Robert Dubsky, CEO, Yacht Masters

In addition to keeping you updated about all the great things that are going on at The Clubhouse, we thought we would turn the tables and put the focus on all the exciting things our fantastic members are achieving!

For this month’s ‘Member in the Spotlight’ feature we spoke to Robert Dubsky, CEO, Yacht Masters.

1. Tell us about your company and how it started.

Yacht Masters is a superyacht brokerage specialising in the sale and charter of larger 40m-plus yachts. As a broker, we broker the deal between the client chartering (renting) or buying and the owner or shipyard. We’re a smaller company, as we really focus on building relationships with clients. I’ve been a yacht broker for 18 years and have always enjoyed concentrating on the larger yachts, as both the clients and products in that area of the market are fascinating. I’ve never wanted the company to be a large brokerage, instead a respected, knowledgeable company with trustworthy, decent characters that clients want to work with and am delighted to say we work with some of the most impressive yachts and clients in the world.

2. What has been your biggest success to date?

I’m not sure I could pin it down to one particular event, but probably launching a superyacht brokerage just as the financial crash happened! When we were preparing to launch Yacht Masters, the market was booming. On launch, in February 2008, Lehman’s and Northern Rock had collapsed and financial turmoil caused the yachting industry real problems. Yacht Masters has done well and nine years later, I believe the way we operate makes us one of the most discrete brokers in the industry.

3. What project are you most excited about right now?

I would say it’s a combination of projects and the market. We are working on some exciting purchase projects, which will hopefully be concluded within two to six months, and our charter business remains one of our real strengths. Both areas continue to indicate the market is improving, albeit steadily.

4. How has being a member of The Clubhouse contributed to the success of your business?

It has given us flexibility. We have an office in Berkshire, near Ascot, where our brokers can base themselves, or The Clubhouse Mayfair, when meetings are taking place in town, a boardroom environment is required, or simply a change of scenery. I find the atmosphere in The Clubhouse conducive to a healthy working environment; everyone’s working, having meetings, planning. It has a very ‘entrepreneurial’ feel, which is very much in line with our company’s approach.

5. Where can members find you?

In The Clubhouse Mayfair when I am in London. Otherwise I tend to be all over the place, but although predominately in Berkshire. yachtmasters.com

Quick Fire Round:

Favourite place to go in London?

Mayfair. As much as I love several other areas, I like Mayfair’s architecture, the old pubs, restaurants and near village feel.
Who inspires you and why?

Although it may sound like a cliché, I’d say our clients. Not because of their wealth, but because there is one common denominator to their success that I admire – hard work.
Best bit of advice you’ve been given?

Don’t forget the objective.
If you were on a desert island, what would you bring?

Probably one of my dogs. Don’t tell my wife.

Which super power would you like to have?

Seeing in to the future.

What is the worst business ‘faux-pas’ you’ve committed?

Reciting a story I had been told by a friend selling his business, to an individual who was in the same line of business, but I had only recently met. Only to find that the ‘principal’ of the story was the individual’s family office and “I should not listen to everything I hear”. It did, however, break the ice!

Click here to view more of our Members in the Spotlight