Access 150 years in combined experience.
Meet the Team
Andrew
Wright
With over 16 years hands-on experience building, servicing and handling rescue boats, Andrew Wright is the founder and director of Western Australian businesses: Shockwave Marine and Stem2Stern. The symbiotic relationship across these businesses, which share a workshop, provide a one-stop shop – from design, build, fitout and finish, to service, maintenance and repair.
Andrew is a passionate contributor to Volunteer Sea Rescue, with thousands of hours spent on various models of rescue catamarans. This intensive, first-hand experience handling boats in all manner of conditions informs his innovative approach to designing and building catamarans that are safe, sturdy, easy to handle, light and comfortable for drivers and passengers. These qualities also ideally suit the recreational sector, which Shockwave Marine has now entered. Andrew prides himself on building ‘the safest cats in Australia’ for both rescue and leisure.
A stickler for quality, Andrew ensures that his businesses install the best tech, mechanical and electrical systems. This ethos also translates to how he recruits and manages his team, employing craftsmen and specialists with proven hands-on experience and trainees who exhibit a dedicated work ethic.
Qualifications: Marine Mechanical (Diesel and outboard), Marine Electrical
Peter
Baas
Peter has over 40 years experience, hands-on in the marine industry. Accomplished and respected for building to standards, with attention to detail so all aspects are covered from the outset. Peter loves to keep busy and is passionate about completing DIY projects in his spare time.
Fitouts, component coordination and detailing.
Elliot
Chambers
Elliot is a Curtin University graduate who comes to Shockwave Marine with a heap of technical production and risk management experience. Having managed multiple high risk, high budget projects for the Perth Festival since 2012, Elliot has his eye on every detail to make sure projects are on time, safe and delivered to the highest quality. He’s passionate about refining processes and incorporating iron-clad practices that cover all bases. Stakeholder engagement and living up to delivery guarantees are also large on his agenda. Elliot balances his demanding work schedule and quality service expectations with a healthy injection of adventure – he’s a cars and boats guy, who loves to travel and seek the uncharted.
Production Manager, responsible for business efficiency and production improvement.
Colin
Holmes
Colin has over 40 years’ experience as a General Manager and Executive Vice President in the engineering industry, both in Australia and the USA. An expert in representing large investment capital equipment, Colin is only interested in promoting the very highest quality products that he is confident to present to customers. At Shockwave Marine he has found that the first class workmanship inspires genuine trust. He enjoys introducing people to the joys of collaborating with Andrew Wright and the team to build their dream powercats, and is motivated to see this small firm grow in stature and reach. Colin volunteers at Cockburn Sea Rescue and in other spare time he loves to turn reclaimed wood into beautiful pieces of furniture.
Marketing & Sales, responsible for building relationships with potential buyers.
Noel ‘Nobby’
Verran
Nobby started out as a spray-painter and ran a successful panel shop for 30 years with 16 staff. His experience is invaluable in the fairing of moulds; eliminating any imperfections to make a clean cast and better finished product. In addition to the boats, Nobby completes all Shockwave’s orders for St John Ambulance fitouts. He is also the OHS monitor in the workshop; making sure safety compliances are adhered to and data sheets kept up to date.
In his spare time Nobby is a custom rod builder and active fisherman with the club he inaugurated, the Fremantle Recreational Fishing Club.
Fibreglass fitouts, finishing and paintwork.
Graeme
Wornes
Graeme has a background of 20 years in aviation engineering plus 20 years in marine craft; both with experience in composites and fiberglass.
Boat building is in Graeme’s blood; it is his life.
Structural engineering, composites, vacuum infusion and trainee mentorships.
Ben
Kneer
Ben has over 25 years experience in all aspects of boat building. Starting out as an apprentice in 1995 Ben has worked for significant companies, in Germany and in Australia, on every scale of craft from dinghies to cruise ships. The ocean is his natural habitat having also been a dive instructor and a sailor who enjoys long distance races; his dream vessel being an America’s Cup yacht.
Shipwright, responsible for fibreglass fit-outs, finishing, repairs and paintwork.
Glenn
Sanqui
Glenn is a trainee, studying Electrical Engineering at Munster TAFE. At the Shockwave facility, Glenn receives invaluable hands-on experience, as he is exposed to all aspects of the boat building cycle, and the professional expectations in the workshop.
The team were all trainees once upon a time, so value is placed on offering useful experience.
Graeme
Prof. Wright
Graeme is an Emeritus Professor from the Faculty of Science and Engineering in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Curtin University.
He has conducted various research projects, is a respected lecturer and published numerous articles and papers, most recently in the arena of Ocean and Coastal Management and Ocean Engineering.
Advises on compliance and ethical practice, project management efficiency, and training.
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