George Nicholson was educated at Cheltenham College in England. After engineering training at Thornycroft, he did a brief stretch at the Camper &
Nicholsons drawing office in Southampton. He then was sent to Cannes to persuade owners of the larger yachts, who had left the United Kingdom for tax reasons, to return, at least for their yacht refits. When this didn’t work, it became obvious to Nicholson that, when compared to northern waters, the Med was going to be the future center of large yachting. He formed Camper & Nicholsons International (CNI) in Cannes in 1961, but purely as an employee and 10 percent subsidiary of C&N. He was not a shareholder in either.

In 1978, Nicholson left C&N (after giving one year’s notice). He formed Solidmark, where he was self-employed. The company did well, first in new construction, and then when it added brokerage and later charter when his children were old enough to work in the business. This gave him enough money to buy back CNI in 1992 when he was approached by the then-shareholders. The rest is modern yachting history.

Hometown: Hamble, on the south coast of England
Age: 71
Profession: Chairman of Camper & Nicholsons International, a full-service yacht brokerage company
First boat: 12-foot National dinghy
Current yacht: International Dragon Pistou—GBR 672
Most memorable boating moments: Winning the Burton trophy, 1958; being selected for the 5.5-meter class for the 1960 Olympic Games; landing on Cape Horn; refueling ECO in the mid-Atlantic when crossing and using gas turbines all the way
Greatest professional achievement: Starting CNI in 1961 and beating out the locally established competition by 1975
If you had another pass at a career, what would it be? Connected in some way to art
Closest boating buddy: Two, but both now deceased; Emilio Azcárraga and Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan
Weekday wake-up time: 7:30 a.m.
Hobbies: Classic cars and collecting marine antiques
Last book read: "Charlie Wilson’s War" (by George Crile)
Favorite dance music: Classic jazz and 1950s/’60s swing
Proudest moment: Difficult question, but I think it was probably achieving some 36 knots with ECO on sea trials in the Baltic. It had been a huge responsibility advising my friend Emilio Azcárraga to go ahead and build such a radical yacht, where so many things had never been done before. When she actually did her stuff, it was a very emotional moment telephoning Mexico to let Emilio know that we (with Martin Francis and Blohm & Voss) had pulled it off.
First job: Engineering apprentice at John I. Thornycroft (now Vospers)
Best job: I have not had many jobs. It was very satisfying being successful with Solidmark, which enabled me to buy back CNI in 1992.
Favorite movie: Just about all the great musicals
Preferred wheels: 1931 vintage four-liter Bentley with a crash gearbox
Preferred wings: Swiss and NetJets
Do you ever take the controls? I owned a Piper Super Cub for a number of years. I sold it in 1973. Have not flown since, except for a little gliding.
Favorite timepiece: Blancpain Flyback
Favorite clothing designer: Loro Piana. High quality, good range and not flashy.
Favorite cruising grounds: Greek Islands. Distances are perfect, and one can select the weather conditions desired by choosing different areas. Still largely unspoiled.
Favorite sports: Sailing small boats and competitive classic car rallies
What positions do you prefer? Skipper and driver
Favorite port: Saint-Tropez. It still has an unspoiled town, is animated and has excellent sailing.
Latest impulse purchase: I am about to add to my collection of very early marine chronometers. The engineering in these pieces is fantastic when one considers the development period was from 1760 to 1830. Just about every horological trick and invention used in today’s luxury watches was invented during this period, before electricity, electric tools and electric light.