Gold Coast marine business diversifies

Yachtsmen International (YI), a full-service superyacht agency based on Australia’s Gold Coast, has diversified and expanded from two boat brokers to a multi-disciplinary team of 12.

From its Coomera headquarters at The Boat Works Marina & Shipyard, YI directors Sean Madgwick and Scott Wellington-Stones now lead a dedicated team of specialists that cater to owners, visiting superyachts, captains and crew, and those wanting to charter in Australia and internationally.

Madgwick has 12 years of superyacht brokerage experience, strong marketing skills and new-build technical management expertise. He has travelled the world inspecting, buying and selling yachts, and has overseen dozens of new-builds in Europe and Asia.

Wellington-Stones has 20 years’ experience in brokerage and charter throughout the South Pacific, the US and Caribbean. His forte is marketing and selling superyachts.

“Over the past three years we have focused on appointing the right staff for each of our divisions,” said Wellington-Stones. “We cover sales/purchase with four brokers, including representation in Sydney and Cairns; service/maintenance, overseen by our in-house captain, shipwright and engineer; yacht management; crewing; charter and agency services for superyachts.”

In the next few months, YI will achieve its MYBA certification and plans are already underway to open its own workshop within The Boat Works Superyacht hub as part of the company’s service division, offering refit works, engineering, timber and custom refits.

YI has already managed the multimillion-dollar refit of the 26-metre (86-foot) Horizon motor yacht Oasis, comprising various navigation and AV upgrades, a new hydraulic swim platform, extensive interior design and repainting.

In terms of sales trends, Wellington-Stones reported steady interest, increasing over the past three months, in Australian-based and imported superyachts up to 45 metres (148 feet) and priced to AUD $15 million (€9 million).

“We are seeing a lot of Victorians placing their Queensland-based vessels on the market with the intention of buying closer to home,” he said. ”People are willing to buy sight-unseen upon our recommendations, following extensive virtual tours.”

In the absence of boat shows, YI is also honing its skills to offer bespoke services to its existing client database, as well as proactively seeking new markets. Two of the team have just returned from a week in Cairns, Port Douglas, Townsville and Airlie Beach where they spread the word about their services and the facilities at The Boat Works.

“It was very positive to see so many large vessels enjoying the Whitsundays and Far North Queensland,” explained Madgwick. “We spoke with 12 yachts, sized between 30 to 70 metres (98 to 230 feet), who are all anticipating coming down to the Gold Coast for maintenance and refit work in October and November, supplying many weeks of work for the tenants, trades and contractors on-site here at The Boat Works.”

Looking ahead to summer 2021, Madgwick and Scott said they anticipate a bumper season for superyacht sales, maintenance, refit and charter.

For more information, visit Yachtsmen International. Subscribe to our newsletter to get the best of Yachting Pages delivered to your inbox every month.