Berthon International

“If you want to make a small fortune in the boat business, start with a large one.” In this chapter of the Dashew Talking Books, Steve Dashew looks back at the shipyards, craftsmen and characters who turned more than six decades of ideas and designs into real boats. The story begins in California in the late 1950s, with the Wildcat catamarans and Steve's introduction to multihulls, before mov...

Most yacht owners have insurance. But how many really know what their policy covers, where that cover applies, or what will happen when something actually goes wrong? In this episode of the Berthon Podcast, Sophie Kemp is joined by Marcel Herrera, Chief Executive Officer of CompareYachtInsurance.com , for a practical look at yacht and boat insurance, without getting lost in the jargon. Marcel brin...

How do you become a yacht designer when your starting point isn't a drawing board, but thousands of miles at sea? In this chapter of the Dashew Talking Books, Sue Grant sits down with Steve Dashew to explore how decades of sailing, cruising, building and maintaining boats shaped an entirely different approach to yacht design. The story begins long before the FPBs, with Steve and Linda Dashew&...

The Long Way Around: Sailing the World Aboard Sapphire II What does it really take to sail around the world, and what happens when the carefully planned route suddenly disappears? In this episode, Tim sits down with Simon Phillips , owner of Discovery 67 SAPPHIRE II , to look back on an extraordinary circumnavigation that ultimately saw the yacht cover around 47,000 nautical miles during Simon’s o...

Leaving home waters behind for ocean passages, Caribbean anchorages and the unexpected. What happens when years of sailing the Solent turn into something much bigger? In this episode, Alan McIlroy sits down aboard ARKYLA with her owner, James Kenning, to look back at the adventures, challenges and thousands of miles that have taken this Swedish-built Regina 43 from familiar UK waters to the Medite...

What do the latest UK yacht registration changes mean for EU yacht owners? Can you still fly the British Red Ensign, and what are your options if you are no longer eligible for UK Part 1 Registration? In this episode of the Berthon Podcast, Ben Cooper sits down with Duncan Swanson, Co-founder of Oceanskies , and Tom Ruff, Yacht Registration Manager and Head of Port Agency, to explain the recent ch...

The Story Behind America's Muffler Men with Steve Dashew Long before Steve Dashew became known for designing some of the world's most capable offshore cruising yachts, he accidentally helped create one of America's most recognisable pieces of roadside culture. In this chapter of the Dashew Talking Books, host Sue Grant steps away from boats to uncover the remarkable story behind the...

How is the yacht brokerage market performing halfway through the 2026 season? Are buyers still active? Which yachts are attracting the most interest? And what does it take to achieve a successful sale in today's market? In this latest edition of Inside the Market , Berthon International Managing Director Tim Carbury is joined by Rob Steadman, Head of Large Motor Yacht Sales and New Yacht Sale...

The Search For Heavy Weather: How WIND HORSE Changed Offshore Powerboat Design, with Steve Dashew In this episode, Sue Grant is joined by renowned yacht designer, sailor, author and offshore passagemaker Steve Dashew to discuss FPB 83 WIND HORSE, the yacht that became the genesis of the FPB fleet and fundamentally changed the way he thought about offshore powerboats. Sue and Steve discuss:  The or...

Inside the Market: Yacht Sales Insights & Trends for May 2026 | Berthon International Yacht Brokerage In this episode of Inside the Market , Hugh Rayner is joined by Ben Hitchen to discuss the latest trends, activity and observations from across the international yacht brokerage market. Drawing on conversations with Berthon's teams in the UK, Sweden, Spain and the USA, Hugh and Ben explor...

Back from Palma International Boat Show 2026, Tim Carbury and Alan McIlroy sit down to reflect on one of the Mediterranean yachting calendar’s most important events. Recorded just days after returning from Mallorca, this episode looks at the mood of the market, the atmosphere on the dock, and what Berthon observed across both brokerage and new yacht sales during the week. The discussion covers Ber...

The 2026 sailing season is now properly underway, and with boats launching across Europe and the Mediterranean season beginning to gather pace, the market is starting to reveal where confidence, caution, and genuine activity currently sit. In this episode of Inside the Market, Ben Cooper and Alan McIlroy discuss the Top 7 Yacht Sales Insights for April 2026, drawing on conversations from across Be...

