YACHT MANAGEMENT
says, “It started with a temping mission for one of the leading yacht repair shipyards in Marseille,” she says. “I was the Office Manager/Technical and Sales assistant there. I was supposed to stay for two months and stayed for 13 years in the end.”
Bredy’s years in the shipyard prepared her well for a future in the industry. “When you are working in a shipyard, you are bound to be confronted by gender stereotypes, whatever your background or your experience is,” she says.
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“Yacht Managers by the nature of their business become problems solvers and have an extensive pool of contacts for problem resolutions,“ says Nicholas Dean of Ocean Independence. He adds, “The main benefits come from the main management companies having the skill set behind an owner and captain, to always be up on the latest technology and as yachts have become much larger, the overall compliance is a very specialised service.”
“It is less the technical complexity and more than the regulatory complexity,” says AJ Anderson. He expands further by asking, “How do you comply with cyber rules or other rules often rushed and untested before implementation? Having a fleet of trials, errors and successes provides the management firm the data and tools to inform the yachts in the fleet with the latest information.”
STILL A MAN’S WORLD? Pleasingly, what was once just the domain of the macho male, yacht management is becoming much more gender balanced with more and more women joining and running management teams. The Wight Maritime Group is even named after an early female pioneer! Patricia Wright served in the United States Marine Corps during WW2. And the gender balance continues apace as the years pass. With 19 years under her belt in the yachting industry – and many years before that working in shipping and maritime insurances – Sylvie Bredy comes to superyacht management with a wealth of experience. Now working for Edmiston, her first foray into the industry was more accidental than deliberate. She
“In my early shipping career, a lady who was running her own business in Tunis told me: ‘In a man’s world, you need to be the best, otherwise you are nothing’. This is like a mantra to me. Not that I pretend to be the best at what I am doing but I am surely thriving at being a better yacht manager and a better person every day.” Bredy clearly loves her job: “My best achievement so far is to sit in the position I have today with Edmiston. I feel extremely lucky about my job and about having the opportunity to look after some amazing assets.”
“There is no routine in the Yacht Manager’s job, no day is the same as the one before, and every day is a school day. That is what keeps me going.” And while she has proven herself well in her chosen career, Bredy
is aware that it can still be a tricky industry for some: “Although I have seen a slow evolution over the last 19 years, I think that yachting is still an industry where it is difficult for a woman to demonstrate her leadership,” she says.
“Mentalities are slowly changing. There are more women on yachts in positions that used to be for males only. And look at the management department at Edmiston, it is only women!” She adds, “We need to stop admitting that there are gender stereotypes is the first step to beating gender stereotypes. I would encourage young women to learn and progress. Keep learning because knowledge is power. People will come to you because you are knowledgeable and reliable, never mind whether you are a man or a woman.”
MORE REGULATIONS COMING What is fast becoming apparent is the fact that there are more regulations coming into our industry. Managers we spoke to suggest that these will focus on compliance, transparent financial management and safety. As these come into force so the role of the yacht manager will begin to play an even more important role in superyacht operations. Rules and regulations for Flag and Class, Fiscal and the coastal states are complex. How and where to operate and idiosyncrasy of different states will need to be fully understood and owners and captains will need professional advice. Compliance with Flag and Class and the Port State will become issues that only dedicated teams of experts can handle. With fiscal rules compliance, charter licences of different countries, registration, reporting and VAT returns all becoming more important, the yacht manager will in the next few years become indispensable and the profession will have morphed into an essential service. The list is almost endless with environmental issues such as air, oil, waste, ballast water, all employing a raft of new and complex regulations across the world. You could say that, after 20 years the job of and the need for the yacht manager has finally been fully understood and accepted.
ONBOARD | SPRING 2021 | 109
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