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Guest Interview – Tony Fleming of Fleming Motor Yachts and his boat, Venture

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About Tony Fleming

• about tony fleming

Interview with Tony Fleming

Over the years Tony Fleming has been asked many of the same questions by prospective buyers and journalists about his yachts. Recently he found the time to compile a list of these questions and answers, and the attached document highlights what he feels to be the most important features of "the ultimate cruising yacht.

Videos have been made of Tony Fleming's journeys in the Venture and Venture II. Some of the most recent Venture trips include extensive travels to such places as Antarctica, the North Pole, Sahara Desert and a train ride across Siberia.

Tony's memoirs, Riding the Tide , are now available both as a printed book and on Kindle. Neither version contains photos but, being an inveterate photographer all his life, Tony has created short videos containing photos and film which make a compelling visual companion to the written word. These videos can be accessed through the Vimeo link listed above and are still an ongoing work in progress.

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Fleming Yachts and Their History

A timeline of milestones .

Tony Fleming served as the technical director of American Marine in Hong Kong, builder of the Grand Banks line of trawler yachts. He was largely responsible for the development of these well-known yachts and later organized the company's new yard in Singapore, becoming its General Manager.

Tony left American Marine and, with his business partner Anton Emmerton, worked with an American naval architect, Larry Drake of San Diego, California, to develop an all-new pilothouse design. Tony and Anton visited Taiwan in the summer of 1985 to research the best boat yard to build what would eventually become the Fleming 55.

The Tung Hwa facility located near Kaohsiung was selected, and work on hull number one began. Although the original mold was built for a 55-foot yacht, the first boats were 50-feet - having a shorter cockpit but otherwise similar to the later 53's and 55's.

Starting with hull number 9, the length was extended to 53-feet and eventually to 55-feet. By 1997 over 100 Fleming 55s had been delivered, and customer demand for a larger model led to the development of the Fleming 75. The first Fleming 75 was launched in 2000. In 1998, Tony Fleming's nephew, Adi Shard, a young graduate engineer from England, joined the company and moved to Kaohsiung to work side by side with his uncle.

In 2001 Duncan Cowie joined the company, his background in aviation engineering and previous experience as a yacht captain proved to be of great value. The popularity of the Fleming line continued to grow and, again driven by customer demand, this led to the development of another new model - the Fleming 65.

Launched in 2005, hull number one was spoken for by Tony himself, and he began to turn over the day-to-day operation of Fleming Yachts to his management team which included his nephew, Adi Shard, Duncan Cowie, and his daughter, Nicky Fleming.

Tony named his new Fleming 65, VENTURE, and embarked on a series of adventures which he refers to as his "voyages of personal discovery." By 2006, Fleming Yachts had delivered 170 Fleming 55s, 12 Fleming 75s and five 65s.

With well over 200 Flemings cruising the world, the company continued to focus on refining and improving its three models. In 2007 Tsai Chan joined Fleming Yachts as the QC Manager responsible for carrying out stage checks, testing, and final inspection on all new Fleming's. His can-do attitude and attention to detail have made him a key member of our small team. A year later in 2008 the team was once again added to when Simon Culling joined Fleming Yachts as the QA Manager. His responsibilities include product compliance, technical documentation and after sales service/support. Simon has vast ocean going experience and was a navigator in the British Army for 20 years running 75 meter landing craft, and later was made principal at the largest powerboat training school in UK. Boating journalists and owners have lauded Fleming as "the ultimate cruising yacht" and Tony Fleming proved them correct. From her homeport of Newport Beach, California, Tony's VENTURE explored British Columbia, Alaska, Mexico, and the Galapagos Islands before transiting the Panama Canal.

She then traveled up the East Coast to the St. Lawrence Seaway by way of Lake Ontario. After visiting Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, she made her way down the East Coast to winter in Annapolis, Maryland. This 20,000 mile voyage has been called the world's most extensive sea trial, as it allowed Tony to test and refine many new ideas and equipment.

After completing this exciting voyage, Tony decided to commission an all-new Fleming 65, VENTURE II, which incorporated several new, innovative features resulting from his extensive cruising experience. After appearing at the Southampton Boat Show in England, Tony cruised VENTURE II extensively throughout Europe and in the summer of 2010 completed an exciting circumnavigation of Iceland.

He continued to cruise extensively in the original VENTURE and, during the summer of 2011 took her to the Queen Charlotte Islands in the Pacific Northwest.

2011 also marked the 25th Anniversary of Fleming yachts and coincided with the publication of the second edition of Fleming's magazine, VENTURER. Described as "A Fleming Publication for Cruising Enthusiasts," it has received rave reviews from Fleming owners throughout the world.

While the global economy had a negative effect on sales, the Fleming brand enjoyed continued success and with special interest in both Australia and New Zealand. All three models continued to benefit from evolutionary refinement with new features and layouts being offered. Responding to feedback from loyal Fleming owners and dealers, Fleming Yachts embarked on a completely new design, the Fleming 58. With everything the 55 had to offer plus, being 30% larger in displacement, considerably more space. Plans were drawn and redrawn, a model was tank tested and the lengthy tooling process was followed by construction of the first boat which was completed in Summer 2013.

By mid-2014, Fleming had completed and shipped 58-005 and had secured retail orders up to 58-011 - thus proving the success of the new design and demonstrating continued faith in the brand. Tony continues his travels and, in 2012, took VENTURE to Glacier Bay in Alaska and the following year even further north to Prince William Sound.

In 2014, VENTURE was in Southern California, visiting the Channel Islands, before heading north once again to circumnavigate Vancouver Island. In December 2015, the 300th Fleming built was completed and shipped. This year we are celebrating 30 years since hull number 001 was launched.

2016 - 2018

In 2016, Tony revisited Prince William Sound and traveled further afield to Kodiak and Dutch Harbor. This year Tony is cruising to Idaho on Venture, up the Columbia and Snake rivers. His blogs can be found under the Tony's Adventures on our website. Australian Laser sailor Tom Burton, sponsored by Fleming Yachts, wins the gold medal at the Rio Olympic Games. 2017 saw the launch of the Fleming 78 "Classic." This new version of our flagship model has the same hull and deck as the original 78, but has an entirely new single level, low profile flybridge design. Among the many improvements on the flybridge include more comfortable seating, a BBQ, fridge, icemaker, freezer and entertainment center. The davit is positioned aft so that the tender can launched over either side or off the stern. The systems have all been upgraded to include the latest technology for safety and convenience. The Tung Hwa yard in Taiwan has made significant upgrades and investments in new equipment and buildings to better facilitate production for the expanding Fleming line. This commitment to Fleming has helped speed up production times with better accessibility and storage for inventory and parts.

2019 - Present

Fleming Yachts continues to sponsor USA Laser sailor Leo Boucher who competes globally in all major sailing competitions. At the time of writing the 270th Fleming 55 is under construction and there are now over 385 Fleming's cruising worldwide.