Open Day in Monaco shows 19 boats

By Lauren Coles

On Thursday, Oct. 8, Cluster Yachting Monaco organized Open Day for yacht charter and sales brokers to learn more about and visit yachts for sale or charter in the area.

Part of the Monaco Yacht Club, Cluster Yachting Monaco is an association that brings together brokers and industry specialists in Monaco. Open Day was organized together with Young Professionals in Yachting (YPY), which promotes professionalism and education in the industry.

The setup resembled a yacht show. Although not a replacement for the 2020 Monaco Yacht Show, the Open Day showed how the yachting industry in the Med is very much working, and supporting those within the industry.

Marcella De Kern Royer, founding member of YPY Monaco and blogger of Onboard with Marcella, was onboard M/Y JoyMe for the event.

She explained how the event was like a private yacht show for professionals. Although it was mostly business to business, some yacht brokers brought clients. De Kern Royer pointed out that brokers prefer these private events versus mass market events. She could be seen chatting with captains and learning about their plans for the winter.

Capt. Zelijko Smolkan of M/Y JoyMe, a 164-foot (50m) custom yacht (below), joined the vessel two weeks before the show. He has been a captain professionally for 12 years, and described the day this way: “This show is just perfect. One of the best shows I’ve ever been in. Lots of the right people have passed through

our boat.”

Former Capt. Johannes Palm and Florian Garbaccio, a former water sports instructor on yachts, (below) now working for Awake electric surfboards.

Now working on land, they described their career switch. Palm was a competitive sailor who got his captain’s license to travel and grow his career in the industry. After seven years, he moved ashore and now represents Awake, an electric surfboard company, as a sales director. Garbaccio started as a water sports instructor on yachts, training crew, guests and owners how to use various water sports equipment. He switched to work with Awake because he wanted to be on the development side of the product, and now works as a brand and sales coordinator.

Local industry was welcomed at the event. François Richard, founder of electric boat company Leneva Boats (below, right), attended.

Lauren Coles is a freelance writer and founder of Yoga Yacht living in Port Hercule, Monaco. She holds a master's degree in education. Comments are welcome at editor@the-triton.com.

and keep our industry on the job.

The most challenging aspect of the national response was the diversity of state COVID laws and restrictions that made navigating the maze difficult.

“I was having tremendous difficulty being able to keep my workers on the job, and with one call to Kitty at the USSA on a Saturday, she helped solve my issues and get us back up and running,” said David Hole of Marina Mile Yachting Center in Fort Lauderdale.

We also provided our members and the industry with details about federal support programs such as PPP, EIDL and others in partnership with our membership benefits team at T. Spencer Samuels, which was with us every step of the way through weekly webinars and online resources. In addition, we implemented new and improved health, 401(k) and disability benefits for our members and instituted a series of educational webinars designed to impact nearly every aspect of our industry.

The ramifications of the pandemic have been felt globally and in nearly every sector of our industry.

“COVID-19 has had an impact on both the operational and maintenance schedules of yachts worldwide,” said Jim Berulis, vice president of Savannah Yacht Center in Georgia. “The prolonged uncertainty of positivity spikes will continue to challenge owners, yacht managers, and captains as to where to go next season or whether or not to continue to put off that maintenance project that has been on the list for 2020.”

The trends do seem to be pointing to new and off-the-mainstream paths; the more remote, the better.

“Maine did a great job of keeping our COVID rates low, and because of that, I’ve never seen so many large yachts up here in my life,” said JB Turner, president of Front Street Shipyard in Maine and co-owner of Cape Charles Yacht Center in Virginia. “There were 300+ footers in nearly every harbor along the coast. I saw customers that I hadn’t seen in years, and now they’re even looking for ways to keep their yachts here through the winter.”

That upsurge in business wasn’t only in New England; his yard in the Chesapeake saw a similar business increase.

“With many of the islands of the Caribbean and the Bahamas closing, the catamarans had no place to cruise,” Turner said. “Cape Charles Yachting Center is one of the few facilities with a wide lift. As a result, we had the busiest summer on record and have had to stop taking new business several times to keep up with the workload.”

There have been similar experiences with USSA members throughout the Southwest and up the coast through Washington and Alaska. The lack of cruise ships in the region due to COVID restrictions provided more resources for the increase in superyachts that flocked to the area in search of escape.

Yacht owners worldwide realized there is no better way to socially distance than on their yacht.

While this escape was great for owners, this type of seclusion did create some challenges and hardships for yacht crew who were often unable to come ashore or take any time away from the boats for extended periods of time due to owners’ concerns over infection. Luckily, as the positivity rates started to decline and more became known about preventing transmission, that issue has seemingly begun to relax.

Despite everything we have personally faced this year, the industry continues to thrive.

“I feel that we are all struggling with a bit of Zoom fatigue at this point as we navigate this new world,” said Kate Pearson, USSA’s current chairperson. “Boat shows and events are a critical part of what makes the yachting industry so powerful, and I know that many of us look forward to getting together in person very soon. All of us at the USSA will be here to help facilitate those opportunities once again.”

Through the changes and the vast unknown factors facing all of us in the coming year, the U.S. Superyacht Association will continue to work hard to provide all segments of our industry with the necessary resources they need to navigate any rough waters ahead, but we can’t do it alone.

You have a voice through the USSA. We are individually strong but together a powerful force. Visit ussuperyacht. com/join to become part of the USSA.

Kitty McGowan has more than 30 years experience in nearly every aspect of the industry. She started as a yacht chef on high-profile yachts including M/Y Octopussy, M/Y Thunderball and M/Y Moonraker. She then worked with the Marine Industries Association of South Florida. She later formed her own marketing, events, lobbying and PR company, Nauticom Communications, where she created and managed fishing tournaments around the world. She took over the reigns of the U.S. Superyacht Association in 2010. Comments are welcome at editor@the-triton.com.