In Memoriam Make a plan
Engineers offer tips on PPM, PMS.
Two powerful owners have died.
B1, B5 We need you
What’s troubling for crew in the USA?
A6 Vol. 4, No. 3
Retire? Joy of the job, money keep many in for long term Retirement is a tricky subject for many megayacht captains, mostly because they can’t envision doing anything else. Unlike people in many other professions, captains aren’t working for the day when they can retire, buy a boat and travel From the Bridge the world. They do Lucy Chabot Reed that every day. So what does “life after yachting” look like to a yacht captain? “I don’t see myself getting out of being a skipper until I physically can’t handle it anymore,” one captain said. As always, individual comments are not attributed to any one person in particular so as to encourage frank and open discussion. The attending captains are identified in a photograph on page A18. At first, there was a round of resistant and never-say-die responses. “I don’t want to get out because of the cut you have to take in pay,” a captain said. “It’s tough to give that up.” “I don’t want to start at the bottom again.” “I don’t have the courage to start my own business.” But then, a few captains in the room admitted to toying with the idea. “I plan to work for 10 more years, then slow down a bit, maybe take a sabbatical for a few years,” one captain said. “I’m like a lot of people, I put career ahead of life.” The key factor in the decision to stop running boats or switch to a program that allowed time at home was children. Spouses often work together or understand going into a marriage that one partner will be away a lot. But when babies enter the equation, being away becomes much harder. Several captains admitted they “got out” when their children were small but, somehow, they got back into it. “I’m still in it; I have to pay for my kids,” one captain said. “When I
See THE BRIDGE, page A18
www.the-triton.com
A12 June 2007
Trinity to buy brokerage firm IYC By Lucy Chabot Reed U.S. luxury yacht builder Trinity Yachts has signed a letter of intent to purchase International Yacht Collection, the Ft. Lauderdalebased yacht brokerage firm, for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close July 1. The deal, just a few weeks in the making, was announced simultaneously on May 18 at company meetings at IYC’s headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale and in its Monaco office. “Trinity was looking to increase
the scope of its services and were considering building a brokerage business themselves,” said Steve Hudson, president of IYC. “I’ve known Felix [Trinity Chairman Sabates] for a long time and we were talking and he just asked, ‘would IYC be available?’” The next step of growth for the 10year-old IYC was to invest in a shipyard Hudson
to have a pipeline of new builds to offer clients, Hudson said. “So at the same time that Trinity was looking downstream at the services they can provide, we were looking upstream,” he said. Initial conversations would have kept IYC a separate entity representing Trinity, “but they have enough partners,” Hudson said. Hudson bought IYC in 1999 with four employees. The company now has more than 50 employees in seven
See IYC, page A14
Capt. Don Stanbro networks with Kimberly Gonzales, the new CEO of Shadow Marine, at a captain/broker mixer aboard M/V Mystere. The event, held May 17 in Ft. Lauderdale, was one of three Triton networking events in May. For more photos, see page A10. For photos from other events, including our first in San Diego, see pages A16-17. Sign up online to receive invitations and notice of all our events: www.the-triton.com. PHOTO/TOM SERIO
Lesson Learned: With ANOAs, if you don’t know, ask By Capt. Charles Hudspeth One of the reasons I am such a fan of The Triton is that I enjoy the articles written by fellow captains explaining how they ran afoul of the many government agencies that we must deal with. It’s not that I enjoy these captains’ pain, but because I can learn from these captains’ experiences. Therefore, I feel that Hudspeth my experience with a recent U.S. Coast Guard boarding might be informative to other captains of foreign-flagged
vessels. I learned an important lesson on filing ANOAs and dealing with the National Vessel Movement Center, and that is to know where you are going and verify filing requirements before you file. My adventure started with me filing my advanced notice of arrival (ANOA) electronically for my trip from Miami to Destin, Fla., which is directly between Panama City and Pensacola on Florida’s panhandle. I incorrectly assumed that both these cities are in the 7th district. The 7th District – which covers all of South Carolina, Georgia and most of Florida to some imaginary line in the Florida panhandle – requires an ANOA on all foreign-flagged vessels.
West of that imaginary line is the 8th District, which includes Destin and which requires an ANOA only on foreign-flagged vessels over 300 GRT. The NVMC knew I was headed to the 8th District, even if I didn’t, and submitted my ANOA there. That threw a wrench in the system. It would have been nice if someone at the NVMC informed me of this since my electronically submitted ANOA contains my GRT (208), my cargo (none), and my status (non-commercial recreational yacht with no foreign ports). Still, the responsibility of this error is solely mine. As I began receiving telephone calls from the Coast Guard in Mobile, Ala.,
See LESSON, page A15