Lazzara Yachts

WELL-PLANNED IMPULSE: LAZZARA 106'
- Story Jamie Welch | Photography Scott Pearson

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THEY'RE CERTAINLY NOT MR. AND MRS. THURSTON HOWELL III FROM GILLIGAN'S ISLAND. THE UNPRETENTIOUS FLORIDA OWNERS OF THE NEW LAZZARA 106 MOVED ABOARD THEIR NEW YACHT WITH NOTHING BUT AN OVERNIGHT BAG. YET ENDED UP SPENDING A MONTH ON THE BOAT WITHOUT HAVING TO BUY ANYTHING EXCEPT FOOD. "FROM TOWELS TO DINNERWARE - IF WE THOUGHT MAYBE THERE OUGHT TO BE A BOTTLE OPENER OR A CORKSCREW, THERE IT WAS. LAZZARA THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING, WHICH WAS AMAZING TO US."

That's impressive, but the owner of Impulse, the new 106, has another customer service story even more astonishing than how Thurston and Lovey Howell found room for all their luggage on the SS Minnow.

Last year the owner was cruising near St. Marten in his Lazzara 94' when one of the engines blew out. While some shipyards would have had the boat towed back to the U.S. or driven back on one engine, Lazzara immediately had mechanics and a new motor flown in on a C130 out of Miami.

"They also flew us home on their plane," the owner says. "They replaced the engine and you never would have known they had been aboard. We stayed away for eight days but the engine was ready in four. It was just unbelievable."

Marketing Director Rich Lazzara said customer trust is an important concern. "Many yacht dealerships look at customer support as a loss, but we look at it as a profit center," Lazzara explains. "It builds good will, gives us favorable dock talk and it builds our image."

Lazzara said keeping owner trust is becoming more difficult as on-board systems get more complex. "We use a Bosch washer and dryer on the 106, and when one breaks the technician comes out with a laptop computer. Who would have thought you would need a laptop for a washer and dryer? Boats are getting more and more complicated, so the question is: 'How fast can we react to a problem?'"

It can be assumed that the owner liked Lazzara's clean, hi-tech Tampa facility near his home on the west coast of Florida - which houses robots, computer systems and a five axis router - but before conjuring up images of engineers in white lab coats from a bad car commercial, consider this statement: "We showed the owner a sketch of the 106 in 2001," Lazzara says. "He told us on the spot, 'If you can build that, I'll buy the first one,' and that's why we built this boat."

Now that's trust. Said the client: "The hardest thing for an owner is to visualize. I can tell you when it's finished if I like it or not, but you can't really say what you want if you haven't done it before. Lazzara is family-owned so we deal with real people who build the boats and run the boats themselves."

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