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THE YACHT REPORT

The Aussie

Viking

Vikal

Vikal International in Fremantle, Western Australia, has supplied custom tenders to some of

the largest and most prestigious superyachts in the world. Gunnar Vikingur, the company’s

charismatic yet diffident founder and owner, has traditionally shunned publicity, preferring

to let the product speak for itself. But he recently opened his doors to TYR and Justin

Ratcliffe brings this report based on an afternoon’s conversation with the Aussie Viking.

THE YACHT REPORT TENDERS REPORT | VIKAL The tender on

Lürssen’s Darius

When I walked into Vikal‟s reception on

a quiet industrial estate in a Fremantle suburb, Gunnar Vikingur was pouring over a

Steyr brochure about an emergency mechanical

drive system for its electronically controlled marine

diesel engines; a clever and practical feature that

allows the helmsman to engage a mechanical „get

home‟ mode in case of complete electrical failure. “The more people invent things the more they stay

the same”, commented Gunnar dryly as we shook

hands. This was not a flippant remark (he was

impressed by the innovation, despite the fact it

relies on fail-safe mechanical technology that has

been around for a very long time), but it was a

typically perspicuous one that reflects his hands-on

approach to life in general and boatbuilding in

particular. While such a no-nonsense attitude is often

associated with Australians, especially in the

remoter states, it is also characteristic of the stalwart

national character bound up in Gunnar‟s Icelandic

genes. Certainly the geography and climate of both

countries can be hard on human beings, so you might think his father was

swapping a cold and harsh environment for a hot

and harsh one when he moved the family from

the east coast of Iceland to Western Australia in

1969. Gunnar was aged 15 at the time and is

clearly proud of his Nordic heritage, revealing a

firm grasp of history and Old Norse as he

explained the origins of his own name and that of

his company (Vik means „bay‟ and Vikings are

„bay people‟ who spread from Norway to Iceland and other regions in the ninth century). On

arrival Gunnar joined his boatbuilder father and

went to work at a local yard at a time when

fibreglass construction was taking over from

traditional planking and plywood techniques. He struck out on his own and founded Vikal in

1982 to carry out refit and repair work and build

the odd sport fisherman. He later won a contract with Austal to supply components such as

AC ducting, ceiling panels and battery boxes and

then with Oceanfast to build more complete

composite structures. “This contract work was very important work for

us in the early years”, explains Gunnar. “During the

same period we were a sub-contractor for

Oceanfast and built composite superstructures for

aluminium yachts such as Moecca and Opal C

using light-skinned Kevlar that was foam

sandwiched and vacuum bagged together. Then we

built the composite hulls and superstructures for

Thunder, Mercedes II and Perfect Prescription –

these were significant Oceanfast builds for which

we built all the main structures.”

Any mention of Oceanfast inevitably raises the

name and reputation of Jon Bannenberg, who

was also the key figure in Vikal‟s subsequent

emergence as a custom tender builder. “Jon came by the yard often when we were

building the superstructure for Oceana and he was

always looking out for a means to having his ideas

produced”, continues Gunnar. “It was a lot easier

for us to devise shapes that were very difficult in

aluminium, so we built radar masts, spa baths and

carbon fibre staircases that he had designed. One

day he said he was involved in building a 70-plus-

metre yacht with Lürssen and he wanted me to

build the tenders. This was 18 years ago and the

yacht was Coral Island.”

By a curious twist of fate, Coral Island‟s two 7.5-

metre tenders, the very first bespoke tenders to

carry the Vikal logo, are back in the yard after

being acquired by Gunnar (the full story behind

these historic Bannenberg-designed tenders is

revealed in Q4 of SuperyachtDesign out in

September). With their Venetian water taxi looks and signature rope rub strake, the limo and

THE YACHT REPORT

Cakewalk’s tender on the move

THE YACHT REPORT TENDERS REPORT | VIKAL

Dilbar also sports one

of Vikal’s tenders

sports tender set the standard for all subsequent

Vikal production. At the time they were

recognised as something new and ushered in a new

era of custom tenders that were, in effect,

miniature superyachts. Like other Australian boat builders, Gunnar is a

big fan of Derakane, the vinylester resin originally developed by the chemical industry in the

US for its high temperature tolerance and resistance

to corrosion with the added benefit of stopping

osmosis in its tracks. Today, all Vikal hulls are

vacuum infused using Derakane, which is simpler to

work with than more expensive epoxy resins, not

least because it is safer and cures much more

quickly. At the time of my visit, the company was

hardly feeling the effects of the global recession and

was working to capacity with two 12-metre limos,

two 10-metre open tenders, two identical 10.5-metre

limos and a 9.85-metre limo in build. “Our turn may be coming”, Gunnar countered, “but

we‟ve never been busier than we are right now and

over the past 15 years we‟ve been working to

capacity 95 per cent of the time. I sold three boats

last year, which is close to one year‟s work and

we‟ve been able to repeat that this year.”

