Peter Wilson: Insights from the original owner’s rep

opinion

by Rob Hodgetts

20 September 2024

Peter Wilson set up MCM Newport in Rhode Island, USA in 1988. Photo: Onne van Der Wal

He says he has signed so many non-disclosure agreements he can’t talk to himself anymore.

It’s a good line, and it encapsulates the secrecy of the new-build yacht business. Fortunately, Peter Wilson, president of construction and yacht managers MCM Newport is happy to talk to us about a life spent guiding wealthy owners through yacht build projects and managing their vessels once afloat.

It is a story that begins with yacht racing and adventuring on the world’s oceans, including voyages to the Arctic and Antarctica.

“I couldn’t do what I do now without having been to sea because I know what happens on the blackest of nights when it’s blowing the oysters off the rocks,” says the Briton.

Boundary breaking

Wilson has overseen more than 100 construction projects since starting MCM in Newport, USA in 1988. About 70% of MCM’s business is managing about 30 yachts, up to about 73m (240ft) in length.

One of his latest projects is the revolutionary sailing yacht Zero, which aims to be completely fossil fuel-free.

The owner, through the Foundation Zero sustainability think-tank, is an advocate for more openness, sharing the technology to help others build superyachts in a “better way”. Instead of signing an NDA, Wilson says it’s actually a “disclosure agreement”.

Innovative solutions range from hydrogeneration and thermal batteries down to the design of pots and pans in the galley. “The research and development programme on the project is remarkable,” he says. “As a team, we’re trying to find better ways and lower consumptive ways to build that boat. It is boundary breaking in many ways.”

READ: Brokers and yards assess market mood in Cannes

Peter Wilson set up MCM Newport in Rhode Island, USA in 1988. Photo: Rockport Marine, Billy Black

Owner’s advocate

In the early days Wilson was a boatbuilder, particularly welding and fabricating, and with his practical skills and sailing experience he gravitated into America’s Cup circles. He worked on seven Cup cycles spanning 1983-2000, winning in 1992 as technical director of America Cubed, which he describes as “a great source of pride”.

Brimming with know-how, but bouncing from one project to the next, Wilson and colleague Nigel Ingram wondered if they could “package this knowledge and use it in a more permanent way”.

“We came up with the concept of project management or owners’ representation, because at the time there was not a lot of discipline around these projects, around the timeline, around the budget, around the technical attributes and the performance of the boat,” he says. “We figured the owner needed somebody in his corner.”

READ: Navigating yacht show season is easy as A, B, C

Their first was a Sparkman and Stephens-designed 73ft aluminium sailing yacht called Encore, built in New York.

They still manage that boat and others for the same family 36 years later, which is how the yacht management side of the company came about. Their philosophy is to be the “owner’s advocate and the captain’s ally”.

“The owner is who we answer to, but we want to make the captain shine, because if we’re doing a good job of supporting them and they’re doing a good job managing their crew, then the experience of the owner is better,” he says.

According to Wilson, the boatbuilding landscape has changed “profoundly” since his early days.

“When we started a big boat was 65-70 feet,” he says. “Now we build tenders bigger than that. The level of sophistication, complexity and cost of these yachts has increased exponentially.”

Added to that he says the “ever increasing” bureaucracy of operating these yachts means the “stakes are much higher”.

While knowing about yachts is “profoundly important”, Wilson suggests knowing how to deal with people is “potentially even more important” given the cast of characters involved in a big project.

“A lot of them have opinions and a lot of them have quite well-developed egos, so to try and keep everybody on the same page can be challenging,” he says. “We try to work in a collegial, convivial way to focus on the prize.”

Under the microscope

On Zero, the open-source nature of the development presents challenges with subcontractors who are often initially wary of giving up their intellectual property (IP). The Zero team insists it is not their background IP, but the IP developed for the project itself that will be disclosed.

“It’s a cultural shift that is difficult for them to accept because it’s been such a closed industry and they’re not naturally predisposed to sharing stuff,” says Wilson.

“But from a holistic view of the marine industry, the more we share, the better we get across the board. And we have to do better because we are under the microscope as an industry.”

READ: Why new builds need operational design input

In other situations, Wilson has experienced yards going bust during a project, requiring “cool heads and careful people-management” to complete the build “somehow, somewhere”. There have been clients who have run out of money, such as one during the global financial crash in 2008 who asked for the build to be put on hold. “That’s quite hard to do with a big hull, an interior that was 50% built and a workforce showing up each day to build it,” says Wilson.

The yacht construction agreement showed the client would be in default, but given their long-standing relationship, Wilson found a solution. They stored the hull and deck, inventoried all the pieces and put it all in a climate-controlled warehouse. After a couple of years, the client reignited the project.

Epic adventure

Then there have been interior designers who were new to yachting. Once, while studying the general arrangement on a sailing yacht project, a new designer declared that the object at the front of the main saloon needed to be moved. Wilson said that wasn’t possible, to which she suggested moving it to the side. “Again, I explained that wasn’t really viable because what she was looking at was the main mast,” he laughs.

But there have been incredible perks, too. A few years ago, a client who built a high-performance sailing yacht for ocean voyaging took Wilson from Ushuaia, Argentina, through the Southern Ocean to South Georgia, spending five weeks hiking in the mountains made famous by the stricken explorer Ernest Shackleton before sailing up to Uruguay. “An epic adventure,” he says.

It is important to remember, he says, that building a new yacht is “potentially a once-in-a-lifetime, extremely special undertaking” for a client.

“It’s a very personal relationship because you have to know everything about the client and their family and you have to work together collaboratively in their homes, on their planes, in their existing yachts. So you have to like each other,” he says.

WATCH: ‘The risk with innovative new builds’

Wilson was once discussing new-build timelines for an elderly client. When the client heard it would take more than a couple of years, he gently reminded Wilson’s team of the pressing need to complete it in the most efficient manner possible.

“Boys, don’t forget that in my house, we don’t buy green bananas anymore,” the client said. “I’m pleased to say that he got to enjoy his yacht all over the planet for many years,” adds Wilson.

Beautiful thing

According to Wilson, the “fundamental” key for an owner’s representative is to be “ethical and trustworthy” with no conflict of interest.

“The whole process is exciting and challenging and there are times when I pull my hair out when there are lots of disputes to resolve but that’s all part of the process,” he says.

But the highs are worth it.

“When you first meet the owner and they like you and what you have to offer, you shake hands and sign the agreement. That’s a fantastic moment,” he says.

“You started with a blank sheet of paper and you end up with this beautiful thing that’s launched and the bottle is broken over the bow, it still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“And then you go yachting for the first time and you’ve got the owners on board and they’re beaming and smiling. It’s absolutely wonderful.”