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Everything About Bertram Yachts – The History & Story

• Bertram Yachts
• Everything About Bertram Yachts –…

Timeline History and Story of Bertram Yachts

1. richard bertram and his fondness for yachting.

Bertram was a competitive sailor and owned a yacht brokerage firm, outside of Miami that he started in 1947. This was his bread before he began the Bertram Yachts. But his fondness for yachting can be dated way back. He was about eight years old when he got his first boat which was a 15’ sneakbox. This was the age when boating became his favorite pastime.

While he was studying at Cornell University, he founded Cornell’s very own Corinthian Yacht Club. Under his participation, the university club won several sailing titles till 1937. He continued sailing even after moving to Miami and even made it to the World Lightning Class championships for the years 1948 and 1949. He went on to participate in several races only to find a company in the other two people. These people were Sherman F. “Red” Crise and Sam Griffith.

2. Foundation of Bertram Yachts (1960)

In 1958, while participating in one of his races, Richard Bertram noticed a 23-foot-long beauty and immediately fell in love with it. He had never seen a powerboat so magnificent that he himself wanted to own one. He asked the designer, C. Raymond Hunt, to design one for him. Using Hunt’s plan, Bertram in 1960 built his first powerboat yacht Moppie. It was named after his wife’s pet name. This laid the foundation of Bertram Yachts.

3. Introduction of New Boats (1962, 1963 and 1964)

Bertram Yachts later went on to build new boats. There were three that were built, which were: The 25’ line in 1962 The 38’ line in 1963 The 20’ inboard/outboard model in 1964 While producing these yachts, Bertram decided to have its own production unit. Many people do not know but the production facility was designed in such a way that it could also work as a food-processing warehouse, just in case. Luckily, Bertram never needed it.

4. Memorial Race for Partner Griffith (1963)

Bertram’s partner passed away in 1963. So, Richard Bertram organized a memorial race to pay tribute to him. Not only did he organize but he also participated and won the race.

This was the time that he became a celebrity. He was seen in Rolex advertisements and on billboards promoting Camel cigarettes. He had successfully associated his name with the title of ‘Champion’.

5. Nautec Purchased Bertram

Bertram left after his success and the factory came to a standstill. After this incident, Nautec purchased Bertram and started the facility again.

6. Whittaker Corporation Purchased Bertram (1968)

After a short run of ownership, in 1968 Whittaker Corporation purchased Bertram Yachts from Nautec and they continued competing in different events and winning them all.

7. The Era of Steady Growth (1970 to 1980)

After the Whittaker acquisition, Bertram Yachts saw steady growth all through from the 1970s to the 1980s.

8. Hatteras- The Arch-rival of Bertram (1980s)

Bertram developed a new arch-rival with Hatteras. The dual was sad for Bertram as Hatteras won it with their more diverse models.

9. Financial Difficulties for Bertram (1993)

Bertram continued to produce sportfishing boats. This along with the depleting economy of America, caused Bertram Yachts to go under financial difficulties. This led to a forced shutdown in 1993.

10. Bertram Yachts Purchased by Ferretti Group (1998)

Bertram Yachts was revived by Ferretti Group as it acquired it in 1998. The Italian group changed everything and built some amazing models.

11. The Sad Demise of Richard Bertram (2000)

In 2000, the father of the company, Richard Bertman passed away, leaving behind a brilliant legacy and a colourful history.

12. Acquisition of all Bertram’s Assets by Gavio Group (2015)

In 2015, the Gavio Group got hold of all of Bertram’s assets and planned to introduce some new models.

The Present Scenario of Bertram Yachts

Despite the ups and downs and the acquisition changes, Bertram continues to be a popular yacht brand. In 2018, Bertram Yachts under the ownership of the Gavio Group introduced a new model, Bertram Yacht 61 Convertible at the Newport International Boat Show on September 13, 2018.

At Miami International Yacht Sales , we have an amazing lineup of Bertram yachts for sale . To own a Bertram, reach out to our expert yacht brokers now. Call us at +1-305-857-8939 to book an appointment today!

