Over the last year we did spend many, many sessions with Dijkstra’s design team optimising Long Tall Sally’s design, inside and out. Implementing all the requirements from our list, however insignificant some of them seemed, into the design yielded some of the most rewarding moments of the project so far. Tax, legal en financial issues have not met with similar exitement within the team. But still, those issues form part of the project so they have to be addressed. Should a winch be misplaced 15 cm, owners and crew will not hesitate to let us know. Should we opt for a legal structure that would not cover real life issues once the vessel has been launched, her owners will also suffer.
By the end of last month we decided to put together glossy promotional materials: an atmosphere brochure with a more serious follow up information memorandum, for those really interested in our fractional ownership program. The latter should deal with financial, tax and legal issues, on a very detailed level. Based on what our advisors have told us previously, the whole structure is pretty clear to us. Putting it on paper therefor does not pose serious challenges. We know the ins and outs, but do we really?
To know for a 100% and up to the last tiny detail, our draft text will have to be reviewed by our banker, our tax and legal advisors and the yard. Their remarks will undoubtfully lead to certain changes to the text and these changes will again have to be reviewed by the same people for their final approval. We now know that putting things on paper is one thing. Knowing what you have put on paper is right, is quite another thing.
