REAL WEAPON
Over the past 29 years, 13 Assegai game boats have been launched, all of them achieving legendary status amongst a very competitive big game fishing fleet. Those 13 boats might seem like a low output, but it reflects the extreme level of care lavished on every bespoke model, each one taking up to three years to complete.
All those boats were lovingly crafted under the watchful eye of Assegai Marine founder, Barry Martin. They were painstakingly constructed from resin-sheathed western red cedar using a female construction case unique to each boat. Strips of 45-millimetre wide cedar – 21 millimetres thick at the bottom and 19 millimetres along the sides – are temporarily fixed against the exterior frame to form the hull shape which is then covered both sides in hand-laid tri-axial fibreglass, hand-rolled to avoid any air pockets. It's a time-consuming labour of love, but the result is supremely durable yet lightweight and extremely efficient hull shape.
The name Assegai derived from the iron-tipped spear of African tribes and, like several others, the owner followed the theme in naming his boat. The Askari were Zulu warriors who brandished the spears in close fighting.
“Visually, Askari is a ten. The elegant sloping sheerline runs to a convex transom, and the superstructure is perfectly proportioned.”
Because they are both rare and very desirable, Assegais
