On board Alfie Best's Sunseeker yacht Wyldecrest

Best’s primary business, Wyldecrest Parks, is a series of static home (or park home – a kind of single-storey cabin) developments across the UK. He currently owns more than 100 parks, which accommodate 16,000 UK residents (largely retired or semi-retired), with another nine due by the end of this year and further developments planned in America.

The business is an ever-growing success, earning him recognition as Entrepreneur of the Year at the Signature Awards and NSMA Best Business and Financial Influencer in 2021. With Wyldecrest the yacht, however, Best believes he’s “going to score big” on the charter market, seeing her as a test case before expanding his fleet with similar vessels.

“We really have gone the extra mile with this,” he says of the boat. “I’ve set her up with brand-new jet skis, brand new Seabobs, a water jet pack, an inflatable pool… And I did that because, on a yacht of this size, I wanted to create a superyacht at an affordable level.”

With a beam of 7.16 metres and an extendable beach club that folds out using electric motors, when Wyldecrest is anchored, “you cannot tell the difference between her and a 165-footer (50-metre). In Marbella, we were next to a 135-footer, and we looked like we were the bigger boat,” he says. “What we’ve tried to do is create a yacht with everything you’d want, but at half the price of a yacht that would be the same size [when Wyldecrest’s platform is extended].”

“We have gone the extra mile on this... to create a superyacht at an affordable level”

Best believes charterers will be quick to spot the value in his offering. “Paying €80,000 [£70,100] a week instead of €125,000 for the same facilities? That’s a massive saving,” he says. “We’ve already got six weeks of charter bookings, which I think is phenomenal, considering you’re starting with something fresh, and we’re looking to grow this model, 100 per cent.”

Despite this, however, he says he’d sell Wyldecrest now for the right offer. “I come from a background that’s a little bit superstitious,” he says. “So, everything is for sale, the reason being I believe we’re here to maintain things, and pass them on to everybody else to enjoy in life. It should be a circle.”

Mediterranean ports are a world away from where Best grew up, in a caravan in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. “My mum and dad were hard-working people,” he explains. “My dad’s my idol – he’s 77 years old and still works seven days a week, doing manual jobs.” Best had “periodic schooling” and worked with his father up until the age of 14, doing odd jobs by going door to door. A career in static homes was a natural fit for him “because I have a real passion for this business – and I know better than most how a caravan works. Caravans are in my blood.”

There’s no doubt that Best has inherited his father’s work ethic, working 16 to 17 hours each day and often staying the night in various of his parks to put the facilities to the test, despite owning his own home in Knightsbridge, London. He puts his success down to “a certain amount of luck”, but also “hard work – just sheer grit – blood, blisters and tears”. With the static homes costing around 50 per cent less than the traditional bricks-and-mortar alternative, not to mention savings on Council Tax and utilities, Best sees the parks not only as a lucrative business but also a real solution to Britain’s current affordable housing crisis. The company has taken 35 years to build to the level it operates at currently. “It wasn’t an overnight success,” he admits, “but if I look back to [a moment in my life] then and think of today, the difference is massive – it’s worlds apart.”

He continues: “The thing that saved me – and I didn’t realise it saved me at the time – was the negative equity, because it wasn’t worth the bank repossessing them, as long as I paid the mortgages.” He predicts another recession on the horizon and is looking for business opportunities – such as chartering Wyldecrest – to suit the changing mood. “People will make corrections,” he foresees, “and all of a sudden, if they feel they can get virtually the same value for a little bit less…”

“It wasn’t an overnight success but if I look back, the difference is massive”

Part of the success of Wyldecrest Parks, he explains, and something he’s sure to carry into his other businesses, is his ability to read people and hire strong staff. “Never ask anybody to trust you,” is his best business advice, “because if you ask people to trust you, they will accept everything that you say is right, and they won’t check. I have a fantastic team around me because they check – and when people do this for me, I seem to make fewer mistakes,” he says.

Wyldecrest Parks doesn’t market itself solely to the Romany community (in fact, 99 per cent of buyers are from outside) and Best is clearly frustrated and upset at the stigma that comes with the label. “You’re not going to openly state that you’re a gypsy when you’re in business, because it comes with that stereotype,” he says. “I believe it’s the last acceptable form of racism – actually it’s not racism, I call it what it is, which is abuse. And it’s getting worse.”

When it comes to the future of the family business, he’s keen to support his children, Alfie and Elizabeth, but is wary of the pitfalls that wealth brings. “They’d say I’m hard, they’d say I’m difficult,” he says. “Do I give them any help? Of course, I do. I try to give them good advice, and if they need loans to set up businesses, I’m happy to do that, but the money must be repaid. The thing is, bringing up children isn’t easy. There’s no guide to it.”

“Bringing up children isn’t easy. There’s no guide to it.”

He adds: “I personally think the best thing that my dad ever did for me – which I try to do for my children – is to be the advice they need, to lead by example.”

As his business expands abroad – and yachts in other ports beckon – a move away from the UK could be on the horizon, he says. Best is disenchanted with the current political leadership. “Do I think it was the right thing to come out of Europe? No, not really,” he says. “But once the vote had been made, once our country had decided it and our people had voted on it, let’s get on with it… But they didn’t,” he says of today’s politicians.

“I would love to stay in the UK, but this country makes it so difficult for successful people to do that,” he goes on. “I have options all over the world to move and I will. I will either go to Monaco or Dubai, or somewhere that’s more tax-efficient for me as a person.”

When not working, Best boxes, as does Alfie Best Jr, but his hobbies are otherwise limited. “Alcohol, sex, drugs and rock and roll,” he laughs. “Actually, nothing, which might make me a bit of a boring person.”

“The thing is, my fun is what I’m doing, and I’m frightened not to do it,” he goes on. “I’m frightened not to do it, because I don’t ever want to go back to sleeping in the back of a van.” Hopefully, from the master cabin of Wyldecrest, those days will seem very far behind him.

Wyldecrest is for charter by West Nautical from €80,000 per week, westnautical.com

First published in the May 2022 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.