AYC International Yachtbrokers 2.18

Christian was born in Brest in 1959. In his youth, he sailed dinghies in the rade de Brest. Then, at the age of eighteen, he bought a nine metre bare hull which he furnished and fitted out himself in his father's woodworkshop during his free time. It would be his first sailboat.

He then never let grip of his passion: He first acted as a sailing instructor with the UCPA where he met his wife, herself a dinghy instructor. He then joined the family business in cabinetmaking after training as a joiner and later served in Merchant Shipping as a Maître d’hôtel where he took the opportunity to travel and learn astronavigation. He soon found employment at the Jeanneau shipyards in Vendée as a joiner in 1984, whence he rose to develop their sales network, and direct Jeanneau's second-hand sales in 1991. On the whole, he garnered ten years experience, from shipwriting to commerce, along with a profound understanding of the French nautical industry and its major players.

His knowledge and skills naturally drove him to start-up AYC International Yachtbrokers in February 1994: the first second-hand yacht brokerage firm in France. The company is based in La Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée, a region which has grown deep roots in yachting.

An early adopter of telecoms with the French minitel, AYC was also the first French yachtbroker to be present on the World-Wide-Web, and marketed yachts online as early as 1996. Christian also realised that transactions were of utmost importance for clients, so he set up a number of procedures to provide guarantees to customers: AYC soon offered comprehensive appraisal expertise, consulted in finance and insurance, and standardized administrative formalities, all the while advising and protecting its sellers' and buyers' interests, acting wholly independently and impartially.

After his recent tour of the Atlantic Ocean in 2008-2009 with his family aboard a Kronos 45, Christian stands out today as a specialist for catamarans and offshore sailboats.