About VAT – Is The UK A Strategic Cruising Choice? | PKF Francis Clark VAT is one of the most discussed, and often misunderstood, areas of yacht ownership. In this episode of the Berthon Podcast, we take a closer look at whether the UK has become a genuinely strategic cruising choice from a tax and customs perspective. Joining the conversation is Joe Francis, Director of VAT and Customs at PKF Fra...

March brings a complex backdrop for the yachting industry, with global uncertainty continuing to influence buyer confidence and decision-making. In this episode of Inside the Market, we take a closer look at the yacht brokerage landscape as it stands heading into the spring season. Joining the discussion are Sue Grant and Tim Carbury, who share Berthon’s Top 7 Yacht Sales Insights for March 2026....

In this episode we step aboard the remarkable Grey Wolf II (FPB 78-2) to explore a subject that is rarely discussed outside professional circles: MCA Category 0 certification , the highest operational coding available under the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Owner Peter Watson joins the conversation to explain why he insisted that she be built and operated to this demanding standard, even thou...

Spring is approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it the start of another yachting season. In this episode of Inside the Market , we take a closer look at the yacht brokerage landscape as it stood at the end of February 2026. Joining the conversation is Sophie Kemp, who has recently returned to Berthon after maternity leave and celebrates ten years with the company. Sophie specialises in...

Is Sweden the best place to find a proper cruising yacht right now? In this special crossover episode, Berthon Scandinavia join BoatsinSweden to share a practical, buyer-focused guide to the Swedish used boat market, and how to navigate it safely if you are shopping from abroad. Host Ingus Purgalis from BoatsinSweden is joined by Magnus Kullberg from Berthon Scandinavia , a broker with nearly 15 y...

Our first Inside the Market episode of 2026 sees Sue joined by Tim Carbury, newly appointed Head of Sales at Berthon Spain, for a wide ranging and timely discussion on yacht sales, buyer behaviour and the realities of trading at the start of a challenging but active year. Tim joined Berthon on 1 January after more than a decade working at the sharp end of the Mediterranean superyacht sector. His b...

What does it take to build a yacht capable of crossing the Pacific, riding out 100 knots at anchor, refuelling from 45-gallon drums on remote islands, and cruising among drifting ice and orca in Antarctica? In this episode of the Berthon Podcast, Sue Grant sits aboard FPB 78-2 Grey Wolf II with owner Peter Watson to talk through one of the most extraordinary private cruising programs of the last d...

In this final Inside the Market of 2025, Sue Grant is joined by Berthon motorboat broker and lifelong yachtsman, Hugh Rayner, to unpack what is really happening across sail and power as we head into 2026. They start with a striking datapoint from the USA. For brokerage yachts over 500,000 dollars, 1,893 motorboats have sold in 2025, against just 149 sailboats including multihulls. As Sue says, it...

Inside the Market returns for November 2025 with a straight talking look at what is really happening in the yacht world right now. In this episode, Berthon International’s Sue Grant is joined by Alan Baines, Managing Director of Berthon USA, to unpack refit trends, pricing reality, and why some yachts are quietly selling while others sit and gather dust. They begin in Palma, where Berthon’s refit...

What really makes a motor yacht safe, comfortable and capable of crossing oceans, not just surviving them?  Sue sits down with legendary designer and lifelong cruiser Steve Dashew to talk about FPB explorer yachts, and why not every metal boat in the anchorage is created equal. Now retired from full time yacht building, Steve and Linda have swapped FPB commissioning for land yachting in Arizona, p...

Tom Cunliffe joins us for a proper cup of tea and a wide-ranging conversation about boats, books, and why real seamanship still matters. A merchant seaman turned delivery skipper, Yachtmaster Examiner, columnist and broadcaster, Tom has spent a lifetime at sea—from engine-less beginnings on the Norfolk Broads to long ocean passages on traditional gaff craft and a Colin Archer to South America, the...

In this October Market Insights episode, Sue is joined by Andrew Fairbrass from Berthon Spain to discuss the global yacht market as the team returns from the Annapolis Boat Show. Across all Berthon offices, activity remains steady, but the way buyers are engaging, researching, and making decisions continues to evolve. The conversation explores changing buyer behaviour, the challenges facing yacht...

Sue Grant sits down with designer, yachtsman, and long-time friend Steve Dashew to chart the leap from the record-setting sailboat BEOWULF to FPB 83 WIND HORSE—the boat that founded the FPB explorer-yacht line. Steve recalls why he and Linda built a fast, easily run sailboat, the two-handed 300-mile days they logged, and the stormy passage that flipped a prejudice against powerboats on its head: a...