International Yacht Vacations & Charters Magazine - News  Coverage

EXCLUSIVE GOOGLE NEWS by YV&C

The second day of Monaco Yacht Show, YachtChartersMagazine.TV interviewed Nicholas Edmiston, founder and chairman of Edmiston & Company, one of the leading superyacht and yacht charter brokerage firms in the world. The interview with Edmiston was taped at the Edmiston & Company headquarters in Monte Carlo.

Nicholas Edmiston said during his interview that they have been very busy during the show. He continued, "Lots of international visitors are visiting the show, and there is a serious interest both for sale and charter of yachts."

As he answered the "helicopter" question of YV&C's Robyn Forma, Edmiston said, "We have set-up our hospitality terrace at the Port Palace Hotel for the third year. As you have seen, we have been a major exhibitor of the show. The show has always been short of space. This area at Port Palace has been exclusively set for Edmiston use, for Edmiston customers. This year we are working together with the Eurocopter. We have the EC130, one of the latest small helicopters suitable for yacht use. We are also working closely with Boeing business jets, also with our friends at CitiGroup who finance the purchase of yachts, planes, helicopters and anything that our customers may want. We are talking about very expensive items, charters between $100,000 to one million dollars per week. We are talking about yacht sales between one million to 200 million dollars.

Nicholas Edmiston also answered Forma's question on how he started Edmiston & Company and how he originally got into the business. He said the best things in live come by mistake. He worked for the City of London when he left school. He has always been into sailing and was "messing around with boats" since he was four years old and sailing since he was ten years old. He said he has actually been selling yachts for 35 years. He continued, "Edmiston & Company I started ten years ago. I run a very successful yachting business before that but I decided to get into the very top of the yachting business and give a very personalized service, and look after the elite of the elite. That's what we specialize in doing in charter and sales."

Regarding the recent increased popularity of yachting Edmiston expressed his opinions as follows: "I think yachting has had a great deal of more exposure. It was seen as a very protected area almost. Lot of people didn't really know, and also yacht charter wasn't a good word itself. Charter used to make you think of cheap airline flights. Yachts themselves have become much more sophisticated. The crews are highly trained. The quality of service is much better than before. And communication has got something to do with it. You could be sitting in your yacht anywhere in the world and have direct access to hi speed satellite communications both for data and voice. You could be sitting there, enjoying the sunshine, conference calling the people sweating in Detroit."

How big are the yachts going to get? Megayachts, superyachts, now the new terminology of gigayachts...

"I missed out on the gigayacht. I'm probably too old fashion for that. :-) I would just call them large yachts. We have seen a trend; fifteen years ago a 150 foot yacht was a large yacht. Today we are seeing yachts well over 300 feet. We are seeing the market expand enormously. Yes, we'll see some very, very big yachts. There are some under construction at the moment. But I think there will still be a huge market for yachts between 150 to 180 feet. You can get into harbors like St. Tropez and Porto Fino. You can enjoy being part of yachting. I think when you get very, very big; there is a danger that you become a little more remote from the world of the sea.

If you were chartering a yacht where would you go, what would be your choice of destination?

"Well, I'm a fairly conservative sort of individual. I would have to look at how much time I have. Certainly in the summer months I charter here in the Mediterranean, Corsica, Sardinia, and the Croatian Coast. I think what people have understand about chartering is that you don't necessarily need to go very long distances, but you need to have a variety of places to go. And I think my ideal charter is to wake up in the morning, have a nice bath, have breakfast, maybe go somewhere during the day, anchor at lunch time, and maybe move on in the evening."

Nicholas Edmiston also reminded one of the most important things about chartering a yacht during his interview, "The women on board have to be allowed ashore at least once every three days to go spend money. Otherwise they may suffer from major psychological problems."

This exclusive YachtChartersMagazine.TV interview -in its complete version- will stream on Friday, September 30, 2005 on YachtChartersMagazine.com Website.