At the Palm Beach International Boat Show 2025, Chief Marketing Officer at YATCO, Onno Ebbens spoke with some of the yachting industry’s top players to gain insight into their roles and perception of the industry. Here he’s joined by Darrell Hall, founder of Yachtzoo, offering a behind-the-scenes look at his journey—from his early days on the water to becoming a respected leader in the yachting industry.
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Video Transcription:
Introducing Darrell Hall
“Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening—wherever you are in the world! For you people that do not know you, Darrell, would you mind introducing yourself shortly?”
“Alright, thank you. So, my name is Darrell Hall. I’m the founder of Yachtzoo. It’s a full-service brokerage company encompassing sales, new construction, charter, charter management, full management, and we’re also one of the eight companies within LYBRA, which is the Leading Yacht Brokers Association.”
On Being Part of LYBRA
“Yeah, that’s true. You’re part of LYBRA as well. So, would you consider yourself, with those eight companies, that those are the leading companies in the industry on brokerage?”
“Yeah, definitely. So, the interesting thing is we’ve just reopened our Fort Lauderdale office after COVID, which we closed down during the pandemic. So, it’s a new office back on 17th Street. We also have a big office in Japan, and currently, the Japan office has the yacht show going on now. So, we had a big stand and display over there. And then we’re in Dubai, London, and obviously headquartered in Monaco.”
Global Presence
“Oh, so you’re all over the world. How was it? When did you open the Japan office?”
“Japan we’ve had for a long time. So, the Japan office, we’ve got a great broker who I’ve worked with in Florida, Nigel. So, Nigel’s also chairman of APSA, the Asia-Pacific Association, and he’s based over there. We’ve moved offices now to Kobe and are involved in a big marina development with partners out there. And we look forward to the new marina and our office on the port. It’s going to be very exciting stuff.”
Industry Experience and Perspective
“It’s very exciting stuff! But, like, what I wanted to know—because you’ve been in the industry for a while, right?”
“You’re calling me old?”
“I was being careful! I can be quite old myself. So yes, I’m calling us old. Yes, Darrell, I’m doing that.”
(Laughs) “But you also bring a lot of experience. And what I personally like about this industry compared to corporate is experience counts.”
“Yeah.”
“Whether you’re a senior crew member, or a senior broker, or a senior specialist in anything, we value people with experience, right? That also means that we have the obligation to share our knowledge and to share our experience with other people. I really want to hear your story. How did you get into yachting?”
Darrell’s Journey into Yachting
“Well, I left my native country of South Africa after I finished uni. And we had to do military service at the time, and I disappeared on a one-month vacation backpacking, which turned into a seven-and-a-half-year experience—backpacking! So, I pretty much did every possible job in the world, and I realized I needed to gravitate and be around the water. So, all my experience was in vacation resorts, on beaches, in the water, where I was teaching waterski instruction to windsurfing. I loved it.
And then I discovered the yachting business in Newport, Rhode Island, a number of years back. I ended up in the Caribbean, and I just fell in love with the place and decided I needed to be a yacht captain. So, I kind of worked my way up from a deckhand, doing engineering, and then became a yacht captain. I started on small little sailboats in the Caribbean, and it was the fun era where people enjoyed it. As crew, you’d associate with the guests, you’d have dinner with the guests, you’d interact—it was a lovely time.
And then from that, I ended up moving up into motor yachts. I had a fantastic career in that, really thoroughly enjoyed it. I always knew I needed an exit strategy. I knew I couldn’t keep doing this for the rest of my life. You know, yachting is a young person’s business, and to all the young crew members coming up, use that energy, because that energy is infectious. And the owners expect it as well. So, you’ve got to give 100% of yourself to the yacht, to the program, to the client, to make their experience memorable on board.”
From Captain to Broker
“Yeah, fantastic! So, you were moving your way up the ranks, made it to captain. What was your biggest vessel?”
“I was on an Amels, 42-meter yacht, which was a big boat in those days. And then thereafter, I always knew I wanted to get inside the brokerage business because I’d taken a one-year break from yachting, went home to South Africa, and opened a real estate company. I knew the real estate side, combined with the boating thing—I thought brokerage could be my field. And I joined one of the large companies as a junior broker with pretty much zero experience in that side of it. It was terrifying and daunting, but at the same time, always rewarding, and I just love the business.”
Current Role at Yachtzoo
“And if you love something, it’s like you’re not really working—what side of brokerage are you on?”
“I do mainly sales and the new construction side. And then, within our organization, we have all specialties.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“So, our charter brokers specifically deal on the yacht charter side, managers handle the management side. But how we work within our organization is everybody gets a roundhouse of knowledge. So, you know, even our charter brokers know about sales, they know about management, they understand how the whole industry works. And what we do, is we have an open-office sharing system, so all information is shared amongst ourselves—obviously under NDAs. And we try to keep it fun, lighthearted, and it’s really like a family.”
Advice for Aspiring Yacht Brokers
“Yeah, because it’s interesting. I know there’s a lot of people watching, thinking, ‘I want to be a yacht broker.’ They might be on a boat now, they might be doing something else, they might not even be in the industry and think, ‘I can do that, I can sell a boat, or I can find a client to charter a boat.’ What would be your number one tip to them?”
“The number one tip is: follow your passion.”
“Yeah.”
“So, if you think this is what you want to do, then go for it. But you must come in with enthusiasm and a lot of hard work. Nothing comes easy. Don’t expect things to come to you. But, you know, as you say, the harder you work, the luckier you get.”
Does Yacht Experience Matter?
“Do you think—obviously, nothing happens without hard work—I’ve spoken to a few of your colleagues this week, and everybody has their own opinion, and I am completely neutral. But some say, ‘You need to have worked on a boat in order to be able to sell a boat,’ and some say, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ What do you think?”
“I’m on the other side. I believe that it’s an advantage having worked on yachts. Pretty much all of our brokers came from the yachting industry. Most of them came from being a captain or stewardess or worked somewhere on a boat. I think having that added knowledge of what a vessel entails, what it’s like to be at sea, what it’s like to run boats, to experience the difficulties, and the knowledge of that—I think it’s a fantastic advantage, having worked on boats before moving into brokerage.”
Stay tuned for more exciting interviews from the Palm Beach International Boat Show 2025 and follow along with YATCO’s YouTube channel.
