Meet Cam Bray, founder of The Superyacht People, and discover his journey into yachting, favourite destinations and what 25 years has taught him.
Like most people, I found my way into yachting a little bit by accident. Twenty-five years ago, it was never really marketed as a career. I was travelling through Europe in my early twenties and had done a ski season in France. Some friends said, “When the snow melts, we’ll head down to the South of France and work on yachts.” I thought I’d do it for a season, then head back to London, put the suit and tie on and use the business degree I’d gone to university for.
Instead, I ended up working as a deckhand on a yacht owned by a Saudi princess. She wanted me to stay, so I did, and I spent the next few years working my way up the ladder.
However, I never set out to become a career captain. What kept me in the industry was that I genuinely fell in love with it. There’s something incredibly satisfying about creating extraordinary experiences for people with the highest expectations and then finding a way to exceed them. I realised pretty quickly that was exactly where I wanted to be.
One of the best things about our industry is that no two days are ever really the same. We try to have some structure around what we do, but this is a global industry — it’s definitely not Monday to Friday, nine to five.
My day usually starts pretty early, around four or five in the morning. I try to get some training or exercise in, although sometimes that gets pushed aside when I wake up to an inbox full of enquiries from clients or brokers in Europe or the US who are still online. Being able to have that immediate dialogue and respond quickly rather than waiting another 24 hours is incredibly valuable.
From there, a lot of my day is focused on business development, which I love — finding new clients, meeting with owners and crew, and continuing to build our charter management and Central Agency charter and sales fleet.
There’s also a bigger-picture element to it. I’m passionate about growing the industry overall, whether that’s through initiatives here in Australia or expanding what’s possible for superyachts across the South Pacific.
The people.
I got into this industry because I love making people happy, and yachting gives us an incredible opportunity to do that. At the end of the day, we’re involved in the fun side of people’s lives, and I think it’s important that we remember that and don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Our clients come to us because we’re the experts, and we take that responsibility seriously. But our job is also to make the experience enjoyable, to build those relationships, understand what people really want and create experiences they’ll remember.
And, of course, I love that no two days are the same. Yachting becomes part of your life, but it never really feels like a chore.
That I don’t spend every day sitting on a yacht drinking rosé.
You’d be surprised how common that perception is. I’ve even had people think this is somehow a fake job that doesn’t really exist.
The reality is that this is still a serious business. We work with some of the most astute and successful business people in the world. There are complex negotiations, significant decisions being made and incredibly high expectations to deliver on.
That challenge is actually one of the things I love most. We’re constantly being pushed to perform at the highest level and then find a way to surprise people by going beyond what they expected.
It’s very hard to choose just one. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to experience yachting from a few different perspectives: as crew, on familiarisation trips and as a guest of owners and clients.
More recently, I was onboard BIG SKY with the owner and friends, cruising through French Polynesia from Tahiti to Bora Bora. What stayed with me most was the sense that this incredible world exists whether we’re there or not. None of it felt manufactured for tourists or for yachts. We were simply privileged enough to experience their world for a little while.
It might sound a little cliché, but for me it would be the Amalfi Coast. I feel like I’ve got some unfinished business there. I cruised through the area as a crew member, but I’d love to go back as a charter guest with my family and properly explore Capri, Positano, Amalfi and Sorrento.
I’d spend the days discovering those beautiful restaurants tucked into the bottom of the cliffs that you can only really reach by boat, turning up in a linen shirt and board shorts with nowhere else you need to be.
That would be pretty hard to beat.
We’re always chasing perfection, but mine would start with a really active morning on the water, hitting the waterslide, Jet Skis, foil boards, whatever we can get our hands on. I’d want to properly immerse myself in it rather than just sit and watch.
Then it’s a long, grazing lunch with plenty of rosé, followed by cruising into a beautiful anchorage for sunset.
Finish with dinner and a bit of a party with my family and closest friends and I’d call that a pretty perfect day.
Probably on my bike or in the kitchen.
I love cycling. It’s one of the ways I switch off and escape from everything for a while. Cooking is the other one, I genuinely love cooking for people, which I suppose comes back to that same enjoyment I get from making people happy.
Although, if you asked my friends, they’d probably say you’re most likely to find me at a restaurant having a very long lunch and drinking a lot of rosé.
There’s probably some truth in all three.
Whether you’re planning a charter, seeking support for your yacht or exploring a new opportunity, start a conversation with Cam.
For charter enquiries, industry collaborations, or media opportunities:
A Go To For The South Pacific
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Exploring the underwater world
Emma Salvesen 
