Grey, wet and cold. At the end of November, northern Germany is at its most beautiful. Clearly, in terms of weather, there are better times of year to visit a boatyard in the far north-east of Germany. BOOTE EXCLUSIV has not been to the company that Michael Schmidt founded eight years ago to build the Brenta 80 DS "Cool Breeze" for himself. The 24-metre sloop, laminated from carbon fibre and fitted with an extraordinary interior by star architect Sir David Chipperfield, made headlines in the yachting world and has long since sailed with a new owner. Michael Schmidt Yachtbau has become a shipyard that has managed to deliver 41 yachts between 70 and 90 feet in length in eight years. Figures that competitors from Finland, Italy and South Africa grudgingly take note of.
Anyone who has ever set foot in a shipyard knows how complex boatbuilding can be. Numerous trades that have to work in perfect synchronisation so that in the end - just in time for the launching date - the owner is happy. It doesn't sound easy, and we are all the more excited when we cross the city limits of Greifswald at the end of November and finally turn into the car park in the Ladebow district in the north-east of the pretty Hanseatic town. Michael Schmidt Yachtbau is emblazoned in large letters on the southern wall of the hall. Some visitors may be taken aback here, as Schmidt's team has been skilfully and uniformly marketing the company's fortunes under the YYachts brand name for a few years now.
Why YYachts?
Why Y? Even Marketing Director Stefan Schöler, who together with Managing Partner Dirk Zademack meets us at the entrance to the office building, is unable to answer this question quickly. The two-storey office complex, made from containers and connected to the shipyard hall via a solid iron staircase, is the control centre of the company, which currently employs around 40 people, including the satellite office in Palma de Mallorca. "Our design office is located in Palma and is managed by Francesca Modica," explains Stefan Schöler. With university degrees in yacht design and architecture, Modica first worked for Lorenzo Argento Yacht Design in Italy before Michael Schmidt poached her for YYachts in 2020. Since then, she has headed up the creative team on the popular Balearic island. The shipyard founder also spends a lot of time in the Mallorcan capital and, at the age of 74, is currently focussing more on the work of his designers. With the ultimate proximity to the Mediterranean sailing mecca, good ideas come naturally.
But the experienced sailor is never short of ideas anyway. Nobody builds like Schmidt - compromises? Never! Many decades on regatta and cruising yachts have moulded him into a walking yachting and sailing encyclopaedia. "Nobody knows as much about shipyards, models, ships and sailing as Schmidt; he is a mentor to me and I still learn a lot from him," admits Schöler. He has been working with the exceptional boat builder for 19 years.
Team consists of full-blooded sailors
Of course, 50 yachts in eight years is only possible with a team that pulls together and knows all about life on the water. The specialists in his founding team had to be one thing above all: thoroughbred sailors like himself. As the search for the optimum never ends for Schmidt, new names have emerged over the years. While designers Luca Brenta and Sir David Chipperfield were still working in creative unison on his 23.99 metre-long "Cool Breeze", he switched to American Bill Tripp as designer and Danish studio Norm Architects from Copenhagen for the interior design of his new Y-line. The British interior experts from Design Unlimited are also sometimes involved, for example on board the almost 30 metre long Y9. Schmidt took a different approach for the completely newly developed Y8, which is also 23.99 metres long: yacht designer Javier Jaudenes, who also lives in Palma, designed the hull lines and exterior styling, while Francesca Modica from the shipyard's own design team was responsible for the interior design. Construction number one of the current Y8 is currently at an advanced stage and is due to sail this spring.
Five construction slots are available in the 70-metre-long hall, and three bays are currently occupied: Y7, Y8 and Y9. "We have optimised the efficiency of the shipyard over the last two years and are currently in the process of making the best possible use of the construction slots," explains shipyard boss Dirk Zademack, who joined Michael Schmidt Yachtbau as Managing Partner in 2019 after 13 years at various large German yacht shipyards. A lot has happened in Ladebow since then.
Customer can choose from several layout options
"We offer the customer between five and six layout options to choose from for each model, and yet we have managed to ensure that the hull structure always remains the same. This means we can have the hull and deck laminated and at the same time start fitting out the interior, which in turn is created in modules that are lifted almost completely into the hull shell by our two cranes."
Adjacent to the boatbuilding hall with five bays and a large area for the interior fitters, the shipyard has also invested in a state-of-the-art neighbouring paint shop. "The investments made in recent years have paid off, and we can currently build five to six yachts per year," says Zademack. The construction times of the models vary greatly. "A Y7 is built in around six months, the Y8 in eleven months, and we work on our small series flagship Y9 for 18 months," Stefan Schöler explains, and Dirk Zademack adds: "Growth at any price is not our motto. We want to keep getting better and further improve our quality." The shipyard founder is also in favour of this. He still personally tests every yacht that leaves his halls. And preferably in an honest breeze - mild summer breezes don't count. "It has to creak in the sheets," laughs Stefan Schöler. And how long will Michael Schmidt continue? As we all know, no answer is also an answer ...
