After Show Party

2011. Done. Well, not the whole year yet, but we survived the Monaco Yacht Show. Before anybody asks… we did enjoy it. No question, we always do (except maybe for last year, when it really was a rushed hit&run) We walked a lot, talked a lot. Met many people, old friends and new faces. Even added faces to some contacts we only knew by email so far, which is always a nice thing.We also did drink a bit, socialised a bit and slept too little. But of course, that’s the nature of the show.

“There’s something new I discovered this year, which I haven’t realised in previous shows. One might think that it’s quite natural since you only meet many of the people just once per year, so it’s not surprising that the first question aims for a quick update regarding the professional situation. Anyway, I think this year I heard it more than ever, which suggests that the market is in motion, no? Anyway, the funny thing for me was that while everybody asked if I’m still with Ken Freivokh, depending on how well the person knows Ken, there was more or less emphasis on the ‘still’…”

On a more general note we found that the show was considerably bigger this year, with twice as many yachts anchored out in the bay. The question here is, is that a good or a bad sign? Is the show so big because it’s booming or simply because there are so many yachts for sale? And what are the people doing that sell their yachts? Do they buy or build another one or are they dropping out of the market? Also, if there are so many options for those who want to buy, who would want to build?

Luckily, it’s not all doom and gloom. Fact is that despite all the price reductions you can see on IBI news, a lot of the yachts for sale still have fairly high asking prices, which suggests that the owners aren’t desperate. Also, we need to remember that nowadays (i.e. after ‘the’ crisis) people don’t see yachts that much as an investment anymore, other than investing in their own pleasure. So we won’t see that many ‘build to sell’ yachts any more with their inoffensive yet boring designs.

Yes, over the last few years a few business went down. But others grew and yet others started successfully. The market is in constant movement, there are ups and downs. Overall however, it’s not looking too bad. New markets like China and India are coming, there are new technologies and we even get a bit greener.

For coquine![design] it’s an exciting time. We had some good talks with quite a few people and there are some promising leads to follow. We’re sorting and filing business cards, emailing follow-ups and we are even busy preparing a few proposals. We know we had a great time in Monaco. The next few weeks will tell us if we also had a successful show. Chances are, that’s the case.