “It can get confusing as to its meaning – whether it’s superficial or wholesale change?

“It can involve many choices, which becomes bewildering and makes such a compelling proposition difficult to comprehend and even more so to explain. So,” he says, “we devised a new way of bringing customised Whitehavens to life with a tool that places control in the hands and imaginations of owners. Steve Ford developed a groundbreaking means of experiencing the new options, which we’ve called The Customiser.

“Stepping beyond the standard GA and 2D graphics, Whitehaven has developed its own interactive, hyper-realistic technology that allows prospective owners to configure their ideal vessel.

“It allows us to convey the sheer quantity of innovative variants to our 7000 model range,” he continued. “So revolutionary are these new features that we needed a tool by which people can adventure through their chosen model, selecting unique combinations to create their own entirely customised vessel.”

Designed to be as easy and as realistic as possible, the program allows the operator to specify features during a walkthrough by clicking on a Smart Spec list of options they can use to build their Whitehaven with almost every conceivable detail. “Whitehaven is the first to adopt Smart Spec technology for new model specification, with hyper-realism at the click of your mouse,” said Ford during the media presentation, adding that this cutting- edge configurator technology is used by automotive brands of the calibre of Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Maserati and Porsche.

“The Customiser puts Whitehaven ahead of the curve,” Scott asserts. “We’ve created a new way of viewing boats that puts the power in the customer’s hands and Whitehaven on a new trajectory. We can demonstrate personalisation in real-time, photo- realistic renders so customers can see the outcome rather than imagine it. The Customiser allows us to convey Whitehaven’s point of difference and my vision for the brand. From my perspective,” he adds, “I’ve never been more excited about our future.”

Post-boat show, the Scotts are counting the days until the arrival of their as-yet-unnamed 6500 Coupé, which will serve as the next escape craft for them and their growing family.

whitehavenmotoryachts.com.au