Meet IYG’s Swiss Army Knife

Conrad Vanderlely leveraged a lifetime of boating into a career he loves.

The way he tells it, Conrad Vanderlely had a childhood scripted by Hollywood. His father was a marine-industry veteran who was a key player in the macho-man heyday of go-fast racing in South Florida in the 1980s. “He had a company called Offshore Enterprises and they did everything,” remembers Conrad, “full rigging, engine rebuilds, you name it. And I got to run around the shop as a kid playing with a bandsaw.”

Vanderlely—who it should be noted still has all ten fingers—even had a Magnum on a lift behind his house for a time. The Vanderlely’s lived on the water in Fort Lauderdale, and though the Magnum is the headliner, the boat that really stoked his childhood dreams was a 15-foot Boston Whaler. “Other kids would go home after school and ride bikes or play video games,” he says, “but I’d go tear around on the boat every single day—this back when no one cared how fast you went. It was a real education as a kid to get to know a boat inside and out and it’s something that I’ve fortunately been able to carry forward with me into my career in yacht brokerage.”

After earning a degree in environmental science from Nova Southeastern, Vanderlely got a job as an aquatic biologist in Pompano Beach overseeing aeration systems for various home owners associations. The gig was about as exciting as it sounds. Plus it didn’t pay very well. “One year they gave me a raise that was equal to 25 cents per hour, and that’s when I knew it was time to leave,” he says.

He had a meeting with a large brokerage firm that offered him the opportunity to come onboard with him and start selling yachts. Though it took Vanderlely nearly a year to actually pull the trigger on taking a job with no base salary, he eventually decided to take that path in 2013.

Adjusting to his new position, Vanderlely cut his teeth in the trade, and found a career where he could apply his love of boats and the water. The mix of avocation and vocation was intoxicating, and the young man found himself happy at work for the first time in his adult life.

Around that time he and Boomer Jousma met through their wives, who knew each other from years before. Vanderlely and Jousma became quick friends, bonding over their love of boats, and their love of selling them. He soon signed on at IYG and quickly found the boutique-style yacht brokerage he had been looking for. “It’s such a small and nimble agency,” he says. “They ask me to do everything and I am happy to do it. You could call me the Swiss Army Knife of IYG, whatever needs to be done, I’m the guy.”

Vanderlely also found George Jousma’s behind-the-scenes work to be invaluable. “George is this neverending fountain of knowledge when it comes to transactions,” he says. “He’s seen it all before and he knows the right angle to make a deal work. He is so great to talk to when you have a question on something you are working on.”

Now in his sixth year with IYG, Vanderlely has really hit his stride. He just sold an Ocean Alexander 90 to a client that he initially bumped into on the docks at the Fort Lauderdale show a few years ago. He also has his sights set on the next stage of his career, which he views as being involved with a new build. “I think it would be really satisfying to start a boat from a blank piece of paper,” he says. “I’d love to be able to fly over to the shipyards and see the yacht during all the stages of construction. That’s something that really appeals to me. Maybe it’s something that grabs me because as a kid I was always around boats in different states of repair. I think it would be nice to come full circle and build one from scratch.”

No word on if he plans to bring his bandsaw with him.