Also Read: Everything You Need to Know About Bertram Yachts Interesting Facts About Bertram Yachts

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Bertram Yachts’ History

A rented warehouse in Hialeah, FL was the original base of production of the now-legendary 31 Bertram. Richard Bertram had a string of racing successes in various Moppie models, culminating in his setting the World Speed Record for diesel engines. He applied the structural integrity knowledge he gained during the races to constructing new models. The company built 1,986 Bertram 31s over 16 years, including 50 special-edition models. The iconic vessel came in four configurations: the original open Sportfisherman with a lower steering station and no aft bulkhead, the Fly Bridge Cruiser with a rear bulkhead, a hardtop, an express cruiser, and the Bahia Mar model.

Whittaker Corporation acquired Bertram in 1968, expanding the Bertram factory to become one of the largest pleasure-boat builders in the world. Over the next five decades, the legendary Miami-based sport fishing yacht manufacturer has become one of the world’s most successful and respected marine enterprises. Over the entire span of Bertram Yachts’ History, the company has built unparalleled customer loyalty with their dedication to the finest details of design and engineering. In 1998, after a series of non-boatbuilding owners, Bertram Yacht joined the Ferretti Group, a conglomerate company in motoryacht manufacturing. Their combined technologies and processes have created new levels of luxury and pleasure in the sport fishing market.

The fishing room and comfort of the roomy cockpit is unrivaled by any vessel her size. A large BlueWater fighting chair centers the cockpit and the sole is covered in premium grade teak. Built into the transom is a large live well, illuminated by LED lights for your convenience. In the main salon, there is an enormous bed forward to the bow with oversized cushions and lockers to port and starboard. Beneath the port locker is a refrigerator with storage and a separate compartment for the Marine a/c unit. A set of custom tackle boxes is in the backrest above this locker, and to port is a custom rod locker that locks by key and holds many rods, butts, and reels. The head is located beneath the forward bunk, and a generous amount of spinning rod storage is above the bed port and starboard. Above on bridge is a custom Pipewelders hardtop and rail with rod holders and custom eisenglass. All surfaces of this beautiful Bertram yacht are finished in premium grade varnished teak and glistening Awlgrip, and she is currently listed at US$219,000.

Atlantic Yacht and Ship is America’s oldest and most respected yacht and ship brokerage , with over 53 years of experience in yacht and superyacht sales. We have a large selection of new and used luxury yachts for sale , and take great care in matching our clients with their ideal vessels. The purchasing of a yacht can be an intricate and complex endeavor. At Atlantic Yacht and Ship, we have the reputation and experience to strategically guide you through this process and make buying a yacht a joy. Contact Atlantic Yacht & Ship at 1.888.230.0439 to make your dream of yacht ownership a reality!

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Richard Bertram, 84, Builder And Sailor of Racing Yachts

By Frank Litsky

• May 7, 2000

Richard Bertram, a champion sailor on powerboats and racing yachts and a leading boat builder and broker, died on April 28 at his home in Stuart, Fla. He was 84.

When Bertram raced, he always looked for other boats to sell. In a 1961 profile, The Saturday Evening Post said he sold $5 million worth of used racing boats the year before.

Among his clients were Aristotle Onassis, the Aga Khan, King Hussein of Jordan and Prince Bertil of Sweden. Bertram appeared on a Times Square billboard for Camel cigarettes and in a full-page magazine ad for Hennessy Cognac.

To an enterprise in which salesmen once dressed more for picnicking or gardening, he brought glitz and a hard-nosed business approach. One Miami rival said, ''His outfit has all the gimmicks -- big parties, big ads, big talk.'' Bertram was proud of his aggressive sales methods and said 25 percent of his customers had never owned a boat before.

''The country's economy may take a nose dive and people may go broke,'' Bertram once explained, ''but the records show that even in the worst financial crises there is always a man ready to buy a boat. And I'll be there to sell it.''

On the banks of the Tamiami Canal near Miami International Airport, he built what he called his boating supermarket. There, in water in a steel and concrete shed 630 feet (two football fields) long, he displayed more than 100 of his biggest cruisers and sailboats.

Richard Howard Bertram was born Feb. 4, 1916, in East Orange, N.J. He began sailing with his parents on Barnegat Bay in New Jersey. At 8, he owned his first boat, a 15-foot Sneakbox. At 10, on the eve of his first race, he stayed up all night planning how to win. There were 50 boats; he finished last. He would seldom finish out of the money again.

