A Day in the Life of a Yacht Broker (During Yacht Show Season): Part 1 of 2

Here’s an inside look into the life of a yacht broker during yacht show season, including a preview of some of the newest and most innovative models that will soon set new standards in the market. 

Day Zero: The Best Yacht Brokers in Florida Fly Out 

Boston to Paris, Paris to Nice. We end up in Nice, France several hours after setting off. The sea here is so beautiful, with rustic buildings dotting the roads right by the port. 

Though we could have happily stayed here for days (and felt a little twinge of envy while watching a few luxury yacht charters set out for their first day of sun), we instead spent the next four hours driving to Viareggio, Italy. 

Viareggio is an unassuming corner of Tuscany, but this once-tiny town has grown over the decades to be at the center of the yachting industry. Azimut Benetti—one of the most prolific luxury builders and superyacht shipyards in the world—calls this town its home, though Sanlorenzo, Codecassa, Mangusta, Maiora, and AB Yachts have also done their part to shape this once-tiny town’s long-lasting legacy. 

Viareggio is now one of the two major yacht building and service regions in Italy, with luxury superyacht shipyards building masterpieces of innovation from her coastal waters. 

This makes the Italian town a must-visit for the best yacht brokers. Especially for boat brokers and yacht brokers like Paula and me who are stopping in to tour a 140’ project for an interested client (a vessel that is staying in the town for service). 

Boat Brokers and Yacht Brokers on the Move: Toward Cannes, France

The Cannes Yacht Festival is a standout during yacht show season, in part because of its reputation for kicking boat show season off each year and in part because it offers access to some of the most innovative new models in the yachting industry. 

Before heading off to the Cannes Yacht Show on its first day, we stopped by a luxury yacht anchored near Cannes. This vessel was once among our featured yacht listings, though it was recently sold to a client who was still waiting for a chance to make the journey on their own. 

A few hours after touring the vessel, we were among the over 54,000 visitors that strolled the golden beaches and yacht-packed ports throughout Cannes’ French coast. We were there for business–after recently selling a yacht to clients who planned to take delivery soon, the shipbuilder was laying out the red carpet for them.

Knowledge is king in the yachting industry, just like it reigns king in many other areas of life. 

We  sailed those knowledge teas by maximizing our time spent networking, while also gathering information on what trends are being charted for the future of the industry—sustainability initiatives among them—and set our eye on new models that can turn our clients’ adventure wishlists into dream days spent out at sea. 

Though there are over 600 exhibitions to be seen at the Cannes Yacht Festival, hosting a total of 650 boats (135 of which are world previews) ranging in length from 5 to 48 meters, we set our sights on around a dozen of those that we targeted as particular points of interest for our various clients. 

By the end of the day, we’d seen three models in particular that set our adventurous hearts racing and proved that the future of the yachting industry is bright: the X30 Villa, the X96 TRIPLEX, and the EXTRA 76, all from Palumbo Superyachts. 

All offer a balanced blend of power and comfort, with features that blur the line between interior and exterior by putting you in touch—both through proximity and design—to the waves that surround. 

As a yacht broker in Florida and New Hampshire for a good part of the year, this chance to explore the coastal beauty of locales like Viareggio, Italy and Cannes, France isn’t just one that brings pleasure–it’s one that connects us to our global clients while keeping us at the forefront of the industry. 

So that we can provide outstanding service and support while recommending industry-defining models to our clients—because we’ve already toured and experienced adventure in them ourselves. 

Interested in buying a new or used luxury yacht? Contact Steve Doyle, a yacht broker with over 25 years experience connecting clients to vessels that turn their adventure dreams into real-life days in the sun. 

[Contact Steve]