Japan's Charter Yachts

It is difficult for them to undertake supply-demand adjustments. Dealers thus are agreed that a large number of surfboards will be left unsold at the end of this year. The distributors are drastically reducing the number of imported surfboards, but this has little effect on demand and supply. Violent fluctuations in sales are expected after demand for tapers off in July.

Prices of yachts increased 15 to 30 per cent more than last year. They are made by covering cut urethane foam with glass fiber and finishing them with synthetic resin. All of the materials used are produced from oil. Those produced domestically and priced in the Y 60,000 Y 80,000 range sell well. In the case of Marui, those priced around Y 100,000 are popular. Imported products are Y20,000 or so higher as compared with last year. They are being sold at prices ranging between Y 120,000 and Y 140,000.

A dealer said the increase in prices of surfboards may be one of the reasons for the slowdown in sales this year. There are surfboards with one submerged fin and those with two fins. Since it is difficlut to adjust the angles of the two fins, those having two fins are Y20,000 higher than singlefin boards. Even then, the number of two-fin boards is increasing, and they are expected to account for some 25 per cent of the total sold this year.

As for sail boards, one of its big attractions is that riding the waves and sailing can be enjoyed simultaneously. But sailing boards seem to be enjoyed by a strata of people different from those engaged in surfing and yachting. Officials of Marui thus feel that sailing boards should be considered as a new form of leisure.

Sailing boards has created a boom in the U.S. and Europe, and many contests are being held. Sales of wind surfers in Japan, however, began on a full scale only last year. Only one factory is making the boards, named Windsurfing, in the country under a license with an American maker. According to Windsurfing International of Japan, the Japanese licensee and sales firm of the board, 4,300 Windsurfing boards were sold in Japan last year, a sharp increase from the 900 in 1978. Even then, it said production was not able to meet demand.

These are hard times in the yacht business. Interest rates are through the roof, financing is hard to get, gasoline and diesel fuel cost a bundle and no one is sure when petroleum supplies might dry up again.

Yacht Charter