Who’s behind Tidal Marine & Co?

My mates call me Nicko, and behind the scenes we do have a Ms. Tidal.

As a young boy I would save my pocket money to buy boat magazines; and draw boats in front of the TV watching Chris Conroy’s ‘World of Boats’. I learnt the quality of boats, by going to work with my dad at Mr. Boats in Collaroy, Sydney and sitting in all the new Haines Hunters and Cruise Crafts. As a teenager living in Cairns, I spent majority of my free time working with my dad on boats, or out on the reef. Boats and the lifestyle absolutely consumed me and became my passion.

I worked a few seasons on the reef as a deckie on the game boats, though decided I needed a trade. I started at Cairns Boat Builders where we built two of Australia’s well known 50ft custom game boats, Kanahoee and Tradition. I worked for Ray Wheeler Marine Projects, where Ray taught me the art of preparing trailer boats for rebuilds and was my introduction to high performance race boat builds.

I was the owner of Obsession Marine in Cairns where I built my own hulls, and rebuilt more Haines Hunter, Cruise Craft and Yalta’s than I can remember. One of the biggest highlights of my career, was working for Cyclone Boat Co, where we built high performance offshore powerboats from 19 – 43ft. While under the guidance of Owner, Ross Wilson, I learnt more about composite boat building and engine set up, and used my skills to build some of the best world champion ski boats to come from Australia.

After moving to Perth, I had a break from the industry professionally (though still doing my own rebuilds), and my passion and fire are back, stronger than before. I’m looking forward to doing what I love the most – building boats and growing Tidal!