July 14–15, 2026 | Herreshoff Marine Museum, Bristol, Rhode Island
Ninety yacht sales professionals registered for YBAA University 2026 — a 15-attendee increase over last year — filling the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, Rhode Island for a full day of education, data, and conversation about where the yacht brokerage business is headed.
The venue was not an accident. For generations, "Herreshoff-built" was shorthand for precision, integrity, and craftsmanship nobody questioned. That is the same idea YBAA has been building since 1920, and it gave this year's theme — Setting the Standard Since 1920. Raising It Today — a very literal home.
The results speak for themselves: 100% of post-event survey respondents said they would recommend YBAA University to a colleague, and 96% rated the program length just right. First-time attendees rated the content virtually identically to returning attendees, which tells us the program is landing with newcomers and the core membership alike.
Opening Remarks: A Year of Momentum
YBAA President William Bolin, CPYB, opened the day with an honest look at where the association stands nearly one year into its management transition. His message: the investment in new staff, new tools, and a real strategic plan is showing up in the numbers.
- CPYB candidate applications: 19 in 2024, 20 in 2025 — and 105 in the first half of 2026 alone. A five-fold increase.
- CPYB webinar registrations: 404 for all of 2025; 807 in the first six months of 2026.
- LinkedIn impressions: roughly 11,000 in 2025; over 337,000 year to date.
- YBAA website active users: up 70.3% year over year.
- The new AI-powered monthly newsletter for yacht brokers: a 58% open rate and 10% click rate — well above email marketing benchmarks.
Bolin also walked members through the association's 2026–2028 strategic plan, built on three pillars: Professional Education (young professionals, apprentice pathways, video content, brokerage benefits), Professional Excellence (consumer education campaigns, industry partnerships with MRAA, NMMA, Sail America, and ABYC, and stronger legislative advocacy), and Professional Standards (CPYB renewal rates, new certification tracks, digital badging, an international sales curriculum, and a Code of Ethics review).
"Education. Excellence. Standards," as he put it. "That's the whole plan."
He also gave members a transparent update on the ongoing antitrust litigation affecting brokerage commission practices, and reaffirmed that YBAA continues to monitor developments closely with counsel from the Lochner Law Firm.
State of the Industry Report
Jason Dunbar, Co-Founder of Vessel Value Survey, and Courtney Chalmers, Chief Brand & Communications Officer at Boats Group, opened the education program with the session attendees consistently rank among the most valuable — the numbers behind the headlines.
Their framing: two very different markets are currently wearing the same headline. At the top of the market, 2025 was a record year, with 24m+ brokerage sales climbing to €7.5B from €3.9B the year prior. Meanwhile, North American pre-owned volume sits near decade lows, with H1 2026 tracking closer to the 2010–2011 recovery years than to the 2021 peak. Average days on market for used boats has climbed back to 147 days in 2026 — up roughly 30% since 2023, with new boats up 65% over the same period.
Some of the most discussed data of the day came from the sales funnel. Across Boats Group portals in a 30-day window: 15.6 million searches, 25.1 million listing views, and 180,000 leads — with only a 46% dealer response rate. More than half of all leads never get a response at all. And listings that show a price get 3.3x more daily views and convert 60% better than those that don't.
Three moves for 2026, per the panel: show the price, respond to every lead, and win the entry-level buyer. With 72% of every H1 sale being a boat under 36 feet, that last point matters more than it might seem.
Design Panel: Past, Present & Future of Design
Steps away from the Herreshoff collection, three of the most recognized names in naval architecture took the stage: Jim Taylor of Jim Taylor Yacht Designs, Peter Boyce of Ray Hunt Design, and Doug Zurn, CPYB, of Zurn Yachts, moderated by Jonathan Chapman, CPYB, of Worth Avenue Yachts.
The session was built as a working conversation between the people who design the boats and the people who sell them. Topics ranged from the real compromises hiding inside "comfortable, efficient, and fast," to which of the last fifty years of hull design advances genuinely changed boating and which were mostly marketing, to what brokers should actually be able to explain when a client asks, "Is she a good sea boat?"
It was one of the most enthusiastically received sessions of the day, with several attendees naming it their favorite.
What Brokers Need to Know to Master a Survey
Tim Murphy, Education Director at the American Boat and Yacht Council, brought nearly three decades of ABYC experience to a look at the standards framework underlying vessel condition — how ABYC standards are written, how they intersect with federal and international requirements, and how brokers can engage with the standards process through membership, project technical committees, and certification.
Legal Review: Tariffs and Record Retention
Eugene Samarin, Esq., of the Lochner Law Firm, delivered the day's highest-rated session — a practical walk through two issues that have been on every broker's mind: the shifting tariff and duty landscape as it applies to vessel transactions, and what records brokerages are actually required to retain.
Samarin, who served as lead counsel on the 2020 revisions to YBAA's full suite of listing and purchase agreements, covered the current state of Section 301 and Section 122 tariffs, the recent US–EU framework, ongoing litigation over tariff authority, and what all of it means for deals in progress. His core message to the room: this is a fast-moving area, documentation matters, and brokers should be having these conversations with clients before a transaction — not during one.
