The Triton Today MIBS Day 2

MIAMI

o o o Test Your Mates

Sun & Moon Sunset: 6:15 pm; Sunrise (Saturday): 6:54 am Moonrise: 4:18 am; 12% illuminated High tides: 5:02 pm; 5:49 am (Saturday) Low tides: 10:59 pm; 11:31 am (Saturday)

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Weather Today: Partly sunny, mild, winds SE 11 mph, high 80, 9% chance of rain Tonight: Mostly cloudy, mild, low 67 Tomorrow AM: Mostly sunny, mid70s

How nautical are you and your crew mates? Find out with this short trivia quiz. n What does the acronym ECDIS stand for? n What does ECS stand for? n How long is a nautical mile?

ANSWERS on page 2.

Things to See / Do Tonight, 8-midnight Whoops, we didn’t mean to send you to South Beach last night. We goofed; the YAG fundraiser is tonight: Fundraiser for YachtAid Global, Capri South Beach, Penthouses 3 & 4.

Tickets are $100; space is limited to 150 guests. Dress code is nautical blue and white. RSVP to hopeamerica @aol.com.

Saturday-Monday 49th annual Coconut Grove Arts Festival. Estimated 120,000 people visit Coconut Grove for works of 360 artists in painting, photography, watercolor, clay, glass, fiber, jewelry and wood and more. cgaf.com

Sunday, 2 to 5 pm 19th annual Kite Day at Haulover Park. Hundreds of kites in the air at Haulover Park, 10800 Collins Ave. in Miami Beach. www.skywardkites.com

UNFORGETTABLE: Like a mantra for the show, the 162-foot Christensen M/Y Remember When seems to beg us to recall the time when boats sold.

PHOTO/TOM SERIO

Opening day called both ‘boring’, busy’

By Lucy Chabot Reed It’s fine to philosophize about politics and global financial markets when trying to make sense of the yachting industry’s recent dive into the doldrums.

But when the Yacht & Brokerage Show in Miami Beach opened yesterday, theories didn’t really hold true.

Depending on the dock, the broker, and the brokerage house, the show’s opening day was described any number of ways: non-stop, slow but steady, full of “quality” buyers, and just plain boring.

“No one got the memo that the show opened today,” quipped David Nichols, a broker with IYC. He spent the better

part of opening day on the phone, talking to his largely foreign clientele.

(He received a signed contract this week on a yacht larger than 70m, he said.

That yacht is not in the show.)

On the other hand, when we caught up with broker Ashley Atheron of Robert J. Cury & Associates at about 6:30 last night, he said it was the first time he’d stopped all day.

“We’ve had very good traffic,” he said.

“We’re in a great location and we have great product. I talked to three people today who are new to the industry, who said their businesses have turned around and they are ready to start the education process of buying a yacht.”

Atherton isn’t sure if any of those

See PULSE, page 3

For more news, visit www.the-triton.com

JOIN US

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Brain game for savvy crew members

Triton Expo

The semi-annual crew trade show will be held

April 11th at Lauderdale Marine Center in Ft. Lauderdale Up to 30 vendors will showcase goods and services to help yacht captains and crew do their jobs better.

Answers to the crossword online at www.the-triton.com

No sign-up necessary.

Just make plans to come.

To reserve a table, contact Mike Price at +954-525-0029 or mike@the-triton.com

Test Your Mates

About us

Answers to the quiz on page 1: n Electronic Chart Display and Information System, a computer-based information system that complies with International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations and can be used as an alternative to paper nautical charts. n Electronic Chart Systems. Similar to ECDIS, but not meeting IMO regulations. n 2000 yards (Courtesy of Maritime Professional Training in Ft. Lauderdale)

Triton Today Miami is published

by Triton Publishing Group, parent company of The Triton.

Publisher: David Reed Editorial: Lucy Chabot Reed, Dorie Cox, Tom Serio Advertising: Mike Price Production: Patty Weinert Vol. 4, No. 2.

Copyright 2012, all rights reserved.

Fri d ay • Fe b. 1 7 , 2 0 1 2 | 3

Interest renewed when prices drop PULSE, from page 1 conversations will end in sales this week, but noted that it’s often hard to tell which buyers are serious. “The first boat I ever sold with Bob, the guy walked down the dock in shorts and didn’t look like he could rub two nickels together,� Atheron said. “The next day he brought 18 people over to see it. And within a month, he had bought it. You just don’t know.�

For most, however, opening day was somewhere in between. “We had spurts of traffic,� said Brian Hermann of Ardell. “It was slow, then busy, then slowed again. But we saw good, quality buyers.� “It was not too busy,� said John Todd, a broker with Burger Yacht Sales, though he meant it in a good way. “You can pay attention to people.�

Todd has had two closings so far this year, and he said more of his clients – some he’s been working with for the past few years – are finally ready to buy.

Howard Meyers, chairman of Burger Boat Corp., was catching up with Todd as the show closed last night. While some buyers may still be wary of the world’s economies, he noted that what works in the end is a good deal.

And those happen to abound in the yachting industry now, many of them at the show. After three years of limited movement in the sales sector, owners continue to drop their asking prices.

