Hi, I’m Phil Friedman …
I have more than 40 years hands-on professional experience in the recreational marine industry, as a yacht designer, boat builder, boating journalist, and marine operations and business manager.
My most recent consulting work includes the general and manufacturing management of Tartan/Legacy Yachts, where my direction of turnaround efforts resulted in, among other things, the naming of a newly developed and engineered Tartan sailing yacht model, the T365 Mark II, as Boat of the Year for 2022, by Cruising World Magazine.
Some of my other recent work includes the start-up planning and initial new-build management for two new semi-custom yacht lines in China; the project management on behalf of an owner of an 80-foot new build semi-custom motor yacht in Taiwan; the management of engineering for a naval architectural and boatbuilding firm; the supervision of the prototype construction for a new line of 65-foot high performance catamaran motor yachts that incorporated patented active air-lift technology; and the start-up planning and operations management of AeroLite Marine Interiors, a marine joinery firm that specialized in the fabrication and installation of high quality, ultra-light yacht cabinetry and furniture.
Before that, as president and CEO of Palmer Johnson Yachts, I was responsible for executive management of a group of companies that built world-renown megayachts with annual gross revenues in excess of $100 million and employed some 600 employees at two shipyards and various other locations across the U.S. Under my direction, PJ developed and sold several hundred million dollars in new yacht construction and major refit work, and built and delivered a dozen luxury megayachts in the 30- to 60-meter range utilizing Critical Path Planning and Management techniques introduced by me to the company.
With Port Royal Marine, Inc. from 1984 to the present time, I’ve provided a broad range of marine-related technical, marketing, and business consulting services to a wide array of clients that included yacht owners, boatbuilders, marine manufacturers, and aerospace companies, as well as advertising and public relations firms.
I’ve also served as VP-Operations and CFO for a multi-location Hatteras and Bertram yacht dealership and chain of boatyards employing 150 craftsmen and trades people in the maintenance and refit of luxury yachts. And, through the years, operated my own custom boatbuilding shops, while maintaining a small, but active yacht design and survey practice. Numerous yachts have been built to my designs in various parts of the world, several of which have made successful trans-oceanic passages.
As Senior Editor for Power & Motoryacht magazine, I tested and evaluated hundreds of yachts worldwide, and I’ve published more than 1,400 articles on yacht design, engineering, construction, repair, and maintenance in just about every English-language boating and yachting magazine in the western hemisphere. Additionally, I was the author of the electrics and electronics chapters of several later editions of Chapman’s Piloting, Seamanship, & Small Boat Handling, considered by many to be the bible of recreational boating. My articles have appeared in Professional Boatbuilder, Boatbuilding, Boating, Motorboating & Sailing, Yachting, Sail, Marlin, Boating World, Motorboat, Canadian Yachting, Pacific Yachting, Canadian Power Illustrated, Sailing Canada, Small Boat Journal, Motoryacht International, and other marine publications. I still publish regularly in print and digital magazines such as PassageMaker and Power and Motoryacht, as well as on my own digital channels.
Working on a more theoretical plane, I created the curriculum for, and directed the Marine Industry Management Program at Humber College of Applied Arts & Technology (Toronto), where I also taught boatbuilding and design. I am proud to say I was among the first people in the industry to apply computerized P.E.R.T. Analysis and Critical Path Management (CPM) to the construction of yachts. And as early as 1981, I was awarded a grant by the Canadian National Research Council for my work in developing a computerized specification program for building small, sail-assisted commercial fishing craft.
For additional background information, including a photo-illustrated portfolio of prior work and letters of recommendation from several marine industry professionals, you can go to my LinkedIn profile and/or Google ‘phil friedman yacht‘.
THE PORT ROYAL GROUP
Tel: 1.954.224.2145 – Email: Phil@portroyalgroup.com
Greater Fort Lauderdale Area, Florida, USA
(Office Hours by Appointment Only)
Copyright © 2013-2022 by the Port Royal Group – All Rights Reserved
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