OnBoard Magazine - Issue XIII - 2021 Season

accurately read both AC and DC currents and voltages. “The air conditioning systems are another unique piece of the Sabre 58 commissioning puzzle,” Campbell explains. “The A/C system on the 58 has enough water and power demand that our facility cannot provide that rate of water flow required to operate the systems.” In this case, the commissioning process also encapsulates quality checks and control as the air conditioning system is charged with refrigerant and operated for the first time in the water.” After all this prep at the LMR site, the time has finally come. The efforts and long hours of Sabre shipwrights and engineers, along with the aid of certified technicians from Volvo and the shipyard, culminate in the first sea trial in Casco or Penobscot Bay. FRUITS OF THEIR LABOR Sabre engineers invite dealer representatives, owners and their captains along for the final commissioning process and even initial sea trials. The commissioning team will spend the day with a dealer, owner or captain going through the boat from stem to stern providing a full orientation of all systems and equipment while answering any questions. “We love to have a customer and their captain join us with the dealer for the commissioning process.” Campbell concludes, “Great questions come out of it and more folks are listening in and engaging in the conversation making this in-depth orientation a great opportunity to educate the new owners on their boat.” Bluewater will soon be engaged in two such deliveries to repeat Sabre customers. Both the Worth and Olinger families are expected to receive their new Sabre 58s in late 2021. The ingenuity involved in not only building a yacht with a high level of fit and finish, but mapping out doing so to accommodate an on-land journey before final seaside commissioning is a testament to Sabre’s practical design sensibility. The 58’s commissioning process is almost as equally impressive as the checklist to ensure the complete satisfaction of every Sabre 58 owner at delivery. After nearly 30 years of service, Bentley Collins, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Sabre and Back Cove announced his retirement in Spring of 2021. Collins joined Sabre in 1993, just four years after the launch of their acclaimed 36-foot “Fast Trawler.” He brought with him many years of experience working as an independent yacht broker and a decades-long tenure with Beneteau USA. Following is a statement released by Sabre’s CEO, Daniel Zilkha, perfectly detailing Bentley’s role in Sabre and Back Cove’s ascension as premier U.S. boat brands: "My relationship with Bentley is, literally, as long as my tenure at Sabre: shortly after I had become Sabre's CEO, our Sales Manager Brenda Collins (she was Brenda Amato then) told me that she would soon be resigning and moving south to be with one Bentley Collins, in South Carolina. As Brenda and I talked further, and as she described Bentley and his career in the boating industry, it felt obvious that I should meet him and see whether he would be a good addition to our then very small team at Sabre. We arranged a visit to Maine, at the end of which he joined the company. It was a decision that catapulted Sabre into a premier US builder, at first with sailboats and later adding two brands of powerboats. Bentley's knowledge of the market enabled us to very successfully grow our market share and image, successfully introduce new models every year, and, with his unparalleled relationships in the industry, to create a dealer network, national and international, second to none. And as a spokesperson for Sabre, then for Back Cove Yachts, he projected the image of excellence and quality that our boats have come to signify in the marketplace. Bentley set the pace and the tone for our team to take into their capable hands the future growth of our brands. We enjoyed some wonderful times along the way: an efficient yet relaxed working relationship at Sabre (we always joked that we made our best decisions over a BLT lunch at our local diner); being able to communicate in French (when needed for confidentiality and sometimes just for showing off); to sharing newly discovered restaurants in Portland or reminiscing of old haunts in Montreal. The French novelist Victor Hugo wrote that 'melancholy is the happiness of being sad.' That this chapter now closes truly brings a tinge of sadness, but knowing that our paths will continue to cross, remotely at monthly meetings but in person during Maine summers, is the offsetting happiness. Thank you, Bentley, for all you did, for all you contributed, for all your help and counsel. And happy (partial) retirement!" Leaving Behind a Legacy BENT EY COLLINS RETIRES FROM A STORIED CAREER AT SABRE