10:08 PM Mon 22 Dec 2008 GMT
 | | 'Sharon and Grant Torrens welcome visitors.'
Jeni Bone
|
If you want Grant Torrens to participate in the perceived 'slow market', your first task will be to show him where it is.
'Mate, I've heard all this talk about the stuttering economy, but we've never been busier,' the broker exclaimed.
'Since November 1 we've put away in excess of $11.5 million, including a $5.5 million custom motor yacht and a $3 million Azimut. 'And we're not finished yet,' he added.
Grant Torrens is CEO of Grant Torrens International Marine, arguably the nation's largest brokerage, based on the 'millionaire's enclave', the Gold Coast's Sovereign Islands.
With a staff of six full-time brokers under sales manager Col McPherson, four administrative staff and an in-house accountant, Grant Torrens is in business with throttles wide open.
The Sovereign Islands headquarters of the company boasts a marina capable of housing up to 40 vessels, depending on their size, and there's an additional 10 berths at nearby Ephraim Islands.
'When I started here, 10-years ago, the marina of the time had space for three boats, so you could say we've enjoyed some expansion in that 10-year period,' he joked.
For the past seven-years, Grant Torrens International Marine has conducted its own boat show at the same time as the not far distant Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show.
 | The team at Grant Torrens Marine showcases luxury boats, cars and of course, lifestyle. - Jeni Bone |
'We're not trying to compete with Sanctuary Cove,' Torrens explained, 'we see ourselves as an adjunct to that show, in much the same way as the brokerage show that operates during the Miami International Boat Show in Florida. We dress up the marina, put on entertainment for the kids, provide refreshments and attract quite a good crowd every year,' he added.
Being surrounded by some of the Gold Coast's most impressive residences, Torrens and his staff go out of their way to ensure neighbours are not annoyed by the marina operations.
'Most of our near neighbours are boat owners and we're always available to help them in any way,' he added.
Running a highly successful boat brokerage is one thing, but Grant Torrens has another claim to fame.
He may well be one of the most successful water skiers Australia has ever produced!
Let me put it this way, if it's quick boat, a very quick boat, Grant Torrens has either been at the wheel or out the back on a ski rope.
One particular water ski adorns the wall of his office - it is the ski on which Torrens set a world speed record of 148.66mph (239.23km/hr) at the Oakland Marine Stadium, near San Francisco, in 1988.
To the best of his knowledge, it remains the water ski world record.
No ski?
No worries, Torrens also won the 1972 World Barefoot championship and in 1973/74, again at the Oakland Marine Stadium became the first man to crack the 100mph mark barefoot with an official 100.99mph (162.52km/hr).
Grant Torrens started water skiing at the age of, wait for it, three!
His parents owned the Torrens Water Ski Gardens on the famous Hawkesbury River, so I guess there was nothing surer that a day would come when Grant Torrens would win a Bridge to Bridge ski race.
He certainly did, won it outright despite being eligible for the Junior Boys class.
Grant Torrens proved to one and all that while he didn't lack courage, he may well have been a bit short in the common sense department.
What else could you say about a man that undertook (twice!) the world's longest open ocean water ski, Brisbane to Sydney?
Torrens knocked around with and skied with some of the top exponents of the sport, among them Danny Cropper, Geoff Burgess and Paul McManus.
'Great blokes and great skiers, we had some terrific times,' he recalled.
The former Sydneysider ('Balgowlah Boys' High, I was a Seaforth boy,' he says) moved to Queensland some years ago and operated his own business hiring and operating heavy industrial equipment.
The lure of boats and the water proved too strong, and with the sale of the equipment company Torrens formed the brokerage.
'I was fortunate in knowing the late Bernard Lewis, developer of the Sovereign Islands and now it's almost hard to believe we've been here 10-years,' he said. 'In more ways than one, I guess I've led a charmed life.
'Come and have a look at our operation, particularly next May when we stage the Grant Torrens International Marine Boat Show,' he added.
For further information contact Grant Torrens International Marine, The Sovereign Mile, Sovereign Islands, Gold Coast, telephone (07) 5577-2299.
by Bob Wonders
Click on thumbnails to enlarge and find more photos:
  |
Sailing
