Palma finds groove in search for sailing’s next gen
Grooving at Palma International Boat Show.
The bassist’s bushy moustache frames his infectious grin as he whirls and plucks with the groove. The lead guitarist beams at his pal from under his dark glasses, digging the moment. A man sways past, drink sploshing in one hand, and props a €50 note under the guitar strap. The front row tenses to see how long it will last. A kind lady jumps up and stuffs it into the guitarist’s trouser pocket for safekeeping.
The singer, in generous hair, cream suit and shades, jives and struts with a Jagger swagger, part cheek, part devil. The afternoon rays bathe the scene in honey as showgoers sip sundowners in Palma’s Moll Vel marina. Mid-song, the singer strolls into the jigging crowd, his merry band following behind. They grin and nod, keeping up the tight rhythm while brushing through the throng. “Well, shake it up baby, now …”
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Each musician is a master of his art but together, with matching long hair, suits and sunnies, they combine to create magic.
And that’s the thinking behind Palma International Boat Show’s push for a sailing superyacht hub for brokerage and new build. It is a hope that together the sailing yacht community is stronger. That it can project sailing onto the superyacht stage and entice a new generation of owners.
“This is a great showcase for sailing,” says Henry Hawkins, executive vice president, Baltic Yachts as we chat on the company’s stand a short boat shuttle from the main marina. “Showing a united front, creating this community that people want to belong to is a powerful tool.
“We are a niche within the niche, but the numbers are fairly consistent. We’re holding our own. We are a sector that is more aligned, there’s less direct competition.”
‘Fulfilling … but tough’
Baltic has four yachts at the show including the 43m all-carbon Canova, delivered in 2019, and the 34m Baltic 112 Liara.
The award-winning Canova, with its stability foil system to reduce heel angle and pitch, is the fifth Baltic yacht for the owner, who began with three smaller brokerage boats before building a 112-footer to voyage around the world.
“All of those learnings ended up with the dream to build this boat,” adds Hawkins. “He came back to us and said, ‘I’ve got this idea. Can we do it?’ And we were with him from the very beginning.” About 130,000 nautical miles later, he is ready for his next dream, hence the sale of Canova, with an asking price of €29.8m.
Chatting on the deck of the new Southern Wind 108 Kalantis, Jeremy Peek, the builder’s commercial manager explains how the yacht was signed for in August 2024 and handed over to the owner on Valentine’s Day this year. As the third hull in the series, the build didn’t require a “full reinvention of the wheel”, says Peek. She left the yard in Cape Town in early March and arrived in Palma in 33 days via quick stops in St Helena, Lanzarote and Gibraltar.
Kalantis is not for sale but Southern Wind also has the 30m SW100 Starfall, which has been with its current owners since 2022 and left Tahiti at the end of November, and the 30m Freebird, fresh from Antigua, in the show. Peek is confident there is decent interest with 70% of viewing slots filled before day one. The South African yard is busy with the next available slot in 2028.
Kalantis is the third hull in the Southern Wind SW108 series.
Reflecting on the brokerage market for sailing yachts, Florida-based broker Georges Bourgoignie of Fraser Yachts scratches his head.
“It’s so much more work to sell a sailboat, but it’s somehow more fulfilling. But it’s tough and getting tougher,” he says as we talk in a shady nook on the dock.
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He is selling the 2005 40m Royal Huisman Antares, a “jewel” which he sold to the current owner in 2017 to voyage around the Pacific with his children.
Previous attempts to sell her at Palma haven’t come off, but he says it could be a “pricing thing”.
Hawkins suggests an unsettled world, inflation fears and a rise in the cost of finance are contributing to a market that is “a little bit quiet”. But he adds that turbulence in the world is now a “normal” and senses people looking beyond it.
“There is an appetite and ability to absorb and plan,” he says. “Life has to go on.”
In brokerage he suggests there is a bit of a “stand-off” between perceived value from sellers and what buyers are now willing to pay.
But he adds: “On the new build side, at the higher end, we have a lot of inquiries, the market is strong.”
Retention of value
Further down the pontoon, Will Bishop, a founding partner of Superyacht Partners senses further nuance in the brokerage segments.
“The performance sailing yacht market in the 28m to about 34m range is strong,” he says. “There are good boats that have been built and they’re priced right and a lot of those are trading off market.
“The larger boats — 35-45m and above — are more challenging, unless you’ve got something exceptional. There are fewer buyers in the market for the larger, more expensive yachts to run.”
As the price of new builds has edged higher, Bishop suggests that has strengthened the market for yachts built five to 10 years ago.
“We have seen good retention of value,” he says. “If you price the boat at a sensible level, rather than pie-in-the-sky numbers, you’ll find buyers for them.”
He nods towards the sleek 39m Vitters-built Cervo and says he has sold her “three times now”. She was built in 2009 but has been extensively refitted since.
“It’s a boat that will continue to find and attract interest, because it’s got a great design and the boat performs,” he adds. “It’s more challenging to sell the older designs, which are maybe not where the current market is looking.”
Summing up, he suggests it’s not solely about the acquisition price or the resale price, at least for most people. “It’s about what the operational cost is and where that boat may be in its life,” he says.
This united front from yards and brokerage houses in Palma is another lever to attract new owners into sailing yachts. Regattas are also key to showcase the products and lifestyle, says Bishop. “We’re doing three regattas with Cervo this year and it’s become an important part of how the owner enjoys using the boat,” he says.
Baltic Yachts’ Canova has stability foils to help reduce heel.
According to Peek, the age of sailing yacht owners is coming down. Southern Wind has a new owner in his 30s and across the three boats they have in the show, the average age of the owners is late 40s, he says.
Bourgoignie reckons new paths to wealth are contributing to this shift and making it harder to instantly recognise a qualified client.
“It’s a different way of making money, maybe, it’s a different mindset,” he says. “That’s why catamarans are selling. They’re the only sector of the sailing world that are going up.”
Baltic has a catamaran in build, one of four projects in the yard, which is due for delivery in 2027. Hawkins also senses a shift in behaviours.
“Conversations are less technically detailed these days and more about what the platform can offer,” he says. “It’s more about what it is going to provide those clients in the future: enjoyment, lifestyle, sense of community.”
He adds: “There is an opportunity, in that the first stage of crossover between motor and sail could be a flat platform [multihull].”
Simena is Ares Yachts’ 62m cruising ketch.
Offering a slightly different take, Turkish shipyard Ares Yachts is displaying the new 62m steel ketch Simena, described as a “passion project” for the family that owns the yard, says spokesman Kerem Kalafatoglu. Ares also builds commercial vessels and has motor yacht projects Spitfire and Atlas awaiting the green light.
Simena is on the market for €45.9m and is likely to attract both an “avid sailor” and someone with “refined taste”, adds Kalafatoglu.
“She’s not market oriented. She belongs to a specific niche,” he says. “You could say that it’s a risky decision, and it is, but if we didn’t take that risk, we wouldn’t have such an iconic vessel.”
Away from the bigger sailing yachts and back in the Moll Vel marina part of the show, Nick Hatfield of Sanlorenzo UK & Ireland mulls the landscape.
“Appointment levels are maybe 10% higher than last year,” Hatfield tells us. “So there seems to be some hunger out there. I have a feeling this season is suddenly going to go boom very, very late. We are hoping clients will decide ‘life is too short, let’s get on with it.’”
Back at the bar, the bassist is still grinning as the band belts out another one. The Spanish Jagger sidles up to a woman in the crowd and croons about how he, too, can’t get no satisfaction. “Hey, hey, hey …”
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