The Bavaria shipyard with new management has definitely taken off again, so we had a chat with the official dealer of the German shipyard and Nautitech in Italy. We are talking about Claudio Bacchelli’s Albatros Rimini company, a well-established business that has taken Bavaria boats and Nautitech catamarans to every corner of Italy from the upper Adriatic.
What is Albatros Rimini?
It’s a company that started way back in the early 1980s, in 1984 with the entry of new partners Albatros was founded, initially the sectors of the company were chartering, sailing school and preparation for sailing licenses and so we went on for over a decade. In 2000 it became Albatros Rimini, but the main change is the entry also on the new and charter sales front on an international scale. In fact, since 2003 we have become an official Bavaria dealer.
What brands does the company handle today?
Obviously Bavaria first of all, but later when the German shipyard made the acquisition of the brand we also started to deal with Nautitech, and the catamaran business is definitely interesting for us. Then for years we have also had a cooperative relationship with the Pardo Shipyard, but of which we are not dealers.
How is the market moving today, what are the trends when comparing catamarans and monohulls?
Proportionally, the world of catamarans is growing more. Let me explain: we are not talking about absolute numbers, which are still in favor of monohulls, but relative growth in recent years. Catamarans, while fewer in number in the market, have had a higher percentage of growth, and this seems to be an established trend.
What effect does this trend bring on the type of sailors/enthusiasts you deal with?
Our clients are definitely diverse. We sell boats to those coming from the motor world, those coming from racing, or those simply looking for comfort. Here we can say, however, that the audience for catamarans is really across the board, much more so than the audience for monohulls, let’s say that cat boats arouse a lot of curiosity in a wide type of enthusiasts. But the problem in this industry is that still the knowledge of catamarans is limited, there are still some false myths that should be debunked. Catamarans are not all the same, there are those that are just comfortable, but there are also those that can sail really well under sail, we put a lot of effort into explaining these differences and trying to make people understand this concept of a boat.
And where does the world of monohull enthusiasts coming to you come from?
Bavaria is a typical boat for cruisers looking for a comfortable, safe, and value-for-money vessel. Since the range has been spruced up with Cossutti’s designs, the audience has also become more sporty, but the core remains cruisers. The private shipowner component for us remains the majority clientele still for Italy, but of course charter companies are our other focus and continue to be a growing market.
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