By Frederick Noronha, IANS
Panaji : Fibreglass boats, scuba diving equipment, outboard engines and kayaks are flooding the Indian adventure sports market as a growing number of those who can afford it take to the seas.
Mumbai-based adventure sports company Yaka.in says it is “working to transform access to leading brands of kayaks, kiteboards and other extreme sporting equipment for a new generation of adrenaline junkies in India”.
Yaka stocks the world’s leading kayaks from Perception and Mission, legendary Peter Lynn kites and benchmark kiteboards from Underground, all manufactured in New Zealand. It also offers clothing and buoyancy aids and a special range of surfboards for India.
Berlin native Guido Bothe and his Indian wife Shama run Chinkara Motors, a company that manufactures sports vehicles and boats, in Mumbai.
Guido told IANS: “I’ve had staff with me for 10 years. We are able to get things of as good a quality as abroad and we price our products from Rs.600,000 to Rs.35 million.”
He notes that similar vessels made abroad cost double the amount.
“Much of our work goes to the minor ports coming up. Lots of people in India are also taking to water sports as a hobby. Now it is still not significant. But it will take five to 10 years for water sports to arrive in India in a big way,” Guido said.
Polycoat Electra in Ahmedabad offers outboard and diesel engines and low-cost aluminium 5 metre x 3 metre speedboats. Praga Marine of Alapuzha in Kerala says it has made its Arrow speedboats especially for sale in Goa.
Ferretti Yachts offers flybridge-type fibreglass yachts with an open upper deck. Offering luxury boats, it puts on offer choice cherry heartwood, leather and wood-coating material, tilting widows and wear-proof exterior material.
Aquasail of Mumbai is promoted by award-winning yatchsman Shakeel Kudrolli who says the company “makes it easy for everyone and anyone to owns a watercraft today”. Its products include sailing dinghies, kayaks, windsurfers, powerboats and leisure yachts.
The representatives of Gulf Craft Inc. in Mumbai say they have been producing hand-laid fibreglass boats for 25 years.
Other firms from Mumbai, Goa, Kerala, Chennai and elsewhere offer a range of products like rescue boats, pleasure vehicles, oil spill equipment, diving equipment, yachts, cruisers, ship-repairs, fast-attack crafts and outboard motors.
Together with the private sector, government bodies like the Indian Navy and Goa Shipyard Limited have also their own skills in a range of products and services. The Indian Coast Guard also takes on its own equation with the sea.
“Boating and yachting has become an industry in itself. Goa has a truly international flavour. So I thought why not organise something here,” said Mumbai-based Joseph Dias, who organised the fourth Goa International Boat Show here a week ago.
Dias has been keeping up at this venture and points out that places like Miami in the US have boat shows “50 times the size of the Goa show”.
“In the next five to 10 years, we can build Goa into a hub for boat shows and the trade in India,” he said.