Heading For Monaco

It’s that time of the year again and we’re heading south!

Monaco certainly is one of the most important event in the calendar of anybody seriously involved in the big yachts. Against the glamorous backdrop of that infamous pirate cove in the Mediterranean the who is who of the yachting world is gathering for 4 days to… well, what do we do there?

It’s an interesting experience. If you need to go from one place to another (let’s say between appointments), always plan twice the time, because you inevitably meet a few people to say ‘hello’ on the way. Don’t expect, however, to have more time for a chat than the ‘hello, we’ll talk later’, because the other people are also rushing from one meeting to the next. Next point: unless you are a client or you managed to bring a client with you, the yachts are just a fancy part of the scenery. Either they are occupied by brokers who obviously are looking for clients (certainly not designers ‘snooping around’) or they are really new, in that case the owner is often there too, undecided whether we prefers attention or privacy. Bless him, having a yacht in Monaco isn’t as straight forward as it might look…

The highlights are the after-show drinks, which various exhibitors (like the German Yachting Industry Pool or the Kiwis) do usually around 18:00. Finally, there is a brief moment when people don’t rush. A little while later everybody’s gone getting ready for the evening program (such as parties, dinner, etc…) Generally, the Monaco Yacht Show is tough for your feet, subjects you to sunshine, potentially raised alcohol consumption and almost certainly lack of sleep. It’s commonly agreed that 4 days is never enough to tick off all the points on your agenda yet at the same time, any day more would be impossible to survive.

We really do love the Monaco Yacht Show and we are looking forward to a few days of action. After the ups and down of recent years, from global crisis to French air controller striking, we have high hopes for 2011 and we believe that this year will be a good show for us.

See you in Monaco!