At Cornell, he was skipper of the intercollegiate championship boats in 1936 and 1937. His classroom success was not as good. After failing French twice, he dropped out of college. In 1946, he opened a one-room yacht brokerage office in Miami.

In 1958, when he was sailing on Vim in the America's Cup trials off Newport, R.I., he was amazed when a powerboat cut through 6-foot seas at 30 knots. He traced down its designer, Raymond C. Hunt, who said his boat could go that fast on choppy waters because of a full deep-V bottom on its 23-foot hull. Bertram commissioned Hunt to design a similar 31-foot powerboat for him. In 1960, with the new boat, Bertram and Sam Griffith won the Miami-Nassau race, two hours in front of the next boat.

With that boat and successors, Bertram won many United States and European offshore powerboat races, including the 1965 world championship. To translate the virtues of the deep-V hull into high-performance yachts at least 50 feet long, he founded Bertram International. The yachts he built succeeded quickly, and in 1969, aboard his 56-foot Bertram International yacht Envoy, he set a Miami-New York nonstop record of 54 hours 8 minutes.

In yachting, he won the 1948 and 1949 international championships in Lightning Class sloops. He won or placed high in Miami-to-Nassau 13 times, Newport-to-Bermuda 10 times, Lipton Cup 6 times, Trans-Atlantic 4 times and Buenos Aires-to-Rio de Janeiro twice.

His first two marriages, to Katherine Ivins and Pauline Meagher, ended in divorce. His third wife, Lenore Lonergan, died. He is survived by his fourth wife, the former Franchesca Morales; five sons, Scott, Kim, Morgan, Colin and Digby; five daughters, Charlotte, Gretchen, Anne, Caroline and Madelaine; a stepson, John Holzman; five grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter, who was born the day before he died.

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A Rising Tide: Inside Tampa’s Bertram Yachts

By mckenna kelley, bertram yachts had plenty of options when planning to bring the classic designs and sleek engineering of their nearly 60-year-old boat brand fully into the 21st century..

Though many of the world’s top yachts are built in places like Germany and the Netherlands, Bertram made a some-what unique choice for the location of its new ship-yard in 2016: a 120,000 square-foot bayfront facility near Tampa’s West Shore Boulevard.

“My first choice was Florida,” said Beniamino Gavio — of the Italian corporation Gavio Group, which acquired Bertram Yachts in 2015 — in a statement announcing the new relocation. “We believe that Bertram belongs to this country. Bertam started in Miami, and we want to keep Bertram in Florida in order to preserve the connection with its history.”

Bertram CEO Peter Truslow says the move to Tampa was a major part of the company’s efforts to build a better Bertram.

“Bertram considered waterfront facilities throughout the Southeast but chose Tampa because of the incredible boat-building workforce and supplier base in this area,” he adds. “Miami was no longer a practical place to build boats, but it was important for us to stay in Florida. Our shipyard, right at the Gandy Bridge, is a perfect place to launch and test the new Bertrams. It’s also a perfect lo-cation to service the growing number of large yachts in this area.”

To that end, Bertram has launched two new models built here in Tampa — the Bertram 35 and Bertram 61 , with a 50-foot model expected later this year. The 35 is a modern spin on Bertram’s original model, the 31-foot Moppie, that company founder and powerboat racer Dick Bertram used to win the 1961 Miami-Nassau Race in four hours and 20 minutes.

In many ways, the Bertram 31 seems custom-designed for Tampa’s lifestyle — elegant, yet practical. Built with what the company deems “superior fishing capabilities and innovative luxuries,” the 31 is made for deepwater fishing in the Gulf of Mexico but is also fitted with deep propeller pockets sized to allow for flats fishing in Tampa Bay’s shallower waters. Features like the 12-foot, 5-inch beam and deep-v hull design (which provides a smoother ride) also set the model apart. Inside the boat, a panoramic and frameless window lets natural light into the galley (with Amtico flooring, Corian countertops, a SubZero refrigerator-freezer combo, and a two-burner induction stove) and open state-room, making the space comfortable and livable for both serious fishermen and leisure cruisers.

Bertram also gives boat owners a variety of ways to customize their crafts; among other fixtures, the exterior paint colors, interior upholstery, configurations, seating arrangements and hardtops are chosen by each buyer. The company has delivered about 20 Bertram 35 models around the globe since 2017.