Such a level of demand is a reflection of Vikal‟s

elevated status in the superyacht world, as is the

fact that most of its tenders appear on some of the

biggest yachts in the world built in northern

European shipyards. A favourite customer, for

example, is Lürssen, with Pelorus, Octopus, Al

Salamah, Dilbar, Darius, Oasis, Arkley and Katie

Sue all sporting Vikal tenders. Quality is the main

ingredient that attracts owners and shipyards such

as Lürssen, Blohm & Voss (Mayan Queen II),

Oceanco (Anastasia), Amels (Boadicea), De Vries

(Rasselas II), van Lent (Anna) and latterly

Derecktor with the new Cakewalk.

Like other relatively isolated yards in Australia and

New Zealand, Vikal has reduced its reliance on sub-

contractors to a minimum, opting to produce

everything from titanium release hooks and engine

mufflers to cabinetry and upholstery in house. This

is in part due to the fact that that the yard operates from what

Gunnar describes as an “improbable location”

where self-reliance is a necessity rather than a

luxury, but it is also a means to ensuring efficient

quality control. “We used to go to an outside upholsterer”,

explains Gunnar by way of example, “but then

you struggle with delivery times and you

struggle with quality. We prefer to take the

responsibility ourselves for planning and

execution.” But it is not just planning and

execution that sets Vikal apart: three hours spent on site with Gunnar, followed by dinner with

Sam Sorgiovanni, a long-standing friend from the

time they worked together with Oceanfast and

now Vikal‟s principal designer, convinced me that

total dedication to the task in hand is what makes

the product special. “It‟s the philosophy behind a yard that makes it

what it is”, confirms Gunnar. “This is something we

are committed to doing through thick or thin, not

just to make a dollar or as a stepping stone to

something else. We have 70 people working here

and a third of those have been here between eight

and 25 years, so that‟s a lot of boatbuilding DNA that goes into every

tender we build.” One criticism occasionally levelled at Vikal is

that its tenders are over-engineered. Gunnar, on

the other hand, sees technical innovation as part

and parcel of what he does. Although he doesn‟t

have a boat of his own (“When you spend six

days a week building them, you don‟t want to spend the seventh driving one”), he

is a confirmed „petrol head‟ who owns an

THE YACHT REPORT

“We’ve never been busier than we

are right now and over the past 15

years we’ve been working to

capacity 95 per cent of the time.”

impressive collection of high-performance cars,

including a Ferrari 550 Maranello – “because it‟s a

great car that oozes good taste” – and a Ferrari Testarossa, “because it‟s a great design

that oozes bad taste”. All engineers are problem-

solvers at heart and it‟s only a short step from

tinkering with the moving parts of a sports car to

doing the same on a sports tender. “There‟s a lot that goes into a custom tender that

doesn‟t go into other types of work boats, not

least because they‟re being picked up all the time. On the Octopus dive tender, for

example, there were 34 hatches and other fixtures

such as lifting and tie-down points, all of which

have to be built into the structure. So, yes, we

certainly engineer them, but to say they‟re over-

engineered is like saying your family car is over-

engineered.” An example of what might be labelled „over the

top‟ is the fact that Vikal tenders commonly feature

the biggest waterjets that can fit into the space

available. Ever ready with a car analogy, Gunnar

explains this choice as like having fat tyres on your car: “If you have skinny tyres

you can reach the same top speed, but your

acceleration will be compromised.” “If you increase the diameter of the jet by just a

few centimetres you can double the volume of

water passing through it and that can double the

price of the unit”, he continued as we looked over

one of the 10-metre tenders destined for a yacht in

build in Holland bristling with features such as

bow thruster, hydraulic bow doors, extendable

hydraulic chocks to eliminate the need for cradles

on the mothership, a 500-litre petrol tank for

refuelling personal water craft (PWCs) and

Hamilton‟s Blue Arrow waterjet control system

for easy manoeuvring by mouse or joystick. “Waterjets are already expensive, so builders tend

to fit the smallest they can and still achieve the

desired speeds, which equates to a lot of pressure in

a small hose. We fit a big hose and still have high

pressure. Combined with lots of horsepower you

then have a boat that can be out of the water and on

the plane in a matter of seconds. The average

journey from yacht

to shore is around a mile or less – how long do

you want to sit in a trough waiting for the boat to

start planing if the trip only lasts a few minutes?” All of this doesn‟t come cheaply of course,

especially in the current economic climate when the

Aussie dollar is less competitive than it has been in

the recent past, and owners are unlikely to receive

much in the way of change out of US$1.5 million

for a custom Vikal tender. Gunnar, however, is

unrepentant: “Justifying the cost is difficult because the law of

diminishing returns always applies. You can buy a

tender with two Volvo engines almost anywhere for

a lot less than they cost here. There are thousands of

boat builders in the US, so American owners don‟t

have to come here – but they do. It‟s a client-driven

decision. We will build what the client wants, but

we will build to our standards. When you consider the price and

consider the tender may well stay with the yacht

for life, how expensive is it?”

The tender of Al Mirqab, a Kusch

Yacht built yacht