Tom Fexas Yacht Design
Continues Going Strong

Fortunately for Tom Fexas’ admirers, the legacy of this bold iconoclast will continue. In addition to projects under construction at the time of his passing last November, Tom Fexas Yacht Design recently signed contracts for 55- and 64-foot yachts.

Naval architect David Glasco is now heading the design office and the team that worked for more than two decades directly with Tom. According to Regina Fexas, who has taken on the job as company president, in addition to new concepts, the design files include more than one hundred profiles and arrangements, still unseen by the general public, drawn by Tom and ready for project development. Tom Fexas Yacht Design is located in Stuart, Florida.

Miami River = Jobs
Jobs =Votes = Dredging

At press time we were advised by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen that $3.5 million in funding for the continued dredging of the Miami River will be received by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The $3.5 million are in federal funds appropriated in 2007 and will allow for the Corps of Engineers to re-commence their work in June and July of this year. Ros-Lehtinen and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced the funding–critical for maintaining shipping and access to boatyards on the Miami River–just days after Congressional leaders took a tour of the river with Army Corps officials. Merrill-Stevens shipyard workers lined the river with banners to make their point about the need to rescue the river.

Boating Initiative Grants

Morehead City and Washington, North Carolina, and Clearwater, Florida, are three of the nine recipients of grants from the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife earmarked to build and maintain facilities for recreational cruisers. In Clearwater, a project also utilizing city matching grants will provide 2,600 linear feet of temporary docking for visiting yachtsmen and 12 fixed slips. In North Carolina, the money will go toward 10 transient docks in Morehead City and a finger pier with 12 transient slips on the Pamlico River in Washington.

Aging Gracefully, Part 2

In the last issue we noted some milestone industry birthdays and here’s another one. It’s been 100 years since Edvard Hubendick developed the first wholly Swedish-built boat engine for a foundry company called Skofvde Gjuteri & Mekaniska Verkstad. Aren’t we all glad they chose something simple like “Penta” as the name of this one-cylinder, three-horsepower engine?
The first engine was followed by three new models, and by 1920, 3,268 Pentas were in service. Fast forward to 1959 and the unveiling of the Aquamatic drive unit at the New York Boat Show. With this engine, designed by Miamian Jim Wynne, Volvo Penta became a synonymous with the word sterndrive. Today, Volvo-Penta’s annual turnover is reportedly more than $1.4 billion.