Our Story

I MISSED MY FLIGHT.
IT BUILT THIS COMPANY.

How it started

I started my first travel company at nineteen. It was called Life Before Work.

It began in Thailand, then expanded to Bali, then South and Central America. For eleven years that was my life — building trips, building teams, building a company I was proud of.

Then I was at a travel conference and got talking to a company chartering yachts in Turkey. I couldn't stop thinking about it. What would it be like to host an experience on a boat?

A few days later I missed my flight out of London. Instead of rebooking sensibly, I opened my phone, searched flights, and decided I would go wherever came up first.

It was Bodrum, Turkey — the same place as the yacht company.

So I flew there. I walked their fleet. And I chartered the largest boat they had. We still charter that boat today.

Bodrum, Turkey — where Xpand Yachts began

The Journey

FROM ONE BOAT
TO A FLEET OF SEVENTEEN

Age Nineteen

Life Before Work

A travel company built from scratch — Thailand first, then Bali, then South and Central America.

The Missed Flight

London to Bodrum

One missed plane, one impulsive booking, and a walk around a yacht fleet that changed the direction of everything.

The First Charter

The biggest boat they had

No experience, no plan, and the largest vessel in the fleet. It remains part of our fleet to this day.

The Years After

Yacht Life — fifty charters and counting

Adventure-first voyages for a young crowd. At our peak we ran trips in eighteen countries with a team of more than fifty people.

2020

Everything stops

COVID took the whole company. Bankruptcy, $350,000 of debt, and a start from nothing.

Today

Xpand Yachts

Seventeen vessels across the Mediterranean, Seychelles and Red Sea — and a business built around helping other people host their own retreats at sea.

The rebuild

By thirty, I wanted to build something that meant more.

The trips had been loud and fun and I loved them. But I wanted work with more depth in it — health, wellness, personal development. I was halfway through rebuilding the entire brand around that idea.

Then COVID arrived and took all of it. I went bankrupt, $350,000 in debt. Eighteen countries, fifty staff, eleven years of work — gone.

That part was harder than the money. So much of who I thought I was had been wrapped up in being the guy with the travel company. When it disappeared, I had to work out what was actually left.

What was left was everything I had learned.

A yacht anchored in a quiet Mediterranean bay

Something happens to a group on the water that does not happen on land. The phones go quiet. The day is shaped by wind and light instead of a schedule. People arrive as strangers and leave changed.

Brady · Founder

What we're about

WE DON'T FILL OUR OWN BOATS.
WE HELP YOU FILL YOURS.

After fifty-plus charters we know what makes a week at sea work, and what quietly ruins one. Xpand exists to put that behind other people's retreats — so you can host your own without learning it the expensive way.

50+

Charters Hosted

Countries Operated

Vessels in Fleet

10–44

Guests per Voyage

⚓

Hard-won experience, not guesswork

Every recommendation comes from voyages we have actually run — the routes that work, the boats that suit a group, the mistakes worth avoiding.

✦

The logistics are ours

Vessel selection, itinerary, excursions, crew coordination and on-the-ground support. You focus on your people and your programme.

◆

Honest numbers

Transparent pricing and a clear view of your margin before you commit. No surprises between the quote and the invoice.

✈

Built for organisers

Coaches, facilitators, wellness leaders and corporate teams. If you can fill a boat, we can make the week extraordinary.

Brady, founder of Xpand Yachts, aboard a yacht at sunset in Bodrum

I love being on the water. It is one of the great passions of my life, and I have never found another way to create what a week at sea creates. I am beyond excited to share it with more people.

Brady Founder, Xpand Yachts

I MISSED MY FLIGHT.IT BUILT THIS COMPANY.

FROM ONE BOATTO A FLEET OF SEVENTEEN