The reason why Invisible Crew came to existence is because we met several owners who were clearly disillusioned by the realities of their yachting dreams. They had spent a lot of money on realising it. Now that it was real they were confronted with the tedious and downright annoying aspects of yacht ownership. One owner spent 2,5 million Euros on a 65ft yacht and sold it within a year purely because it made his life less enjoyable instead of better. Very recently I was contacted by a potential client who was toying with the same idea while his first season is not even over!

We can change this! It shouldn’t be hard to make someone enjoy owning a luxury yacht, you would think.

Check your sources.

When owners select a yacht to purchase, they are mainly influenced by the quality and reputation of the builders, but they will never sign an order if they don’t have a certain degree of trust in the broker or sales rep. What happens next is that they will use the broker as their consultant. The broker will answer all the questions with the best intentions and to the best of his ability because he wants to create a happy owner. But, as the sales rep for CNB Benelux Philippe Delvaux puts it: “Everybody has their job and specialty. That’s why I advice my clients to involve Invisible Crew. It’s the best advice I can give them.”

Let go.

When new clients sign up with us they do it because they are convinced that they can outsource all the hassle and organisation to us. They place a great deal of trust in us and that is how they get the best value out of our services. Once in a while they want to be involved in a certain aspect. In the past four months we had to source quotes for two clients to ship their yachts (by cargo ship) to new cruising grounds. As this is, without doubt, the most expensive item on the yearly budget list of a Pocket Superyacht they felt the need to contact their own relations in shipping. Both of them came back to us admitting that we saved them between 30.000€ and 50.000€. We have basically saved them much more money than we charge on a yearly basis.

Plan right.

Most interpersonal issues arise when expectations aren’t fulfilled. (this is true in professional and private situations!) That’s why we use our experience to line up the expectations between owners and crew. With preference sheets we make sure the crew is prepared to serve the culinary delights that the owners and their guests have in mind. And, that the crew understand the style of holiday the guests want (active, family, bay hopping or long sailing days,…).

With realistic Budget Projections crew can understand the owners expenditure behaviour and discuss the allocated budget for certain items before the money has actually been spent. This avoids awkward irreversible situations.

With a Program Calendar we can make sure all parties agree with the time frames available for deliveries, turnarounds between guest trips and maintenance periods.

Problem filter.

Boats will be boats and issues will always arise. When they do, the crew contact us and together we figure out the best potential solutions. It makes the lives of the crews easier. While they have their hands full with maintenance, servicing guests or enjoying well deserved down-time, we tap into our network of providers and organise repairs or parts. We communicate the issue to the owner, accompanied with the news that the issue has been solved, or with proposed solutions. One short email reply frees the owner of any further hassle to get things sorted.

Sleep on both ears.

Good yacht crew are free spirited people with a good sense of responsibility. They are not the type of people you want to micro-manage. The hours they put into the job are not as important as the result of their efforts. As an owner you want your yacht to look pristine wherever it shows up and you want all systems regularly maintained and properly functioning at all times. That’s why we have created a maintenance system that is easy to use and assures both crew and owner that nothing has been overlooked. Consequently, it creates a neat maintenance history report.

On the home page of www.invisiblecrew.com you can find our E-book on worry-free yacht operations.