fenderkicker

Animoto Videos

My colleague Jonathan Franklin found a cool video creation website Animoto the other day.  In five minutes, he created a cool video promoting the sale and charter of Wally B.

Using Animoto is simple, and one can choose music from their list, or (with permission of course) one can upload a song from their collection.

But why?

Yacht advertising has become increasingly expensive, and even more diluted with the number of brokerage companies, it is time to utilise the web more and more.  YouTube is one of those sites everyone knows, and generally once in, one tends to continue clicking and watching.  Before you know, it's been an hour!  It is a wonderful procrastination tool.

I was impressed with the Wally B video, I had to try it out too.  M/Y Something Cool is for sale for the first time in almost 40 years being owned by the same family.

Another day at the office, onboard Friday Star

Antoine Larricq from Fraser Yachts invited a bunch of us onboard his sales central, FRIDAY STAR yesterday afternoon for a seatrial / funsail.  She was built at CMN in 1993, and refitted completely in 2005.  With three equal masts and over 400m2 of sailarea, she was built for speed.

It was a great afternoon despite the light winds.  I can imagine the yacht being very quick when fully powered up.

Anyway, turnout was not bad, but certainly it would have been nice to see more brokers show up.  The captain and the crew did a fantastic job in preparing the yacht for our visit (THANKS) , which takes some time.  Even more so in the winter months when yachts generally are shut down for regular maintenance.

The interior design of the yacht was by the owner, which is brilliant.  Modern, artistic, all the makings of a loft appartment on Fifth Ave.

This is the Master Cabin which gives an idea.

More can be found here.

Le Mans Follow Up

Our friend Phil Hooper from Penguin Marine has been so busy uploading his races at this years Le Mans Classic on YouTube we just had to insert a couple of links...

Lap one

Lap two

The real stuff vs black water

When travelling to North America, it is always difficult finding a good cup of coffee.  99.99% of the restaurants, bars, coffee shops sell a similar product coffee enthusiasts enjoy calling "black water".

A couple of years ago at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, we stumbled across Pan'e Dolci, an Italian Bakery who serves the real stuff, be it a cappuccino, espresso or macchiato (none of this half-caf, double cream with vanilla).

The bakery is run by Antonio, directly from Viareggio, in the middle of Tuscan.  If you are involved in Yachting, you will certainly know Viareggio is home to some extremely busy yacht builders including Perini Navi, Benetti, Azimut... the list goes on.

Anyway, if you are in Fort Lauderdale, pop on over to Antonio's Pan'e Dolci for a proper coffee.

3341 East Oakland Park Blvd.

Plenty of parking!

Florida...Boats

We have been in Fort Lauderdale since Wednesday evening for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the biggest floating exhibition on the boat show scene (although the Genoa Boat Show has rumoured to overtake).  It is huge, hot, and again a little windy and wet this year.

The show has plenty for all in the marine industry.  Mega-yachts for those seeking the promised land, tenders, plenty of sport fishing boats, fishing tackle and a couple of Maseriti cars for car enthusiasts. 

It is a fun show, relaxed and unlike the Monaco Yacht Show, one which clients are not so easily noticeable.

The highlight of the show is the Bremen Brothers Beach Bash, hosted by Luerssen at Birch State Park.  If the numbers of guests at this show reflect the success of the party, then the boat show is HUGE!  The the theme was Casino Night, complete with a couple of ShowGirls welcoming guests at the entrance...nice touch.

We have been busy, visiting yachts, talking with our colleagues, and catching up with old friends.  Always a treat!

Rockin' and rollin'

We are in full swing as of late.  Although it is no excuse for not posting, it very well could be one of the reasons:

The enquiries for charter are rolling in fast and furious.

I'm busy selling a Sunseeker 84' Manhattan called Sibelle.

We received another photo of the Clipper Ship THE MALTESE FALCON.

[Courtesy of Bruce Brackenhoff at Perini Navi USA]

As well, to add to the fire, Colin Watson from Bogbrush asked if I would accept to sit in his Chair for a while and be pounded with some questions about me, the blog, and yachting in general.  Of course I jumped in with both feet!  You can read the interview here...
Thanks again Colin, nice to see nothing was changed... :-)

Tour-Auto 2006

[Lancia Aurelia B20 1953]

What a fantastic way to get warmed up for our third trip to the LeMans Classic 24 hour race in July.  Saturday saw the Croisette in Cannes full with AC Cobra's, Ferrari Daytona's, Alfa Romeo's, Porches...the parade went on and on.

[Porche 914/6 GT 1970]

Cannes was (is) the final stop in the TourAuto, a classic rally starting in Paris, passing through the windey backroads in France, with a circuit race each day, and ending in Cannes on Saturday for Champagne, wine, and good cheer.

Patrick Peter, the organiser of both the Tour Auto and the LeMans Classic 24, was on hand to greet the competitors, and share a 'coup' with all.  A heartfelt thanks to Patrick and all those who helped, and congratulations to all those who competed.

I was graciously invited due to our sponsorship of a 1963 TVR MKIII Lightweight at the LeMans Classic 24 hour race.  The car is owned by a local refrigeration and AC specialist for yachts, Phil Hooper.  The TVR is easily spotted with it's Penguin Marine stickers on the front, back, sides...   Phil and his co-pilot Malcolm Wood (founder of the Wood report now called the Yacht Report) will be taking the car through it's paces again this year in LeMans in the hopes of another great finish.

   
[1963 TVR MKIII Lightweight - Malcolm (L), Phil (R)

Our focus at LeMans will be the yacht charter, both for those interested to take the helm themselves on a bareboat, and for those willing to take that leap up to a crewed charter, allowing someone else to wash the dishes. 

Look for our stand along the main isle in the village, drop by for a glass or two and a chat...and by all means, cheer for Phil and Malcolm as they race around the LeMans circuit!!

New toy - "pumpabike"

One of the pleasures of yachting is the range of toys that most yachts carry - jetbikes, waterskis, windsurfers, even submarines. But I haven't yet seen a yacht with one of these - a human-powered hydrofoil:
To look at the Pump-a-bike, you’d imagine that it would sink the moment it hit the water. But apparently (with a bit of practice), the human powered hydrofoil is capable of nearly 20 knots - enough to overhaul the mothership!  To make it work, all you need to do is jump up and down.

Invented by Zimbabwean Mike Puzey, he has been perfecting the Pump-a-bike for eight years and the final commercially available design, just released in South Africa, is the 70th iteration of the design.  Yep, 70 prototypes were built before the design was put into production - the guy deserves a medal for perseverance. I wonder which yacht will be the first to offer one in their toy cupboard?

Schadenfreude

"Schadenfreude" is a really excellent British word describing that warm glowing feeling we have when Germany lose at football, or Michael Schumacher crashes on the first lap of a Grand Prix. The Yachting industry also provides lots of opportunities to enjoy other people's spectacular cockups. Here are two of my favourites (courtesy of the Nautical Institute) - "how not to anchor", and "do not sleep at the helm". Enjoy!

It’s not all glamour and glitz.

Behind all the gold and marble are miles of piping, tons of electrical cable and millions of cable-ties.

It can take up to two years to build a custom yacht, occasionally more.

Sometimes it is done in one style: (click for larger image)

[43m S/Y Gimla mastercabin]

Sometimes another.....

[63m M/Y Northern Star]

Either way, the build process can be fun.  First you design it:

[63m M/Y Solemar mainsaloon  design drawing]

then you build it:

[63m M/Y Solemar mainsaloon  during construction]

then you use it:

[63m M/Y Solemar mainsaloon finished product]