GRAND BANKS

Grand Banks Yachts began its journey in 1956 as American Marine, Ltd. Founder Robert J. Newton and his sons, John and Whit, were running a custom boatyard on Junk Bay in Hong Kong, building heavy sailboats and big motor yachts to designs by the world's top marine architects - Sparkman & Stephens, William Garden, Nat Herreshoff, Ray Hunt and others.

In 1962, they commissioned Kenneth Smith, another well-known marine architect, to design Spray - a 36-foot diesel powered cruising boat with humble, workman-like lines. A year later, inspired by Smith's design, the Newtons left custom yacht building to focus on producing the first of a line of boats that would come to be known as Grand Banks.

Today, this design is recognized around the world as the Grand Banks Heritage Series, an iconic design built first of wood and then, beginning in 1973, of fiberglass at a new factory in Singapore. The design was so successful, in fact that the general styling of the GB was seized by a score of other builders for fleets of look-alike yachts sold under dozens of names. None, through, could match the quality of construction for which Grand Banks is famed.

In 1993, Grand Banks took another traditional boat design - the lobster boat or "Downeast" cruiser - and definitively captured its style and spirit in the launch of the Eastbay Series. With its Ray Hunt design, teak toe rails, dark blue hull with a bright gold stripe - and a powerful pair of diesels underfoot - there was no other boat that combined ageless design and high performance like the Eastbay.

In 2001, many Grand Banks owners were ready to step up to a larger and more luxurious vessel, but weren't prepared to sacrifice quality. The launch of the Aleutian Series of raised pilothouse yachts delivered with a new level of style and sophistication - along with the seaworthiness boaters have come to expect from a Grand Banks.


In each series, Grand Banks has sought to capture the spirit of a nautical ideal - and combine it with state-of-the-art equipment, meticulous craftsmanship, and superior construction techniques. It is the reason Grand Banks yachts have become such icons around the world, and why they continue to meet the high standards of discerning, demanding boaters today.