A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

Rod and Kylie Salmon

A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

Rod and Kylie Salmon

Kinship

A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

Rod Salmon has grand plans for his new superyacht Oneworld, and his family are coming along for the ride.

By Dominique Afacan | 22 May 2018

“I got into yachting later in life,” says Rod Salmon, owner of new superyacht Oneworld, currently sitting in Sydney Harbour. “My wife and I had been part of a boat sharing club before, but we decided that after working a lot of hours for a lot of years, it would be a great opportunity to own our own.” Oneworld is the happy result of their decision to take the plunge, a 31m motor yacht with room for all of their nearest and dearest. “I don’t want to be too precious with it,” says Salmon, “it’s a lifestyle asset that I’m happy to share with my family and friends.”

A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

Oneworld was the perfect backdrop for Rod's daughter's wedding photos

A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

Oneworld was the perfect backdrop for Rod's daughter's wedding photos

After a career spent in hospitality and property development, Rod and wife Kylie were a step ahead when it came to creating a yacht that would be a crowd pleaser, a bonus, given that they plan to charter it out when they aren’t using it themselves. “Sydney Harbour is a sort of a day charter market, which is different to anywhere else in the world,” explains Salmon. “When we told the shipbuilders that we’d like the boat to hold 80 people at a time, they looked at us as though we were a bit crazy, but we wanted to be able to host cocktail parties and events. It’s been spectacularly successful in the short period it’s been here.”

The boat currently has introductory packages for two-hour cocktail cruises as well as a three-day itinerary taking in Sydney Harbour and nearby destinations like Pittwater, an hour or so north. “In Australia, charter prices can seem scary,” explains Salmon, “so this option of not going for a whole week means people can have an introductory experience for not a lot of money per head.” It’s a smart idea, designed to attract a new type of charter guest, and with Rod and Kylie at the helm, there is no doubt it will be executed perfectly. “We just know from a back-of-house perspective what is necessary to cater to 100 people,” says Salmon. “We’ve adapted the yacht for hospitality.”

A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

OneWorld cruises underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge

A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

OneWorld cruises underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge

The boat will arguably have the best spot in town when Sydney’s famous light show, Vivid, comes around in June. “It takes place every year and it goes on for about 20 days,” says Salmon. “We’ll be here bobbing around in the harbour and we’ll park the boat out for the concerts.” Of course, there are plans to go further afield, too and Rod and his wife have plans to take the boat around Australia, specifically to the Whitsundays, where Salmon’s all-time favourite beaches are to be found.

“The beaches up on Whitsunday are to die for,” says Salmon. “The most famous is Whitehaven on the eastern side. You’ll see hundreds of small stingrays flapping about in the water and soldier crabs covering the beach; as you walk across the sand it’s like the ground is moving in front of you. And of course, there’s nobody there as it’s literally only reachable by boat.”

A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

Rod’s daughter and her groom take the plunge for a wedding day photo shoot

A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

Rod’s daughter and her groom take the plunge for a wedding day photo shoot

It’s perhaps understandable, hearing tempting descriptions like this, that Salmon’s children are keen to join the party – and in fact recently even posed for wedding photos on board. “I’ve got three grown-up kids who have already booked the boat for various days and periods and who want to come and join us on board,” he says.  “We’ve already had a few nice days out with the family and we’ve got grandkids now too so that’s the next stage.”

In fact, Salmon and his son have plans to head up to Hamilton Island in the coming weeks to do a diving course, ensuring that they make the most of the rich marine life on their upcoming trips. “The whole family has done diving before, but we thought we’d go the extra mile,” says Salmon. The pair should be qualified before the boat heads up to Papua New Guinea, stopping off at some of Australia’s more unchartered destinations en route. “Across the top of Australia, there are some really great places that you can’t get to without a superyacht or a helicopter,” explains Salmon. “There’s the Kimberleys, Broome and others; some of it is almost uncharted land.”

A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

Kylie and Rod Salmon

A new style of family holiday on board Oneworld

Kylie and Rod Salmon

There is also a charter trip planned for Tasmania in January, and Rod and Kylie have plans to jump on afterwards and do their guests’ itinerary in reverse. By the sounds of it, the kids might already be on board by the time they arrive. “The kids have all come through the hospitality industry,” says Salmon, “and they’ve all said that they wouldn’t mind working the boat for a charter trip to see how it all runs. I found it funny that instead of asking if they could just come and hang on it, they wanted to work on it! I like the fact that they are still very grounded.”

Salmon might already have his work cut out for him, immersing himself in the superyacht world for the first time whilst simultaneously creating the perfect charter yacht, but there are even grander plans on the horizon. “Once we get comfortable with this superyacht, we’re considering a large sailing catamaran,” he explains. “The plan is to look at something more like a world touring boat,”

“We’re a bit too busy right now to turn left at Sydney Harbour and see where the wind takes us, but we have plenty of time to consider that in future.”

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