AI Optimization Panel
The day closed on the topic that generated the most requests for more: artificial intelligence, and what it actually means for brokers day to day.
Liz Walz, Director of Learning Vision & Impact at the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, opened with a framework for assessing where a brokerage sits on the AI adoption path — Aware, Experiment, Integrate, Optimize, Impact — and the three questions worth asking first: How can AI increase the value of the work I do? How can it improve our efficiency? How can we use it to gain a competitive advantage?
Garrett Schwartz and Domagoj Lalk Vidović of YachtOne followed with a live look at how buyer behavior is changing. Their thesis: "In 2012, Google rewarded the broker with the most listings. In 2026, AI rewards the broker with the best answers." Buyers increasingly ask ChatGPT, Google AI, and Perplexity the questions they once brought to a broker — which makes Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) the new front door.
But the panel was equally clear on the limits. AI can compare prices and research manufacturers. It cannot conduct a sea trial, coordinate a survey, negotiate a complex deal, or build trust with a client. As the presenters put it: AI isn't replacing brokers — it's replacing confusion.
The post-event survey backed up the appetite for more. Only two of 22 respondents described themselves as "very familiar" with AI, no respondent reported a formal AI policy at their brokerage, and several asked YBAA for practical governance resources. That work is now on the association's radar for the year ahead.
Awards, Receptions, and Thanks
The day closed with two presentations that mean a great deal to this association.
2026 CPYB Dedicated Service Award — Jeff Merrill, CPYB
The CPYB Dedicated Service Award recognizes a CPYB in good standing who is actively engaged in boating and sailing at the local, regional, or national level; who exemplifies the professionalism, ethical behavior, and business practices that are the trademark of the CPYB certification; and who actively promotes the CPYB program as a way for industry professionals to demonstrate their knowledge and professionalism.
This year's recipient is Jeff Merrill, CPYB, president of Jeff Merrill Yacht Sales, a brokerage specializing in trawlers worldwide. A career marine industry veteran of thirty years, Jeff spent his early years in sales and marketing roles across several marine businesses before focusing on offshore cruising boats for the past two decades. He holds yacht broker's licenses in California and Florida, belongs to four broker associations, and served seven years on the California Yacht Brokers Association board — including a term as CYBA president in 2015–2016. From 2023 to 2025, he served as Chair of the CPYB Certification Advisory Council.
2026 Vincent J. Petrella Chairman's Award — Don Finkle, CPYB
The Chairman's Award was first presented in 2019 and renamed in 2020 for Vin Petrella, honoring him as the founding member and first chairman of the Certification Advisory Council. Recipients are individuals actively engaged in boating and sailing at the local, regional, or national level; who exemplify the professionalism, ethics, and business practices that define the CPYB certification; who actively promote the CPYB program; and who serve their community to help those in need.
This year's recipient is Don Finkle, CPYB, CEO of RCR Yachts, Inc. Don grew up in a sailing family and went full-time in the boating industry in 1971. He has been with RCR since its founding in 1972, became a partner in 1975, and took over as CEO in the late 1990s. He joined YBAA in 1986 and was elected to the YBAA board in 2012. Today RCR runs new boat sales and brokerage across five sales locations in Upstate New York and Western Pennsylvania in both sail and power — carrying Beneteau, Back Cove, Alerion, C&C Yachts, and J/Boats — along with two full-service boatyards and marinas.
Beyond the business, Don has served on numerous dealer advisory councils and industry volunteer positions, and has spent more than forty years in sailing event organization, youth sailing, regatta management, and yacht club and sailing association leadership. An active sailor and racer, he lives in Youngstown, New York with his wife Heather, and has three grown children and four grandchildren.
Thank You to Our 2026 Sponsors
Shoreham Bank · Smith Yacht Sales · Sterling Bank · Global Yacht Appraisals · Northstar · Sterling Associates · IMTRA · Wm. J. Kolkmeyer Yachts · Worth Avenue Yachts · Crusader Yacht Sales
These companies stepped forward in support of YBAA and CPYB education and training. This event does not happen without them.
And our thanks to the Herreshoff Marine Museum for hosting us in a building that says everything about who we're trying to be as an industry.
Looking Ahead to 2027
Attendees have already told us what they want next year: surveys done properly, brokers' legal obligations as agents and fiduciaries, contract addendums, generational transition in boat ownership, selling in a down market, lead generation, and more AI — this time with brokerage-side results.
Planning for YBAA University 2027 is underway for Annapolis, MD in July 2026 — keep an eye on the YBAA event calendar for dates and registration. YBAA will also be expanding sponsorship opportunities at every level for 2027 and beyond. If your business benefits from a stronger, more visible, more professional yacht brokerage industry, we'd like to talk.
Not a member yet?
YBAA University is one of several ways the association invests in the people who move this industry forward. If you're a yacht sales professional who wasn't in the room this year, here's what membership and the CPYB credential open up:
- Year-round education, including the CPYB webinar series
- The Certified Professional Yacht Broker (CPYB) credential — the standard buyers and sellers are learning to look for
- YBAA's suite of listing and purchase agreements, maintained with maritime counsel
- A network of brokers who take this profession seriously
Learn about CPYB · View the YBAA Event Calendar
Setting the standard since 1920. Raising it today.