Tug-of-War ON THE High Seas
VETERAN YACHT OWNERS have been joined on the high seas over the past year by a flotilla of newer sailors, cast adrift from the corporate offices where once they were moored. Thanks to the popularity of yachts as floating pandemic pods, the shipbuilding market is now “hot and on fire,” according to the president of one large brokerage firm. To wit, a few telling stats: Sales of new powerboats, including yachts, increased an estimated 12 percent in the US last year, but that figure doesn’t reflect the substantial number of American-owned vessels registered in more tax-friendly countries. At MarineMax, the world’s largest recreational boat and yacht retailer, revenue for the quarter ending December 2020 rose 35 percent, to a record $411.5 million, compared to the same period in 2019. Globally, the number of pre-owned vessels longer than 78 feet sold in January jumped 55 percent compared to January 2020.
As yachting’s fortunes have risen, the cruise-line industry has sunk, leaving countless deckhands, chefs and stewardesses unemployed, and owners awash with applications from crew, some so desperate they are offering to work for free. Yet even in this flooded market, competition for exceptional crew remains fierce and has fueled a new spate of an old maritime taboo: crew poaching. It’s a practice worth guarding against, because as proprietor, your happiness at the apex of a nautical hierarchy predicated on rank is largely dependent on attracting—and
