On Saturday, December 6, 2025 a rare red full moon rose into the sky and was triumphantly decorated by a barrage of fireworks to finalize the celebration of the Selene Yachts Grand Opening and expansion.

A fitting finale for an extraordinary event that began a few days earlier with a two-day international dealer meeting and then culminated with the Grand Opening expansion celebration on Saturday.  150+ hard working employees, two dozen Selene owners, international journalists, local and regional dignitaries, the worldwide dealer network and the high up management of Selene were all-hands-on-deck to witness and celebrate this historic occasion.

My last visit to the yard was in August 2024 when the groundwork was started for the new facility and it seems hard to believe that so much has happened in such a short time, but that is the attitude of Jet Tern Marine, builders of Selene and their promise of delivering the “spirit of excellence. “

Selene Americas represented by the big four; Wayne Goldman, Paul Cifka, Michael Chen and Howard Chen – have been the driving forces behind the resurgence of the Selene brand not only in North America but also worldwide. Dylan Hildebrand is another vital member of this incredible team who have all made multiple trips to the yard to improve production in all aspects.  This is necessary to keep up with the new orders filling the production line and an unprecedented worldwide awareness of how beautiful and capable Selene trawlers are.

Primarily through the marketing efforts of Selene Americas, the accelerated demand and favorable reputation of Selene is at an all-time high. This enthusiasm has been created by the  450+ Selene owners cruising all across the globe. In North America, I attribute a lot of this to the long building groundswell and momentum enjoyed by the loyal and dedicated Selene owners who continued to support their love of Selenes especially through their owners groups and by hosting very well attended rendezvous’ on the US East Coast and US West Coast.

I counted fourteen fresh build Selenes in the new main building ranging in stages from boats being laid up in the mold, hulls waiting to be decked, final stages of bottom paint and detailing and ready to launch. There were also three new Selene‘s in the water which were available for viewing.  A highlight of the ceremonies was seeing them in formation during a floating parade.

In the water:

Selene 51 Classic Explorer sold by Jetty Marine in Cyprus (Mediterranean distributors going to our new Greek dealer).  Stay tuned for a JMYS YouTube video “TrawlAboard” filmed during the trip.

The other floating marvels were;

Selene 56 Classic Explorer – that is a beautifully outfitted trawler and

Selene 64 Ocean Explorer – with extraordinary details in the fit and finish that must been seen in person to be appreciated.

Both the 56 and 64 were sold by Selene Americas and will soon making their way across the Pacific for launching and commissioning in the United States.

I arrived earlier in the week so I had a day at the yard to get aboard the boats in build and visit the new shop floor arrangement before the dealers and public arrived.  Jet Tern Marine, has been building ocean capable Selene trawlers since 1998.  Due to the efforts of Selene Americas, the first ever dealer meeting occurred with representatives from 11 countries around the world in attendance to discuss marketing, promotion and the many improvements and expanding product line of the Selene brand. Two days of round table discussions were very lively and productive. I was asked to give a talk to review the competitive landscape in the world trawler market; comparing Selene with other brands and what the differentiation points are and how we can talk up many of the positive advantages Selene models offer to consumers.

The cooperation and camaraderie between international distributors is best exemplified by the partnership between Selene Americas and Selene Australia and support of the upcoming Pacific Crossing aboard a Selene 50 to be operated by Nathan and Lindsey of the very popular YouTube channel 71 Percent (here is the link to subscribe to their channel = The 71 Percent – YouTube ).  Nathan and Lindsey are coming from a Nordhavn 41 and in the final preparation stages to depart Australia and begin their trek eastward to North America. They were both in attendance for the event, spoke to the dealers to explain their plans and were eager participants in all of the festivities for the Grand Opening. I was able to sit down with them aboard the Selene 51 for a #Cruising Conversation interview which JMYS will post soon.

Saturday morning, the day of the huge celebration, we gathered at the hotel for a bus ride over to the yard. For many this was the beginning of their experience as they remained afterwards for a guided and escorted tour of Beijing, including a visit to the Great Wall. Wayne and Howard were the hosts and travel/logistics and scheduling was organized by Selene 60 owner, Elisabeth Powell. The packed bus included journalists from several continents (including Jeff Moser from PassageMaker), the international dealers, owners of boats in production, and Selene owners who were eager to see how their boats were built and meet the working team.

We arrived to see most of the Jet Tern Marine Selene employees standing at attention wearing white shirts and facing a red-carpet field with a beautiful Grand Opening sign that served as the back drop for speakers to address the crowd. Drums were beating, and the famous Chinese dancing lions were undulating with the music.

All of the festivities took place in front of the incredible new building and the new marina; with a malacon deck and floating docks for tying up the boats – phase one of the expansion is complete.  Ground is being broken to handle the plans for additional infrastructure on land and along the river to support even greater production of yachts,

It was a beautiful sunny day, with a soft breeze cooling us off as we listened to energetic greetings from Howard Chen, the founder of Selene, Eugene Chau, the chairman of Selene and Wayne Goldman the president of Selene Americas. The buzz in the crowd was an infectious smiling streak with much applause and shared their enthusiasm for the excitement and acceleration that the Selene brand is enjoying. A ribbon-cutting ceremony led to a group photo (all 200 + of us), and then the three boats in the water demonstrated a parade route that had been choreographed by Howard Chen and included the dancing lions on the foredeck as all three bows pivoted towards the dock releasing a shot of adrenaline for everybody.

With the boats docked (all three new owners were aboard) a salute and ceremonial hand shaking greeted the skippers as they came back up the dock and then all of the visitors were able to tour them.  At the same time, a tour of the factory facility was conducted by Howard, Wayne, Paul and Dylan. There are so many great new developments, completed, underway, and in the works – and anyone who might’ve been on the fence certainly would’ve been converted into a true believer when they were able to appreciate all that goes into the design, engineering and construction of these mighty ocean-going trawlers.

Photos, videos, laughter and conversations rolled into a beautiful dinner spread into the twilight with a few more speeches and the extraordinary fireworks display to cap it all off. On the bus ride back to the hotel, we all could not stop talking about what an amazing event we witnessed.

For those heading onto the Great Wall tour, it was a short night and then a bus ride to the airport. I’ve heard it was an amazingly fun and culturally rewarding experience from a few recounts.

I returned back to the yard on Sunday with Paul and Dylan to meet with two clients who remained in town to go over order details.  Sundays are quiet at the yard, the cleanup from the celebration was mostly complete and it was enjoyable for me to get back on board the boats in build to marvel at the craftsmanship.  Sunday went by quickly and we have all slowly filtered our way back home to be with family during the holidays.

During my extended visit I was able to do a #TrawlAboard talk through tour with Dimitris of Jetty Marine (Cyprus) showing me so many of the amazing details they designed and built into this new Selene 51.  It was a pleasure to share the excitement with Rossettos and his wife who are the new owners of this 51 as well as our new dealers representing Selene in Greece)

Even though we had a lot of audience events, there was time to break away into smaller groups and it was a lot of fun for me to catch up with Nathan and Lindsey of the 71Percent to talk about their upcoming adventure – they have been running flat out for weeks and I’m sure the detour to China was a highlight, but I know they have a lot of preparation ahead and were looking forward to getting back aboard and taking off to see the Pacific.

I’ve also been putting together a video summary for the week of the Grand Opening which will be posted on the JMYS YouTube channel in the new year.

As we enter into 2026, the world is now on notice that the Selene brand is as strong as ever, has expanded to accommodate the anticipated growth and demand, and there’s going to be a lot more to talk about in the coming months and years and expect some more booming fireworks to come!