November 24, 2008
Darren Coleman and Joey Ricciardelli are known as the YES Boys. Partners in the Ft. Lauderdale-based Yacht Entertainment Systems, the "boys" have built a business installing and maintaining audio-visual systems on motor yachts.
If they look familiar, that’s because they attend most Triton events and usually do the music. This month, they will sponsor our monthly networking event from 6-8 p.m. on Dec. 3 at All-Stars Sports Bar & Grill on State Road 84 just west of I-95 on the south side of the road. (Fair warning, there will be karaoke. And while Joey tries to get Triton guests to partake nearly every month, this time he’s determined.)
It’s impossible to interview just one of the boys. They come as a team to most jobs and work as a team in all facets of their business. So learn a little about YES here and make plans to join us Dec. 3.
Q: So tell us about YES.
Joey: We were working together about 10 years ago for an A/V company and three years later we split off.
Darren: We went to work on our own under the name Coleman Electronics. And after a case and a half of beer, decided to start YES.
Q: Yeah, but what do you do?
Darren: Anything from a new build to a refit to service calls. We can design and do the engineering or just consult on audio, video, satellite …
Joey: Control systems, and wi-fi. That pretty much covers it all.
Q: Tell us about your biggest job.
Joey: Well, we played a major tole in helping Westport bring all of its entertainment stuff in house. That happened about a year ago.
Darren: We have done a lot of work on several new Westports. And each one has a different system, even though they are production boats.
Q: I understand you have a new service. Tell us about it.
Darren: It’s an A/V survey, basically We come onboard and scurry around like rats, go room by room, checking out all the equipment on board. When we’re done, we tell you what you have. We take photos of everything and put it all down on one-page cheat sheets.
Joey: And after that, we’re just a phone call away. Hey, a new captain or crew on a boat have so much going on to make sure the major things are intact. But the owner is not concerned that they are working on the engines. Entertainment is a show stopper.
Q: What do you mean by that?
Darren: Captains have told us that the TV is one of the top three show stoppers when the owner comes on.
Joey: If there’s no A/C or plumbing when the owner steps on board, he’s leaving. If there’s no food, he’s leaving. Next in line is his entertainment.
Q: So how did your idea of doing these A/V surveys come about?
Joey: We realized just by talking to crew that they are worried about how to make it all work.
Darren: The owner will ask them to put the music on the aft deck and they don’t know how to do it. Crew panic about that.
Joey: I’ll bet they sweat over this more than anything else. They’re all so afraid of it, afraid that if they hit the wrong button it’s going to sink the boat.
Darren: A lot of it [crew concern] comes in as service calls, and we ask, ‘do you know what you have?’ And they say, ‘No, we’re new on the boat.’ From that came the survey idea.
Q: How long does it take to do that? These are boats you’ve never seen before, right?
Joey: Right. We don’t know, usually, what’s on the boat. It can take a day, or it can take a week.
Q: What do you charge for it?
Darren: It’s still pretty new for us. We both go out and we don’t charge our full rate for both of us. It’s a portion of that. It really depends on the boat and the complexity of the job. A 100-footer could be more complicated than a 200-foot boat.
Joey: In any case, it’s not going to be thousands of dollars. It’s just our time.
Darren: And the initial consultation is free.
Q: We have to note the coolest part about YES: You’ve taken over The Triton’s old office on South Andrews Avenue.
Joey: We’ve been around almost five years, just like you guys, and we were working out of Darren’s little apartment. When you guys moved out of there, we moved in and spruced it up a bit.
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