Something striking about superyacht events, both in a positive and negative sense, is how often we see the same faces. On the one hand, they serve as an excellent opportunity to reconnect with industry peers and friends, but on the other hand, it just goes to show how limited broader industry engagement can be. Perhaps what is most concerning, however, is that those who would benefit most from increased engagement are the ones you never see.

It should be noted at this point, that this article is written with the greatest respect for how busy people are. Taking time out to engage with the broader market, either during a boat show, conference or other events is simply not an option for everyone. That being said, those individuals that do frequently engage with the market in constructive debate, working groups or otherwise, are often some of the busiest people around.

In recent years, the pandemic notwithstanding, the level of engagement from the industry has undoubtedly risen and not just in a passive sense, a greater respect and understanding for global issues and their impact on the market, and indeed the market’s impact on the world, have utterly changed the industry’s discourse and mission statement, and challenging each other on the big issues has filtered down throughout the market and created better platforms for challenging each other on the minutiae. More so than ever, the industry appears willing to hold up a mirror to itself and make positive changes, or at least take the first steps towards long-term change.

That being said, the important conversations are largely being had by those people that are already committed to upholding high standards, and herein lies the problem. The superyacht industry sells perfection to owners and charter guests and, to be fair, on many fronts it is successful, at least from the perspective of the client. However, there is still plenty of bad advice being circulated and given to owners by stakeholders who don’t necessarily know any better.

As obvious as it may sound, you don’t know what you don’t know. I am not for a second suggesting that poor advice is being provided knowingly, unless there is concrete proof of negligence it is fair to assume that most stakeholders believe they are working in the best interests of their client, regardless of whether or not the advice they provide is sound.

Speaking at The Superyacht Forum Live – Captains Edition, Martin Redmayne, Chairman of The Superyacht Group commented: “At these sorts of meetings we tend to have the good people in the room to discuss the problems. But, the problems are actually caused by the bad people. The bad stakeholders are the reason that we sometimes have to repeat ourselves because they continue to create headaches for owners through providing bad advice or overselling and underdelivering.”

Individual superyachts and stakeholders operate at different levels, but the industry is often judged as a single entity. It is of paramount importance, therefore, that we continue to work hard and increase the levels of professionalism and service throughout every sector. In order to do our part, The Superyacht Group’s offering has evolved into a 365-day multi-platform and multi-media educational channel. Through The Superyacht Forum Live Tour, we are now reaching more industry stakeholders than ever before globally and using our platforms to share business-critical information to help the industry evolve and not repeat the mistakes of the past.

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