OUR STORY
Who is behind Yacht-Match? How did it all start? And why?
The Founders
Viktor and Dirk – the founding partners and the brains behind Yacht-Match. Also, your professional and personal guides and consultants.
Viktor Van Savooyen
Viktor is a keen waterman with a passion for travelling and new experiences. With an international background and excellent language skills, he found his way to working on commercial vessels and into the yachting world.
Viktor has worked with international procurement processes and sales. He has a long career in technical sales. Before starting Yacht-Match, he was a business manager for some of the industry-leading charter management providers and yacht sales.
“I wanted to reconnect with the essence of what yachting is: craftmanship, enthusiastic and passionate people, thoughtful and like-minded world citizens. It’s a privilege to represent many unique and professional partners and share their expertise. Not to mention being able to guide and help our customers to find the perfect yacht and realise their dreams.”
Dirk Agter
Coming from the Netherlands, Dirk grew up on the water passing his time by the many lakes, waterways and long coast line.
He started sailing at the age of eight and even sailed the Ronde om Texel twice as a youngster. Already at a young age, Dirk became familiar with all kinds of sailboats up to 62 ft and catamarans up to 45 ft. Besides sailing, he is passionate about windsurfing.
On the professional side, Dirk has worked in the leisure marine business since 1988. He has built his career through various positions: yacht broker, dealer, charter business manager, dealer manager, independent sales manager and now co-founder of Yacht-Match.
“My main drive is to help people with making decisions with honest advice. I’m raised not to be competitive at the cost of others, but to seek cooperation with mutual benefit.”
How it all started
While Viktor was selling yachts and charter weeks, he noticed there is a lot of passion and expert knowledge in the yachting industry. However, this was not presented for and fully understood by the public. In addition, the competition in the industry was fierce (and still is), leading to operators struggling and communicating the same advantages, without giving any relevant value to their audience.
At the same time, Dirk was scanning the market for the best opportunities for his customers and partners. Throughout his years in the leisure marine business, Dirk had built up a broad network of contacts in the international market. He noticed that a lot of the smaller charter operators had a hard time finding matching clients and vice versa.
We sat together to speak about the industry and exchanged our views. On one hand, Viktor wanted to offer his clients a more personalised solution to their investment preferences. On the other hand, Dirk saw the charter operators had a need for new investors who they couldn’t reach themselves.
We came to the following conclusions:
- Charter clients and investors are misinformed and confused, or don’t have enough of information available to them. They find it hard to make the right decision – or any decision at all – when planning on investing in a yacht.
- Charter operators are losing their core identity and their voice to the louder ones. They find it hard to reach new clients and grow.
Mission & Vision
Empowering you with the same hind-sight that a second or third-time yacht owner has gained from his charter management ownership
Our Mission
Whether new or experienced, our mission is to give you a comprehensive overview of the possibilities in the yacht charter management market. We will make you an informed decision-maker with the freedom of choice.
Our Vision
Our vision is to become the leading independent match-maker between the investor and yacht charter operator, while maintaining an informative role on the international yacht charter management market.
Meet the Yacht-Match Team
Dirk Agter
Our co-founder and an acknowledged
yachtsman with over 35 years of
experience in the leisure marine industry
working for the largest shipyards and
acting an independent yachting
consultant.
Yacht-Match Group
Viktor van Savooyen
Our co-founder and a well merited
broker and purchase advisor within the
yacht charter management market.
Yacht-Match Group
Daria Petrova
Our yacht charter agent -and charter
manager with 20 years of experience and
a wealth of knowledge if the yacht
charter market.
Yacht-Match
Charter &
Management
Kristina Karg
Our sailing event coordinator and
charter agent specialist with a true
passion for sailing and coordinating
exceptional sailing adventures and
regattas.
Yacht-Match
Charter &
Management
Inez Stertefeld
Our customer relationship coordinator
and a true adventurer and avid sailor
dedicated to making sure all of our
boatowners are taken care off and their
yachts.
Yacht-Match
Yachts &
Brokerage
Tim Bom
Tim is a captain, and a true yachtsman
as well as leading our own technical
after-market team of four people that
travel all corners of the world to service
and follow our boatowners.
Yacht-Match
Charter &
Management
Lennaert Evers
Our unique off-grid energy solutions
specialist.
Yacht-Match
Propulsion
David Czap
Our inhouse naval engineer and one of the leading pioneers into green energy and propulsion systems from his ventures with Naval DC and Soel Yachts.
Yacht-Match
Propulsion
Nicolas Munk-Rechnitze
Our own sailing instructor and race team
event coordinator with an incredible
passion for sailing and a wealth of
knowledge that he transmits to our boat
owners.
Yacht-Match
Yachts &
Brokerage
Agnes Kucharska
Our communication specialist and
marketing coordinator with a new found
curiosity for yachting and all things outdoors.
Yacht-Match Group
Tijana Petrusevska
Our passionate pre-sales coordinator
and sales administrator with experience
from the Adriatic yacht charter market.
Yacht-Match Group
Alden Sabanovic
Our inhouse web developer & graphical
designer with over 10 years of experience
in the travel industry.
Yacht-Match Group
