It was love at first sight! You saw her sitting there, sauntered on up thinking wow, that yacht is amazing and I want it. Maybe you were already looking to buy, maybe you got blindsided, but what ever happened, you now are the proud owner of a yacht.
Depending on the size, maybe you have crew, maybe you don’t. Maybe you do all the work yourself, maybe you outsource it.
When you first start out, it’s a passion, a labor of love, but over time, you find that maybe you don’t have as much time as you’d wish and the boat is taking up more and more of your time. So much so, it becomes a burden vs a tool for fun and relaxation.
These growing pains are typical in our industry, but unless solutions are provided, it can leave a bad taste in your mouth, making you want to get out all together.
Owning a yacht is akin to that of running a business. All the same metrics are there, it’s just that your yacht or boat, can and will take up a lot of your time doing various things that you might not have interest in. Maybe it’s cleaning, maybe it’s maintenance, maybe it needs to be hauled out for annual servicing maybe you are just having issues with your crew. What ever the problems you might be facing, this is time better spent focusing on your business, which enabled you to purchase the yacht in the first place.
Irrespective of the size of your yacht, you should have an annual operating budget if you don’t already. Having a budget lets you forecast the funds required to keep your yacht running, but you can also forecast the maintenance for your critical equipment. It might seem like a silly idea, but it’s an amazing asset, so you can see where the majority of the funds are going.
This segways into planned maintenance schedules for all your yacht’s equipment. Planning haul outs, yard periods for your yacht.
Much like any industry, there are so many nuances to yachting that you can’t humanly know it all. So it’s only a matter of time before you run out of steam or unfortunately, something breaks when you are right in the middle of using it, leaving your yacht dead in the water.
With these growing pains, it almost seems like you now need to have crew or maybe a team behind you to support the yacht. Do you know what you are looking for, do they know what they are supposed to be doing, and I’m sure you have more than a few questions but at the same time, this is just another thing for you to manage. Again, this detracts from you having fun and wanting to use the boat, so where do you go now?.
If you find that you fall into a category where ownership becomes more of a hassle/ burden than you wish, why not consider yacht management? Let the burden fall in their lap, leaving you to do what you wanted to do in the first place, have fun and enjoy yachting as it should be.
Yacht management has varying elements to it, of which you can pick and choose the services that you might want / need, but their end job is to make sure that your Yacht is running the way that you want it.
I tend to ask a few questions first to see if management might be a good fit, which then dictates what type of interaction would you like to have with your yacht and typically it’s broken into 3 types of people.
- Not wanting to be bogged down with any issues that are not pre defined. The yacht just needs to be ready for my use.
- Not wanting to be bogged down with day to day issues, but would like to have monthly/ quarterly reporting with authorization on expenses over X amount.
- Active in the operation but would like to have support from the management company to ensure continuity of the operation of the yacht.
No two programs are the same, but there are similarities. You’ll find that most Yacht Management companies have already seen your issues before and have solutions for them.
To play devils advocate here, having yacht management is not for everyone, as you may feel they don’t add any value to you or your program, so why not look at just technical management.
Technical Management steps away from the yacht management umbrella, and offers you the bare bones necessities, engineering and legal assistance ( by way of keeping the vessel operational and certified ). It is a great option for those that would like to have some support in their program, but not the full arsenal that some of the companies might offer.
If you feel that your boat or yacht ownership carries with it some burden and you are looking for a solution, either I can assist in pointing you in the right direction, or just grab the yellow pages and start making a few phone calls. Jump on Google and type in Yacht Management and more than a few companies will surface!
Call around, go in and meet with a few people and let them know what you need help with. All the good companies will make the time to talk you through your issues and will be able to give you a proposal for their services. It’s then up to you to choose which services best suit you at this current time.
Yachting really is fun, and the day to day running and operation for the most part does turn people away from getting out on the water, so if you are at all considering looking for help with crew or general operation, we’re all just a phone call away. As soon as you remember why you got into yachting in the first place, the water, the sunsets, the exploration or just the joy of being out on the water, don’t let the negative aspects of ownership cloud your enjoyment. Use the myriad of tools available to you to keep doing what you love, while the operational aspects are covered by the professionals.
Can’t wait to see you out on the water and looking forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below.
Blue Skies.
Follow my journey @BlueOceanYachting
