On the weekend of 11 and 12 March over 200 people, aboard 48 luxury Sea Ray cruisers gathered for the second 'Andrew Short Marine Sea Ray Rendezvous'. A popular bushland retreat nestled among the valleys of the Royal National Park upon the Port Hacking was the weekend home for over $25M worth of recently sold new luxury Sea Ray craft. Guests were valeted out to their pre-assembled boats on Saturday morning from the Andrew Short Marine base at Yowie Bay marina aboard a 48 and 52 foot Sundancer and it was push the 'fun afloat' button from that point on until the closing address late on Sunday afternoon.

As the SeaRay owners and their guests rounded the corner they were exposed to the Sea Ray circle complete with accompanying barge and private helicopter primed for a weekend of fun. The chopper debuted by providing 'Captain Sea Ray' with a splashing entry, dropping him into the centre of the circle for his grand entrance. The day's activities included a blind-folded inflatable rowing challenge, various boating workshops covering general maintenance, crew tuition with a special focus on rafting, fendering, mooring lines, a monster fishing competition, addresses from the water Police and NSW Maritime and a whole host of fun activities. Channel Seven's 'Sydney Weekender' team were on hand to film the entire day's activities and will be featuring the event in an upcoming Sydney Weekender episode.

All of the fun and commentary was hosted on Sea Ray FM, a floating radio station that was specifically engineered for the weekend, broadcasting all day and into the evening on 99.9FM, allowing each boat to tune in and not miss any of the action. As guests were treated to a sumptuous seafood dinner followed by fruit and cheese platters, Wallaby star and local boating enthusiast Matthew Rogers spoke about topics ranging from life as a professional athlete, what the Sutherland Shire and boating means to him and the sad recent passing of his father. After dinner, guests were taken behind the scenes of the world's toughest ocean race, the Sydney to Hobart, where three guests with 26 Hobart races between them gave a moving account of what's it's like to do battle with mother nature on her terms. Saturday evening's trivia competition was the headline entertainment for the weekend with 12 teams doing battle for $10,000 in prizes and saw everyone participate in a very competitive event.

On Sunday, after a tender-delivered 5-star hotel breakfast of fruit, muffins, juice, bacon and eggs complete with the Sunday newspapers, the days program highlight was helicopter joy flights for all guests. Andrew Short Marine had chartered a Bell jet ranger helicopter from the Wieland Helicopter Company for the weekend which allowed all guests the opportunity to see the stunning Port Hacking from the air. Mothers, fathers and children alike were able to enjoy this once in a lifetime experience as a family and the smiles on landing said it all.

Andrew Short, CEO of Andrew Short Marine said "The Rendezvous offers owners and their guests an opportunity to be a part of the 'Everest of Boating' in that they participate in what is one of Australia's biggest private on-water event and share boating experiences that they would otherwise not be exposed to. We committed ourselves to delivering a few things to invited guests during our introductory address - they were to meet new friends, to share some new experiences, to take away a few boating tips and most importantly, to enjoy themselves with their families out on the water. Andrew Short

Marine strived to deliver the foundation and we believe that everyone who attended ticked all of the boxes. We remind ourselves daily that we're not just in the boat business, we're in the relationships and experiences business as well, and the Andrew Short Marine Sea Ray Rendezvous is a wonderful showcase of that belief. The feedback from our growing list of customers suggests that we're onto a winner with the Rendezvous concept and it is rapidly gaining momentum as Australia's premier boating event."

It is no wonder that Andrew short marine was awarded the Searay international dealer of the year for the last two years running and is looking good to make it a hat trick this year.

Andrew short marine continues to grow and go from strength to strength because of the top quality brands and exceptional customer service to match.

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