Living the dream on the Cote d’Ipswich

Managing superyachts in the South of France might like sound like living the dream, but it was a lifestyle that lost its appeal for husband and wife Josh and Claire Richardson, who exchanged it for starting a business and a family in Ipswich.

“We were fed up with living in France and also wanted kids,” says Josh who together with wife Claire moved to Ipswich where they had family nearby when Claire got a job with Oyster Yachts six years ago. Although they’d left the South of France behind, what they didn’t leave behind was the superyachts and four years ago they set up their own business, Superyachts Tenders & Toys. As well as managing superyachts in France they had worked as captain and chef on sailing yachts around the world, sailing from the UK to New Zealand via the Panama Canal, and had spotted an opportunity for supplying yacht toys (onboard leisure equipment) and tenders (smaller boats to support or service larger ones) to superyachts.

“ It makes no difference us being on the East Coast rather than the South of France or any other superyacht hub.”

Despite being based in Ipswich very little of the business has been local (or even in the UK), with more than 95% coming from overseas. “It makes no difference us being on the East Coast rather than the South of France or any other superyacht hub,” says Josh. “If an order comes in for Thailand we may as well be in Ipswich as in France. In some ways it has an advantage; we’ve just, for example, sent an artic lorry to Holland, which is so easy and cheap from here.” Since making the decision to go it alone they haven’t looked back. “We broke even from our set up costs in just six weeks,” says Josh.

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Published July 2016 by UK Trade & Investment

Their first order was from Spain, supplying a nine metre tender power boat for the motor yacht Ecstasea, that had previously been owned by Roman Abramovich. This got the business going and has led to business from across the globe, but in particular from France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland and Norway. “Sometimes people come to us and say ‘I’ve got this much money and this is what I want’, whereas others want something designed specifically for them and we work with different builders to deliver it for them.”

The rapid speed at which the business took off meant they were soon faced with the prospect of employing people, something they had had no experience of. “The decision to employ people was quite difficult,” says Josh. “I think we drank a bottle of wine each the evening after we’d employed our first person (they now have a growing team of seven).” It was at this stage that they decided to seek some professional advice and approached UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) East. “We’d really muddled our way through until then but we were able to bounce ideas off our International Trade Advisor (ITA) Ashley Almond, which led to us taking on a full time in-house accountant as the best way of freeing up my time and she also gave us some good connections including a list of all the new build showrooms free of charge.” They also had support attending the Boat Show and undertook the Passport to Export programme, which helps new or inexperienced exporters with training, planning and support to grow their business overseas.

Says Ashley: “Claire and Josh have built a really solid business in a very short space of time, converting their experience, expertise and passion

for boats into commercial success. They have always been receptive to new ideas and are willing to make changes when necessary. Their focus on delivering the best products for the clients with the highest level of customer service allows them to compete successfully against other players in the market and their move into design and manufacture of their own product ranges will generate massive gains for them in the long run.”

“ Before we met with Ashley we’d only done one and now we’ve done 20 to 30; we’re on our fourth since Christmas including the sixth biggest boat in the world.”

Taking this step back allowed them to refocus the company and they are now concentrating on fitting out new build superyachts. “Before we met with Ashley we’d only done one and now we’ve done 20 to 30; we’re on our fourth since Christmas including the sixth biggest boat in the world. “ There are just 6000 boats in the world that meet the criteria for a superyacht we are really interested in, which is typically normally from 50 around metres plus. The average spend on toys for these boats is £150,000 for toys outfitting and if you include tenders it’s more like £600,000. Requests have included submarines, amphibious quad bikes, jet packs and even drones. They have also moved into design and manufacturing their own products, starting with an inflatable landing craft and this is an area they’d like to expand into with other products already in design for a new range of superyacht tenders.

What next

To find more opportunities in other markets, just visit https://www.exportingisgreat.gov.uk/opportunities/ and use the criteria most relevant to your product or service.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact your International Trade Advisor. If you are unsure who your advisor is or you would like to be put in touch with one, please contact our customer services team on 01707 398 398 or email EastInfo@mobile.ukti.gov.uk