The highlights of the Explorer Yachts Summit 2024

The iconic Yacht Club de Monaco was the venue for the BOAT International Explorer Yachts Summit 2024, which took place on 13 November. The event offered a view of the evolving explorer yacht market and key topics around the field of yachting exploration.

The summit was held in association with Damen Yachting and presented in collaboration with exploreryachts.com, alongside premium partners Cantiere delle Marche, EYOS and ICON Yachts.

Explorer yacht market insight

To start the day, BOAT’s global editor-in-chief, Stewart Campbell, presented an in-depth analysis of the explorer market backed up by BOATPro statistics and gave an exclusive first look inside the 2025 Global Order Book. Attendees gained valuable insights into the sector's expansive growth, the key players shaping its trajectory and the demographics of those purchasing explorer yachts.

Keynote speaker Monty Halls

Next up, renowned broadcaster and marine biologist Monty Halls set the day's theme with a rousing and optimistic keynote, in which he highlighted the importance of communities collectively playing a role in solving global environmental challenges.

Drawing on his experience both as a former Royal Marine and his 12 months working as a fisherman for a documentary, he surmised: “I think it's very important for us to act as mentors; to act as examples and inspiration to those communities, to show that they can move the dial. There is a great Māori expression that says, 'Be a good ancestor. Plant trees you'll never see.' And I think, with the situation we're in at the moment, that has never been more important. Being a good ancestor and being a good elder for the generations to come is so significant with the work we do at the moment."

How to tame the Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage has long been the ultimate maritime challenge. Gijs Sluik, owner of 36.8-metre Tecla, Eric Wittouck, captain of 54.9-metre expedition yacht Shinkai and EYOS founding partner Tim Soper led an eye-opening discussion examining the highlights and challenges of this legendary route, touching on safety and regulations, best cruising routes and how to visit the area responsibly. The panel all agreed on the importance of taking an ice navigator who knows the local area. Soper noted, however, that one of the biggest challenges for boats is not ice and its potential dangers, but the lack of infrastructure. "You're just so far away from any kind of support,” he added. “Once you leave West Greenland, which has really excellent facilities, and go onto the Canadian side, you have pretty much nothing.”

A project update on REV Ocean

REV Ocean's CEO, Nina Jensen, took the audience behind the scenes of expedition yachting’s most anticipated new launch. The vessel, now extended to 195 metres and designed by Espen Øino and H2 Yacht Design, will be the world's largest research yacht. It is slated for delivery in 2026 and will also offer private charters. When it comes to REV Ocean's impact, the bar has been set very high. “When we started the initiative, we actually invited the entire scientific community in Norway to give input into what such a vessel should have in terms of scientific equipment,” said Jensen. “We then got a long wish list from these scientists, and we've packed the entire list into the vessel... so it's pretty much jam-packed with the most scientific equipment in the world.”

Are the oceans getting safer or more dangerous?

In this panel discussion, Ropner Insurance’s divisional director, Ben Williams, superyacht captain Daren Packham and Neptune P2P’s commercial director, Chris Farrell, discussed the reality of exploring far-flung corners of the world and what owners, captains and crew should do to ensure the safety of everyone on board. The Houthi rebels' attacks on shipping in the Southern Red Sea were unsurprisingly top of the list of high-risk areas, but the panel highlighted other places to watch, including the Taiwan Straits, Somalia and even the Central Mediterranean. “If you're having to render assistance to a migrant boat under duress, that can also pose a risk and it is something to be aware of,” noted Farrell.

Both Packham and Williams agreed on the importance of captains, security experts and insurance providers working together in advance so they can lay out all the risks and costs for the owner thinking of entering a high-risk area. Packham concluded that, very often, the risk comes from within. “We talk about KYC, or ‘Know Your Client'. Are they a political activist? Are they in the media a lot? Are they at political risk? All sorts of different levels of risk can come into play based on who's on board.”

How explorer yachts can support ocean research

Yachts For Science is an organisation that helps "matchmake" marine scientists with superyacht owners for the ultimate goal of helping science and conservation. In this session, policy advisor for Mission Blue Max Bello and Bering Yacht's founder Alexei Mikhailov explained how they recently came together to help the Dominican Republic expand their Marine Protected Area, a project that’s part of a worldwide push to designate 30 per cent of Earth's land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030. Bello concluded that the work of Yachts For Science was vital in getting the job done. “As an NGO, we don’t have the capacity or the financial support to go around the world doing this work. So, [this initiative] is critical if we want to get to that 30 per cent.”

An epic rescue with M/Y Planet Nine

In this edge-of-your-seat account, Captain Philip Atkinson revealed how 73-metre explorer Planet Nine took part in a complicated rescue to assist a 24-metre sailing yacht in distress in the mid-Atlantic. The yacht crash-gybed in high winds in the middle of the night and her boom swung across with so much force that it ripped a fitting out of the deck and launched it like a missile, badly injuring two crew members. Planet Nine was the closest and best-suited yacht to come to their aid, but as Atkinson soon realised, weather conditions were extremely challenging. “Adding to the difficulty, damaging the mask and the rigging meant that [the yacht] couldn't drop its main sail so they couldn't do anything. They couldn't stop, they couldn't turn around. They just had to plough ahead at the mercy of the wind,” he recalled. For the next five days, Planet Nine sat out the weather, following the yacht, plotting a rescue and offering emotional support. “We didn't realise at the time, but possibly the best thing we actually did was to simply be there and say to them, ‘no matter what, we'll stick with you until the end.’”

How climate change could affect exploration

In a year of freak weather, tragic yacht sinkings and record-breaking hurricanes, many of us have started to take a serious look at how climate change is affecting weather patterns across the world and what this could mean in the future. Senior meteorologist at WetterWelt GmbH Sebastian Wache took to the stage to list the key global weather patterns we should come to expect in coming years: a longer, stronger hurricane season; the increase of heat domes and blocking systems that 'trap' weather fronts and will make summers in the Mediterranean more unpredictable; and windier conditions and storms in the polar regions. Most people believe climate change will make the polar regions easier to navigate, but the opposite may be true. "You might plan a trip through the Northwest Passage, only to find it blocked by windier conditions pushing floating ice into bays or straits, packing it tightly until it becomes too thick to pass," he explained.

The real story behind Scintilla Maris

Inspirational owner Erik Vonk shared his 17-year journey of transforming a 1989 fishing trawler, Scintilla Maris, into a robust expedition yacht. Vonk was very much a hands-on participant in the whole process. He retained its robust hull, replaced most of the old systems and extended the upper part of the superstructure around three metres aft to fill more of the bridge deck. The yacht now features four guest cabins, a large owner's cabin and an extensive open deck space. Vonk emphasised the importance of clear project goals and the satisfaction of the repurposing process, despite the lengthy timeline and costs. He also recognised the need to compromise: “I wanted to try and develop something with a possible zero carbon footprint, but it wasn’t possible. So we went as far as we could to achieve what one can achieve now, but are as prepared as possible for further developments in the near term future,” he said.

Quiz and prize-giving

And it’s a wrap! As the day came to a close, participants - many of whom had only just met at the summit - formed teams to take part in a lively quiz. The questions tested their general knowledge of explorer yachting as well as how closely they’d listened to the talks. Goodie bags from our headline partner, Damen Yachting, were awarded to the winning team.

The guests

The Explorer Yachts Summit welcomed a diverse array of industry professionals, including builders, brokers, owners and designers. A networking drinks session provided the perfect ending to an inspiring day.

To find out more information about the Explorer Yachts Summit, please contact the BOAT International events team.