Successful anniversary

The day began with a political big bang. On the morning of 24 February, the news reached the world that Russia had launched a war of aggression against Ukraine. "We will all remember that day, just as most of us today still remember where we were during the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001," said GSC host Michael Antwerpes, referring to current events before moving on to the supporting programme of the tenth German Superyacht Conference, which attracted 150 guests from nine countries to the Elbe this year. The joy of finally taking part in an industry event again after two tough coronavirus years was written all over the faces of many of the guests, and the exchanges between all those who attended were lively and positive throughout the day. "It's really nice to see so many familiar faces again and to exchange ideas with each other," said Hamburg yacht broker Torsten Sieckmann enthusiastically.

The six presentations spread throughout the day were also eagerly awaited. The BOOTE EXCLUSIV team had every reason to be happy, because of the six speakers, only "She of Sea" founder Jenny Matthews cancelled due to coronavirus - a very good cut in times of high incidence. With the two Beiderbeck Designs founders Immo Lüdeling and Tim Ulrich, a speaker duo from the German yacht building centre Bremen took their place, entertaining the guests with an exciting presentation on gigantic catamarans in the Elbe dome of the Hotel Hafen Hamburg.

Tai Ping, Pantaenius, GL Yachtverglasung and Tesumo supported the tenth edition of the conference as sponsors, which opened the programme with Venetian designer and constructor Carlo Nuvolari. In his lively presentation, the likeable Italian outlined the history of the Nuvolari Lenard studio, which he founded in 1992 together with his partner Dan Lenard. In 30 years, the well-coordinated team has designed more than 50 superyachts between 36 and 142 metres in length, including yachts such as the 81-metre-long "Alfa Nero" and the Lürssen-Giga "Nord". The duo has also been involved in over 1000 series and semi-custom formats. Nuvolari revealed why a black equipment mast became the studio's trademark, that he is flattered that so many shipyards copy the "Alfa Nero" pool and how good ship design differs from bad. With his statement "It's not a ship, it's a shame" he earned many laughs and stimulated the following round of questions.

Bavarian "Big Joy" owner Harald Gumbiller then took to the GSC stage and spoke passionately about his journey to creating the perfect family yacht. The 27-metre explorer was built by Arkin Pruva in Turkey according to the very precise ideas of the action sports-mad doctor's family. With his personal accounts, the acupuncture professor shared the design and construction process of the GRP displacement yacht with the GSC participants and answered numerous questions afterwards about the layout, the shipyard and his future yachting plans.

"Sustainability in yacht building" was the topic of the next speaker, the CEO of Baltic Yachts, Anders Kurtén. After a brief digression into the history of the shipyard known for its fast carbon fibre sailing yachts, Kurtén described the areas in which the yacht builders are making efforts to leave the smallest possible ecological footprint: both during the construction of the yachts and later during operation. He received much applause for his open source offer: "We have made great progress in all these areas in recent years and are ready to share our expertise with the entire industry. We all benefit from this and look forward to working together to make the superyacht industry 'greener'. These are not empty promises, our findings are based on facts!" As expected for such a sensitive topic, the Q&A session that followed lasted a little longer and went into more detail.

After lunch, the marketing director of the Dutch shipyard group Feadship gave an entertaining insight into how customer demographics are currently changing and how the industry should adapt to the environmentally conscious and digitally connected millennial generation. The Dutch company is trying to bring potential customers and their children into contact with the topic of yachting via gaming platforms, sell yachts on NFT platforms and appeal to millennials via real events, far away from the blue jacket with gold buttons.

Things got much more technical shortly afterwards with Dr Justus Reinke (Lürssen) and Dr Manfred Stefener (Freudenberg). The expert duo shed light on the topic of fuel cells on yachts and went into detail about a test rig developed as part of the "Pa-X-ell II" research project, which simulates the implementation in the planned new yacht construction. As hydrogen on board is produced from methanol, the presentation also dealt with the availability, production and storage of the liquid fuel, which is CO2-neutral when produced using renewable energies.

In the last presentation of the day, the two founders and managing directors of Studio Beiderbeck Designs shared their expertise on catamarans and explained in an exciting 45 minutes why multihulls are particularly suitable for gigantic formats. The day ended in a pleasant networking atmosphere at the bar of the Elbkuppel and with many satisfied participants and speakers.

Were you unable to attend the anniversary edition of the German Superyacht Conference? No problem, on the YouTube channel of BOOTE EXCLUSIV (please click!) you will find almost all presentations in video format.