GREEN FLASH!

We have seen, of late, a number of “Green” yachts. Perhaps the most notable is the recently launched Huisman sailing yacht "Ethereal". Built for an owner who has much experience in the environmental sector, Ethereal juxtaposes technological innovation with common sense strategies in order to reduce its impact on the environment. Several other companies are offering or marketing yachts and boats with a hybrid propulsion system. Yet more companies are manufacturing and selling machinery that will reduce the waste generated by a yacht both from the head and the exhaust, to virtually nil.

Even the boat shows have grown wise to the potential for ‘green’ to colour their advertising and PR strategies. This years Antibes show although lacking in Gucci and Manolo foot prints, did manage to offset its own carbon foot print using a company who specialize in this form of guilt alleviation.

So, at last, it seems that the concept of environmentalism is taking root in the yachting sector. The green revolution, long considered no more than a hippy uprising by many is now being recognised as a marketable concept for yachting.

Not long ago yachts for sale or charter were using the number of flat screen TVs in their advertising blurb in order to influence would be customers. Things moved on and internet access and more recently ‘zero speed’ or ‘at anchor’ stabilization became features proffered by the ‘marketeers’ in order to convince the potential charterer or owner that this is the boat for them.

The question is then, is this the time when ‘greenness’ can be used as an effective branding and marketing tool for the yachting industry? Well it might. After all who could possibly argue with the concept of offering customers, even very rich ones, a morally sound choice for their yachting endeavours. Indeed perhaps the question is, who could be foolhardy enough not to if there exists a green alternative?

The small problem we face is that the bulk of advertising and therefore marketing effort in the yachting sector, is aimed not at owners, but at the other actors in the business. Yachting is a peculiar perhaps unique industry, in that it’s consumers are a very small minority compared to the rest of those people involved in the business, from building to operating yachts.

So why is the Green marketing aimed at owners not operators, managers, crew and the like? Well for the most part it’s the majority of other actors who influence owners or spend their money. This is where the problem lies, as this group is arguably not usually a demographic of green thinkers or not enough of us at any rate.

The point is, no matter what you use to power a vessel or how efficient the air conditioner is or what sustainable or organic plants are used to make the carpet, they are all just marginal reductions in an the carbon keel print of a yacht. You cannot buy a green boat, in the same way you cannot buy a safe boat the reality is; Eco friendliness or safety are functions of the operation of the boat. The greatest contribution an owner can make to the ecosystem is to educate and direct his or her crew, to operate the boat in a more environmentally sound way. One can operate a lifeboat unsafely and one could argue SY Ethereal could surely be operated un-economically.

So again, it is the crew who are the most important part in reducing the carbon used and the waste generated.

This brings up the question where do crew learn the techniques that can be adopted to reduce the carbon keel print or the measurements they can make to monitor their effectiveness. These tools are simply not readily available.

Does the industry need an environmental training course? Are owners too rich to worry? Are yachts so few that the combined farting of the world’s population of seagulls makes a bigger hole in the ozone layer?

Questions to ponder, as never forget that not everyone who goes to sea actually gets to see the green flash.