Summer is traditionally the slow time of year for yacht sales in Florida with hurricane season starting mid-June and running until mid-November. Due to marine insurance, yachts head north to avoid the higher risk of summering in South Florida. A good example is the affect of current Hurricane Irene which, after high brokerage activity early last week, distracted everyone as they watched her scoot the coastline. Still life goes on, and brokerages keep busy. Summer 2011 Jordan sales included a Jeanneau 40 DS and Leopard 46 while new listings included a Guy Coach 55 and Tartan 3700. Kevin and I were on delivery of a Catalina 32 to Cartagena, Colombia while Tom delivered the sold Jeanneau 40 to Kemah, Texas.
We are rolling out new advertising features this fall. In our continued effort to push the limits of technology, we are proud sponsors of Sail Blogs, and you can find our yachts for sale currently running in advertisements on their website. We have a few other partners on whose sites our yachts for sale will soon start running and continue to look for opportunities to sponsor websites which are creating value for cruisers. Another new feature you will begin to see associated whenever possible with our yachts for sale are QR Codes. These squarish barcodes when hovered over by a smart phone direct the user to the encoded website. If you walk along Riverwalk, you will see a laminated sign on the lovely Gulfstar 39, “Serenity,” whose QR Code will direct you to our video presentation of this fantastic yacht. We believe these codes lend a sophistication to our advertisements and provide value to the super savvy prospect.
Up next in Autumn 2011 is the boat show season. The shows kick off with the Newport Show, September 15-18. Then everyone travels down to Annapolis for the Sailboat Show, October 6-10 followed by a Powerboat Show, October 13-16. Annapolis is the largest sailboat show, “a drinking city,” the joke goes,”with a sailing problem.” Finally the season ends with the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show around Halloween which is the premier powerboat show especially for the larger megayachts.
Hope to see you at the shows or otherwise this fall.