Mr Gökemeyer, why are you calling it a day?
Yes, why do you break up? I'll be 65 next year and my wife will retire. I could do this for another two or three years, it's a lot of fun. But of course I know how difficult it is to pass on a company and find a successor. I've planned a few years for that. So we've set ourselves a deadline for how long we want to keep going, otherwise you always add another year.
How did you become a charter company?
Well, I had my own logistics company in Bremen. When I had been self-employed for twelve years, it wasn't fun anymore. My wife also worked for a shipping company and was head of accounting, it was similar. And then we said: We're going to do what we want to do again, and for me that's sailing. I would also have liked to manage a marina, but they're not like sand by the sea. Then I had the idea of chartering out. I really like the older yachts, these long keelers...
They are still the focus of your fleet today...
Yes, I think they are more beautiful, better and more elegant than what is on the market today. These modern yachts - if you want to charter a boat somewhere today, you'll get a Hanse, Bavaria or Sun Odyssey, or whatever else is out there. They are actually all the same, they are big, wide at the back and fit a lot of people on board. On one the galley is on the left, on the other opposite. The only important thing is at the bottom right, which is the price. If I had done something like that now, I would have been the 85th of 86 charter companies offering such yachts. That's not my world, I like the Vindös, for example, long keels with lots of wood. I like smaller ones, they don't have to be these huge things.
Which yacht did you start with?
With a IF boatThe following year I started chartering, in the second year I brought in the Vindö 40 and took over the company Chartership from an older couple from Buchholz, with two Marieholms. One day, Mr Krüger called me and asked: "Don't you want to buy the shop? We're pensioners, it's too much for us. Yes, then I had four boats and went to Heiligenhafen.
What are your customers like - as special as the yachts?
We've already had people here who chartered different yachts two or three times a year. They are all different, each one has its own characteristics and equipment. And one customer went to a boat builder at some point and had a yacht built, a long keeler with a wooden superstructure. I was invited to the christening, which was quite funny. On the boat, I found some ideas and fittings from all our yachts that he had adopted and placed. Yes, you get to know nice people here, it's a different crowd to the charter industry.
What should your successor bring to the job?
He or she simply has to enjoy these yachts and have fun doing it, that's the first requirement. For me, there's nothing worse than going to work in the morning and saying, oh God, how am I going to get through the day? You also have to like people and enjoy taking things in hand. Of course, the person must be able to sail and should have a certain commercial mindset. Everything else comes naturally, it's not rocket science.
