The winners of this year’s BOB Awards were announced at Boot & Fun Berlin
The 2019 Best of Boats (BOB) Awards were presented in Germany last night at Boot & Fun Berlin. The winners were selected by an international jury of 18 boating journalists from 16 countries who tested more than 150 different new motorboat models from the current model year.
This year, the five user-oriented categories were expanded to include the ‘Best for Future’ award. The winners of the six categories received their trophies at yesterday’s event.
“Each of the 22 finalists is a winner,” says Stefan Gerhard, founder of the BOB Awards. “The Best of Boats Award only honours boats that really represent an innovation in their respective category.”
Daniel Barkowski, project manager of Boot & Fun Berlin, welcomed the guests from all over Europe. “I am extremely pleased to see renowned international shipyards here at the Best of Boats Award,” he said. “The Boot & Fun Berlin is growing steadily and is becoming increasingly important not only nationally but also internationally.”
Silver Tiger BRz & DC prevailed in the Best for Beginners category. Kerstin Zillmer, Editor-in-Chief of the online magazine float from Berlin, presented the award to Christoffer Wallgren from the Finnish shipyard Silver Boats.
In the Best for Fishing category, the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 605 Marlin convinced the jury. Together with Merry de la Poëze, Jeanneau’s long-time product director for motorboats and eponym of the model, Catina Burchardi from Aquamarin Boote received the trophy.
Alfred Boer, boat tester for the magazines Nautique from the Netherlands and Varen from Belgium, presented the award in the Best for Family category to Espen Aalrud, head of Marex Boats from Norway, for the Marex 360 CC model.
According to juror Arek Rejs of the Polish magazine Wiatr, an important criterion for the Best for Fun category is that a boat offers sufficient space for joint activities with friends. This is not the only reason why the Frauscher 1414 Demon Air, the largest boat among the nominees, won. Stefan Frauscher, head of the Austrian boatyard, emphasised: “For us this award is a confirmation of the work of the whole team. At Frauscher, 70 people are working hard to ensure that this success is achieved.”
US journalist Zuzana Prochazka presented the award in the category Best for Travel to Franz Böse from Silent Yachts for the solar yacht Silent Yachts 55.
And for the first time, Stefan Gerhard, founder of the Best of Boats Awards, awarded a prize in the new Best for Future category, which brings together innovative technologies and new concepts with the idea of sustainability. The award went to the foil-ending electric boat Candela Seven from Sweden. Candela CEO Gustav Hasselskog said: “I founded this company four and a half years ago from scratch. It is therefore really a great recognition to receive this award. It means a lot to me and the team. We have worked hard to get this far. That makes me and my team very proud.”
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