“The new 35 represents the absolute best of both worlds,” Truslow said in a statement on the boat’s construction. “Yes, the 35 is comfortable, but she’s also as rugged and offshore capable as any Bertram ever built.”

Perhaps most importantly for Tampa, Bertram has hired more than 100 locals — including shipbuilders, engineers and customer service professionals — to support the company’s rapid growth, with plans to hire for more than 100 additional positions. Bertram is also contributing to Florida’s $10 billion boating industry, the country’s largest. In 2017, $3 billion was spent on new power boats and accessories in Florida.

“Florida is the No. 1 market for boats in the world. The state’s incredible growth in population and wealth will support Bertram for many years to come,” Truslow says. “There is a strong boat-building culture in this area that we are keeping alive, and local resources like the universities and MacDill Air Force Base help support our hiring efforts.”

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Bertram: production of the legendary brand lands in Italy

Bertram production arrives in Italy

A new European division is born for Bertram, the iconic American brand

which, owned by the Gavio family and part of the Baglietto group since 2015, manufactures the legendary American fisherman boats. In fact, the Marina di Carrara production site will host both the construction and the offices responsible for marketing the brand, for Italy and all of Europe. This move stems from the need to satisfy the numerous requests from European enthusiasts of these boats , a decision that will not, however, undermine the stars and stripes DNA that has always characterized the soul of these models.

“ Bertram is still a 100% American product – emphasizes the group’s chairman Beniamino Gavio – some of the components will in fact be imported directly from the United States, but we are certain that all the prerogatives are there to meet the needs of our customers, who have always appreciated yachts that offer style, versatility and charm while maintaining excellent marine qualities”.

“The tradition of the Bertram product, its history and heritage,” adds Diego Michele Deprati , Baglietto’s CEO, “are a perfect match for the Baglietto tradition. They are both iconic brands that draw on the maritime tradition on which they have built their history of quality and success”.

Bertram’s new European division is off to a good start, with the first sale confirming the winning formula. This is a 35-foot yacht commissioned by Dr Andy Bianchedi , a passionate sailor and long-time owner, who chose this model which will be produced in Carrara in a “limited edition”. The boat will be delivered in spring 2023.

But the marriage between the love of sailing and the legendary American brand is not surprising at all: it has distant origins, starting with the yard’s founder. Richard “Dick” Bertram was a famous sailor, sportsman and winner of many sailing competitions, including the America’s Cup and the Newport to Bermuda Ocean Race, a 635-mile offshore race that he won three times. Perhaps it was his passion for ocean navigation that inspired Bertram, more than sixty years ago, to start producing powerboats with the legendary deep-V hull, capable of holding the sea superbly. It is no coincidence, therefore, that Bertram boats are universally recognized for their marine qualities.

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New ownership for Bertram Yachts

The Gavio Group has officially acquired US sportfish yacht builder Bertram Yachts from the Ferretti Group.

Argo Finanziaria, a holding of the Gavio Group, had signed a preliminary agreement in a letter of intent with Ferretti to takeover Bertram, with the acquisition expected to be finalised by 31 March 2015. The Gavio Group, owners of Italian superyacht builder Baglietto , sees the acquisition as a chance to enhance the Group's brand portfolio in terms of the types of yachts it can offer and its reach into the US market.

Bertram Yachts was established by Richard Bertram in 1960. The iconic US builder is known for its famed Moppie yachts, built from 1960 to 1990s. The high-performance runabouts were stars on the motor yacht racing circuit, and the very first Bertram 31 Moppie won the Miami-Nassau Race in 1960, defying the worst weather conditions of the event's history to still break the race record by four minutes. The Ferretti Group acquired Bertram in 1998, and production has focused on its line of sportfishing yachts, its flagship being the Bertram 80.

Gavio Group's acquisition of Bertram follows the takeover of Cantieri Cerri in 2011 and Baglietto in 2012.

"I am very pleased with this acquisition", says Beniamino Gavio, president of Argofin and Baglietto. "Bertram is for sure the brand most similar to Baglietto as they share many common features: a family history characterised by legendary yachts; records broken and competitions won; a logo that, for both brands, is a symbol of freedom and strength (the eagle and seagull); and a very strong national identity that goes hand in hand with far-reaching international fame."

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