Owner Erik Vonk explains why he is selling his 45.6-metre explorer yacht Scintilla Maris at auction on 5 November without a reserve price. Listen to our BOAT Briefing podcast – available on Apple or Spotify – where Vonk joins Holly Margerrison to discuss his decision to let the market determine the yacht’s value, her appearance at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and what comes next.
When the Damen Maaskant-rebuilt Scintilla Maris goes under the hammer on 5 November, there will be no reserve price to protect her owner from an unexpectedly low result. For Erik Vonk, that is precisely the point.
The 45.6-metre yacht, rebuilt from a former fishing trawler, has been marketed for 60 days ahead of a one-day online auction organised by Boathouse Auctions. With FLIBS just a week away, Vonk is preparing to put the yacht in front of prospective buyers before the bidding begins.
The decision has raised questions. Does selling a yacht at auction suggest that something is wrong, or that an owner is struggling to find a buyer? Vonk understands the assumption, but believes it says more about the yachting industry's relationship with auctions than it does about Scintilla Maris.
“I have been very active in M&A, in mergers and acquisitions,” he explains. Having bought and sold companies through auction processes, he sees the approach as a practical way to connect buyers and sellers of unusual, high-value assets. He says it was Burgess that pointed him towards Boathouse Auctions as a platform gaining traction in the yacht market.
“In many ways, Scintilla Maris is a trendsetter. In the way we take her to market, we might as well be a trendsetter again.”
Vonk is candid about the financial uncertainty. Asked whether he is prepared for the possibility of not recovering his investment, he says he is – but argues that an auction does not automatically mean accepting a lower price. The alternative, he suggests, is to set an asking price and wait, potentially for years, while continuing to pay the costs of ownership. He estimates that carrying a yacht of this size can cost between 10 and 15 per cent of its value annually.
“Ultimately, the market speaks if you go a conventional way or through an auction,” he says. “Only during an auction, it is forced to happen at a certain moment.”
For Vonk, a reserve price would undermine that principle. He confirms that Scintilla Maris will have no reserve, with the opening bidding expected to be above €5,000,000, according to figures communicated by Boathouse Auctions. He believes setting a minimum sale price would exclude some potential buyers before they had the chance to bid.
“An auction, in my opinion, is an auction. You can’t be half pregnant.”
He sees the format as particularly suited to a yacht that is difficult to compare directly with other vessels on the market. Rather than waiting for one buyer to agree with an owner's valuation, the auction gives interested parties the opportunity to demonstrate what the yacht is worth to them.
“You want it, yes? If so, name your price.”
FLIBS offers another opportunity to challenge buyers' preconceptions before the auction. Vonk hopes to attract both serious prospective purchasers and people who are simply curious about the yacht's unusual proposition.
He says that photographs and video cannot fully communicate the sense of space, natural light and quiet on board. The yacht's heavy-duty exterior may suggest a purely functional vessel, but the interior is designed to feel more like a home than a conventional commercial conversion.
“You need to be on board to have a real sense of what is there, what it feels like. It cannot be conveyed through a computer.”
In terms of selling the yacht, Vonk describes his feelings about selling as mixed, but says he has reached a natural point to move on. He has visited almost all the destinations he wanted to explore, including the Arctic Circle, and does not want a yacht of this size sitting unused for much of the year.
“I have the ability in my mind to turn a page,” he says. “For me, I have decided that it was time to check the box and move on.”
That does not necessarily mean he has finished building yachts. He says the creation process was almost as gratifying as using Scintilla Maris, and that he would take a similar approach if he embarked on another project: find an existing hull and build around it, rather than start from scratch.
Read More/Listen: A first-hand diary from Scintilla Maris’ Icelandic research voyageFor now, however, the focus is on finding the next owner for Scintilla Maris. He hopes they will understand her not simply as a yacht with an unusual past, but as a platform built to go further.
During a difficult passage from Reykjavík towards St John's in Newfoundland, he recalls visiting the captain and first officer on the bridge at around 3am. Despite the stormy weather, both were smiling.
“They said, ‘This is the first time that we are experiencing a boat that gives us the feeling like, hey, this weather is for me, and you guys are allowed to come along.’”
That, Vonk says, captures the yacht's purpose: a comfortable home away from home, with the freedom to travel well beyond the usual routes. Whether the auction finds a buyer who shares that vision will become clear on 5 November.
BOAT first stepped on board Scintilla Maris for the February 2024 edition of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.