In 1916, Jesús and José Astondoa Martínez began building wooden rowboats (below) for fishermen in Portugalete, Spain. One hundred years later, the third generation of their family runs Astondoa, in Santa Pola. Waiting in the wings is the fourth generation. The yard offers production boats and megayachts in fiberglass and metal. It’s one of the biggest builders in Europe. It exports a number of yachts to American and Latin American buyers. And, not only does it consider customers family, it treats them that way.
Last weekend, MegayachtNews.com was invited to Astondoa’s celebration of a century of boat- and yacht building. While we have attended many yard festivities, this stood apart, dramatically so. Craftspeople, not just executives, attended the first evening’s dinner gala. (As an example, one dancing, singing, and clapping guest turned out to be a 30-year employee of the mechanical shop.) Second, that gala and the subsequent night’s gala were akin to a wedding reception. Hundreds of customers, dealers, and business partners shared stories, laughed, and dined together. (As for that dining, the three-course, traditional Valencian menus were more like 12.) There was no keeping of media at arms’ length from the customers, or completely separate, as is often the case. As proof, the shipyard tour, including visits to all technical departments, saw customers rubbing elbows with journalists.
As for those departments, Astondoa has stayed true to its roots while embracing modern technology. As you might expect, all joinery is done in house. Wood is practically in the family blood, after all. The son of co-founder Jesús, Jesús Astondoa Santamaria, focused on wooden boats through the 1980s. His sons, current shipyard chiefs Íñigo and Jesú Astondoa Díaz de Otazu, came aboard that same decade, soon advising switching to fiberglass. Astondoa continues to make its own molds for those fiberglass craft. About 90 percent of overall engineering is in house, too. An interior-design showroom lets clients select marbles, fabrics, glassware, and more. Should clients (or others) want to cruise the region, Astondoa owns a marina a stone’s throw away.
To date, Astondoa has delivered more than 3,000 vessels. While the range starts with production-built 40-footers, it goes up to the custom-built 110 Century (below). At the celebration, the newest Astondoa, the 655 Coupe, debuted in front of a delighted crowd. On the drawing table, a number of additional models, including megayachts, await. They include metal megayachts like the 120 Steel Explorer and the 197 Steel.
All the while, the past is never far behind. Jesú Astondoa Díaz de Otazu relayed a wonderful story at the shipyard celebration. As boys, each day he and his brother ran to the shipyard to retrieve their grandfather. Upon reaching him, they’d each grab a hand and pull him back home down the street. Without fail, their grandfather would exclaim, “Here come the tugboats!”
Here’s to a fifth generation of “tugboats” joining the Astondoa family.
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