Month: October 2019

Last month I was invited to speak on the Future of Superyachts conference. Initially a daunting prospect as I was imagining an audience of suits with stern faces who would all want to hear about… about what actually? Ironically the conference took place in Hotel Saratoga where, 3 days prior I performed with my band for an audience of cheerful people who were letting their hair down. This was going to be very different! Speaking over the phone with the people of Quaynote, the organisers of this event, months prior to the date, put my mind a bit more at ease. In fact, it made me realise that I am probably operating in an area of the industry which most of these people won’t be so familiar with. I could then see how it might be interesting for them to learn more about Pocket Superyachts. Most of the guest will be involved with large commercial vessels that have to be managed with a long list of complicated rules and regulations in mind. But the complications involved with the smooth running of a 15-30 meter luxury yacht is a whole different kettle of fish. When managing these smaller yachts the emphasis […]

For the second consecutive year SY Aenea, the CNB76 that we have been managing since her launch in February 2017, has competed in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in early September. The conditions on the first race day were bliss. We were finding our groove somewhere in the middle of the fleet. But around the last mark a curious windless patch stalled the yachts that were ahead of us. Just like them, we arrived at full speed, pushed by a 25kt breeze, into this pacific space. But before we lost momentum a light breeze took us past our opponents and around the mark! Admittedly, this lucky shift had a great stake in us being the first CNB over the line that day. Friday was very different altogether… It was a very breezy day with true wind speeds around 30kts. Having torn the genoa before the start meant we didn’t race that day. Once back on the dock the owner brought beer o’clock a few hours forward and we cheered to being the first at the sail loft! Those guys had their work cut out as we saw their loaded vans go up and down the dock. We also watched how […]