HETERO OR HOMO

Quality of bottom is an oft used phrase in the maritime industry.  Some would say it is used to describe the hiring preferences of many but more recently it is a phrase used to describe the present state of the economy.  Everyone seems to be talking about whether we are near or on the bottom and whether it will be the start of a rise or whether it will be the predominant landscape of the next few years.  A sort of flat line so to speak.

This last 18 months has caused much pain to many and yet it is difficult to note whether important lessons have been learned.  There seem to be a few different schools of thought in the yachting business and depending on who you talk to they are the pessimistic view, the optimistic view and the realistic view.

The pessimists will tell you that we are going to be stuck in this rut for years to come.  The optimists if you can find them will point out that yachts are a great deal and that the market will come back strongly while the realists will have us err on the side of caution and use subjective knowledge as their justification.

Whichever is the ‘right’ view only time will tell.  It seems though, that few people are looking at the present state of the economy and analyzing it for themselves.  For example the last time the Euro got to this strength against the dollar it was big news as it seemed to impinge upon the fortunes of yachties, now however it is lost in the mire of the world economy.  Never in my yachting career has the economy looked so skewed in favour of the United States being the advantageous place to be and yet never has there been so much talk of the US being a tricky place to do business for yachties.  After years of discussions it appears that the B1/B2 visa is what we should be using to enter the states as crew aboard a yacht.  Informative as the information has been to this year’s crop of newbies, that just isn’t news, it only seems to be news in answer to the neigh sayers that ever doubted it.  Never has there been so much discussion about entry into the US or whether US crew members are suited for jobs aboard yachts.

Yachting is perhaps the most cosmopolitan industry, after maybe the UN; I have ever had the fortune to work within.  It thrives on the fact that its actors are adventurous and free spirited and perhaps more importantly mobile, crossing cultures and boundaries on but a whim. 

Essentially one has to believe that Yachties are heterogeneous and not homogeneous and that ascribing generic characteristics is needless.  To do so as seems to be the predominant trend of the moment leaves aside the concept that the very make up of yachting is a colourful collage of different outlooks in favour of the view that we are all conforming to the graying trend gleefully mapped out by gossip.

We must learn from the fact the bubble has burst and not wait for the next inflationary cycle.