Lagoons and Leopards make the best charter boats in my opinion (when talking about $250k-800k boats)...Catamarans are the best because you have maximum staterooms, double the room of a monohull and the boat is super-stable (for those charter guests prone to seasickness this is a must)........I have owned two Lagoons and like them a lot... we can get you a 3-5 year old boat and capture the most depreciation but get the most maintenance-free boat possible....in the charter business most charterers want to bring as many people as will fit. So the cost of the vacation on a "per person basis" is the lowest... so the 4 and 5 stateroom charter versions are better for this...your utilization will be higher with a "charter version" boat than an "Owner Version" boat...so, for example, in the BVI you may get 16-23 weeks/year of charter with a "charter version" boat and the "Owner Version" boat may only do 11-14 weeks...so you have to decide what is more important to you.
Yes, I like flybridges a lot because they become the focal point for sunset cocktail parties and having coffee in the morning...and also whilst underway everyone wants to be up there...I also think it's safer because you can see much further ahead (especially at night) when you are higher up...you also gian more usable square footage in the cockpit...a few people will say "but they have to raise the main and you lose sail area" to accomodate a flybridge... but in my opinion the drawbacks to losing a few square feet of sail area are far outweighed by the benefits of a flybridge...the best boat in the price range we are talking about? The Lagoon 500 (5 stateroom version) with mini-flybridge...the Lagoon 560 and 620 are awesome big sisters.
There is a sailing school in Miami (where I am an instructor) called Castle Harbor Sailing School where you can take the beginning sailing courses...it's best to learn on a smaller keelboat because they are more sensitive to the wind and I think you gain a better knowledge of boat handling on a smaller keelboat than a larger (more sluggish) keelboat.... and then I recommend taking the week long live-aboard catamaran course in the Bahamas with Bluewater Sailing School...this will get you some basic knowledge
The reason I stopped doing charters:
I was a captain of some sailing yachts that were in charter in the Bahamas and Florida Keys in the 1980's and 1990's...I was mostly doing "instructional charters"; that is, I was mostly teaching a liveaboard sailing course...(Beginning Coastal Cruising and Intermediate Coastal Cruising) in an ASA Sailing School.... Our season was compressed into 4 winter months and we were very busy....I enjoyed exploring the islands with customers and showing them the great places we have around here...I still do enjoy that ...In one year, the charter company booked me 7 weeks in a row on "instructional charters" (like the one you may do with Bluewater in the Bahamas) and, each week, I'd have a half-day back at the dock to see my girlfriend, do my laundry, answer my mail and get everything else done...and I just burnt out...the charter company didn't have any other qualified captains at the time so they begged me to do these charters...it was just too much and I decided to "swallow the anchor" and stay ashore as a yacht broker and I still do instruction but only work 5-8 hours a day one or two days a week....remember, doing crewed charter can be long hours (wake up, get breakfast going, fix mechanical problems, get underway to the next anchorage, get lunch going, stay up late partying with charterers etc etc)... I urge you to have balance in your life as a yacht crew and NOT go out 7 weeks in a row like I did that one year!
Another alternative is to do "day charters" which means you do 3-4 hour "snorkel/lunch cruises" or 2-3 hour "sunset cocktail cruises"...I know some crews doing very well with this ...you basically connect with high-end hotels to do this for their guests
No comments:
Post a Comment