YYachts at 10 years

When Michael Schmidt completed Cool Breeze in Greifswald in 2015, he insists he was not trying to start a company, only to build a yacht he actually wanted to sail. While this is a familiar origin story in specialist yacht building, Schmidt’s biography makes it unusually plausible. With more than five decades in the trade, he raced offshore during the first Admiral’s Cup era, built carbon race boats at Yachtwerft Wedel before the material became fashionable, then founded Hanse Yachts, growing it into the world’s third-largest production boatbuilder.