ShowBoats International — April 2017

PHOTOGRAPH: GETTY IMAGES

WWW.BOATINTERNATIONAL.COM APRIL 2017

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How to pimp

your yacht

What décor is best? How many

guests is ideal? Is a gym a must?

Claire Wrathall asks the experts how

to make the most of a thriving market

Imagine a boutique hotel on a private

island or up a mountain. How would you

equip it? That is the question that yacht

designer Simon Rowell, of Bannenberg

& Rowell, advises clients to ask

themselves when commissioning or

refitting a boat they would like to “earn

its keep” on the charter market.

“You want everything there that a

guest could reasonably expect to find

without having to get the helicopter to

seek it out,” he says. “If we’re designing

a superyacht for an owner, we approach

it as something akin to a country house.”

In 2013 Bannenberg & Rowell unveiled

the results of a two year refit of Abeking

& Rasmussen’s 197 foot yacht Dream,

whose owner had specified that he

wanted a boat that would appeal to the

charter market. “Having chartered

extensively we knew what we wanted

and, more importantly, we knew what

didn’t work,” the owner said at the

time of its relaunch. He specified

“many more amenities” than you might

expect to find on a “boat of her size” –

a cinema, beach club, gym – not to

mention a sophisticated contemporary

interior that was uncluttered, well

planned, hard wearing and, crucially,

broadly appealing.

MOTOR OR SAILING YACHT?

“Motor yachts are more popular for

charter,” says Chris Cecil-Wright of the

eponymous boutique brokerage, not

least because they tend to be larger. But

there are other practical reasons, too,

he says, as “on a motor yacht the

itinerary is less affected by weather

conditions.” That said, there’s more

competition as there are far more motor

yachts available for charter than ones

with sails, “though we do have clients

who are passionate about sailing yachts”.

SIZE AND STYLE

Poll a handful of charter brokers and,

of the yachts they represent, the most

sought-after for charters accommodate

10 to 12 guests and have a crew of seven

to 15. However, as Molly Browne,

a broker with Camper & Nicholsons,

puts it: “There is a lot of variation in the

CHARTER

SPECIAL

DJ Mark Ronson

entertains guests on

board at the Tag

Heuer Monaco Party

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ART

PRODUCTION

CLIENT

SUBS

REPRO OP

VERSION

Charter, 6