And each time they do, there’s renewed interest in the vessel.

The asking price for M/Y Magic, a 150-foot Northern Marine, dropped $1 million yesterday, Atherton said.

Asking price on the 143-foot Feadship M/Y Kingfisher fell “considerably� just before the show, putting it at about 30 percent below its asking price of a year ago, Capt. Scott Campbell said.

As a result, Campbell spent parts of opening day on the telephone, fielding phone calls from the Med from brokers wanting to know more details about the 25-year-old yacht. “I tell all my clients, there’s a big difference in the value of a yacht and what it sells for,� Nichols of IYC said. “It’s all dependent on the seller’s motivation

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PHOTO/TOM SERIO

and the buyer’s willingness to pay.�

Chinese builder IAG Yachts rode a wave of possibility into the show, having recently signed a contract for hull No. 4, the first of its megayacht series to be built for the American market. “It’s what we’ve been waiting for,� broker and Capt. Doug Hoogs said on Wednesday. He was spotted several times yesterday walking the docks with clients, too busy to chat. “This time last year, there was nothing. Something’s starting to happen.�

There has been speculation in the industry that buyers are waiting for the outcome of U.S. presidential election in November before committing to a yacht, the belief being that if a Republican gets elected, people of wealth will again spend money.

Few at the show seemed to believe that. “I honestly don’t think it matters,� said Wes Sanford, a broker with Northrop & Johnson. “None of my clients have mentioned it. None of my clients care about the election.�

Lucy Chabot Reed is editor of The Triton. Comments: lucy@the-triton.com.

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CHECKING THE TIDE: Triton Today’s Question of the Day:

How did you get your last full-time job?

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Please visit us at stand 1908, Diving and Tourism

When we asked crew working the boat show yesterday how they landed their last full-time job, we got stories as varied as you can imagine, from a life-long friendship with a captain to being recruited from behind a bar.

One team even has great success knocking on hulls. For captain and chief stew jobs.

By far, the most common way was by word of mouth, usually from friends, but often through friends of friends.

Almost as common was the triedand-true method of networking, and especially following up.

A few crew of higher rank noted that they knew the captains who hired them for years before they were offered a job.

The “previous job� responses tended to be freelance or daywork gigs that turned into permanent work.

One crew member said he got into yachting recently when his land-based boss bought a yacht and wanted him as crew.

One surprise in the results – at least to us – was how few crew credited placement agents for their jobs.

The less senior crew seem to rely on that method; more experienced crew, not so much. – Data compiled by Lucy Chabot Reed and Tom Serio

First Officer Rick Black M/Y Mustang Sally 130-foot Westport “A friend was leaving the industry and recommended me. It’s always a positive if you can go word of mouth.�

Mate Kevin Greenstein M/Y Miss Lisa 92-foot Citadel Yachts “I grew up with a captain and we kept in touch.�

Mate/Eng. Charlene Van Niekerk M/Y Symphony II 112-foot Westport “Through a friend.

Now we all work together. It’s been four and a half years.�

Chief Stew Michelle Niles M/Y Mustang Sally 130-foot Westport “I was bartending in Sag Harbor, N.Y., and was recruited by a captain. That was three years ago.�

First Mate Juan Arroyo M/Y Name Dropper “I worked for a person who bought a yacht.�

Fri d ay • Fe b. 1 7 , 2 0 1 2 | 5 Capt. Charles Crace M/Y Believe 130-foot Westport “It was from a broker at Westport. But I didn’t get the job then. The owner called me a year later.”

Capt. Brent Holleman M/Y Cedar Island 110-foot Broward “Through a friend who recommended me.”

Capt. Craig Cannon M/Y Sharon Ann 104-foot Destiny “It’s always been by word of mouth.”

Deckhand Shelly Williams M/Y Kingfisher 143-foot Feadship “I started doing daywork and they hired me on.”

Chief Stew Hayley Smith M/Y Atlantica 135’ Christensen “In seven years, I’ve only used an agency once. All my other jobs have been referrals.”

First Officer Aaron Pepper M/Y Carpe Diem II 150-foot Trinity “A friend of a friend helped me out a lot. It took me a long time to get a first officer job on a bigger boat.”

Bosun Joel Walton M/Y Carpe Diem 191-foot Trinity “I ran into a captain for the fourth time and asked him again for a job.”

Chief Stew Agis Variani M/Y My Colors 130-foot Westport “Knocking on the hull (with her partner, a captain). The boat had a captain, but he knew a broker who needed one.

It’s always this way or word of mouth.”

Mate Philip du Toit M/Y Remember When 162-foot Christensen “A captain I’ve known through the years and kept in touch with e-mailed me out of the blue.”

Capt. Tom Gray M/Y Miss Lisa 92-foot Citadel Yachts “I got all mine through broker referrals.

I can’t think of a job I’ve had in the last 10 years that didn’t come through a broker.”

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DOING THE CREW THING: Opening Day

D

ressing for the anticipated buyers on the first day of the show, we caught crew looking their best. From polos to epaulets, they were dressed to impress.

PHOTOS/TOM SERIO

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