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small Argentinian built production boat is making waves in Whortonsville.

Zonda Group is a niche boatbuilding company in Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires, focusing on high-performance, lightweight day sailing vessels.

Their only two brand new stock boats in North America are located right on Broad Creek.

Andres Mendez at work on a Zonda Z28 sailing vessel.

Popular in South America but still testing the waters this side of the hemisphere, local sailors were invited to sea trial one of the new vessels with the shipbuilder himself.

With over fifty models sold internationally, only four Zonda boats are present in U.S. waters today—two of which have found owners.

The other two are offered for sale just nine miles outside of Oriental at Marine Craft Services and Marina in Merritt (Whortonsville).

Andres Mendez captains during sea trials.

The boatyard and marina also serves as a brokerage for the Antares Catamaran, a brand of Argentinian-built, live-aboard, long distance cruising boats.

“Zonda Group got introduced to Marine Craft by the boat builders I know at Antares,” says Naval Architect and Zonda Group CEO Andres Mendez. He was on site in Whortonsville in April to complete structural finishes to one of the Zonda stock boats. “The shipbuilding circle in Argentina is very small. I go way back with the guys at Antares and trust their recommendation completely.”

Through an international handshake deal between the marina owners in Whortonsville and the partners at the shipyard in Beunos Aires, Marine Craft has functioned as a satellite headquarters for Zonda Group since the brand debuted on the American market in 2023.

Zonda’s Z line of boats are the Z24, Z28, and Z33. Among the benefits the manufacturer describes: all fit in a standard shipping container, sit on a standard trailer, and tow behind a standard vehicle. All by design to be delivered to any marina, yard, or yacht club with a boat launch ramp. No travel lift or significant water depth required.

Andres Mendez at the stern of the Zonda Z28.

The first Z boat arrived just in time for the 2023 Annapolis International Boat Show. The Z24, a trailerable 24-ft daysailer with a lifting bulb keel, won Best Performance category in Sailing World Magazine that year.

It sold immediately, with an additional new build commissioned and delivered nine months later to Marine Craft. The new owner picked up the boat, trailering it home to the Great Lakes.

Riding on that success, Zonda Group built another Z24 to send to the states in 2025, along with a slightly larger model, the Z28. They arrived just in time to be trailered to Annapolis for the October boat show.

Though they almost didn’t make it.

Due to delays on the production line and then on the 4,000 nautical mile container ship journey from Argentina, the final structural and cosmetic jobs on the Z28 had been deferred.

Someone from Argentina would have to visit the US after the 2025 Annapolis show to complete the finishing touches before the Z28 could be sold.

A look at the Z28, above and below.

After the boat show, both were relocated to Zonda’s Whortonsville headquarters. In April 2026, Zonda’s Andres Mendez traded the bustling Buenos Aires boatyard for the relaxed pace of Marine Craft Services & Marina.

In between sanding, laying up fiberglass, waiting for gelcoat to dry, and installing hardware on the Z28—Andres was fine tuning his U.S. sales strategy and drinking cups of maté, a native south American herbal tea.

Mendez launched and sea trialed the Z24, hull number 63, at Marine Craft, inviting local sailing community members to participate in the maiden voyage and following luncheon.

Tow assist out of the slip from Capt. Dave Caudill.

Two trips were arranged to accommodate guests.

As the Z24 is designed and fitted with a bracket for the customer’s auxiliary outboard of choice, and the boat is still yet to find its rightful owner, a tow assist was needed for getting on and off the dock. Marine Craft owner Capt. Dave Caudill provided.

While the Z24 and Z28 stock boats stored at Marine Craft were prebuilt and fully outfitted as base models, nearly all Zonda Group boats are built to order and customized with different rig configuration, sail inventory, or deck finish options.

After the Annapolis Boat Show, Andres noted, “the market was into bigger boats, power boats, catamarans, and neglected this size of boat. The 24 [foot category] especially.”

The Z24 and Z28 both have large self bailing cockpits, transom hung rudders, retractable keels, and inboard outboard electric propulsion for auxiliary power. Both include workable interiors for longer cruising or entertaining, though the Z28 features an enclosed head, simple galley, and modern wood finish in the cabin.

Andres getting the boat ready for a sea trial.

The Z24’s PHRF (Performance Handicap Racing Fleet) rating, the empirical handicapping system used in sailboat racing that allows different size vessels to compete against one another equitably, is impressive.

The 1970s American race boat the J24, has a PHRF rating of 171. The Z24 has a rating of 108. The higher the rating, the slower the boat. And vice versa.

This means one thing: the Z24 is fast.

For example, the Z24’s PHRF rating is the same as the larger club racer, the Catalina 38.

Mendez says it’s the company’s integrated technology for design and manufacturing that sets his boats apart. It also helps that his business partner, yacht designer and friend Pablo Mastracchio, works on-site to oversee day to day operations.

“Its always difficult to get an idea from something on paper or a computer, to an actual product,” Andres says. “This is one less intermediary. You don’t have the guy drawing something in an office, never showing up to the shipyard.”

Andres works with the motorless Z24 in the slip.

Mendez can usually be found in his office, hustling to keep it all afloat.

“This has been the worst conditions for manufacturing in over 20 years,” he says.

In spite of challenges, the Argentinian boatbuilding company has managed to keep all its daysailing models in production since 2019. The company also manufactures a six meter rigid inflatable boat (RIB) called the Z6. Additionally, the Buenos Aires facility fabricates rigging and spars, and performs yacht refits.

With his financial, sales, and managing partner duties at Zonda Group, it’s rare to find Andres actually working on a boat. Yet that’s exactly how he found himself in Whortonsville, putting the finishing touches and modifications on the Z28.

“If my employees could see me now.”

Andres Mendez.

All Zonda Group sailboats are built using a “hand layup lamination” method. Utilizing Computer Numerical Control (CNC) software to cut out pieces of the boat, they are glued together and laminated with vinyl polyester resin and fiberglass. Both the deck and hull have foam cores.

Back on Broad Creek aboard Z24, hull number 63, one guest had nothing but praise for Andres and the vessel.

“Sailing with Andres was fantastic,” says Chris Hobson, a cruising boat owner who attended the Z24 sea trial. “The most high-tech boat I’ve sailed on.”

Related Links

• Timeless Yacht Sales

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Story and Photos by Emily Greenberg.

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Posted Friday May 8, 2026 by Keith N. Smith

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