SOME THOUGHTS ON CHARTER BOAT DESIGN

One of the greatest challenges facing the designers of modern yachts today is fuel consumption in this world of $3.00 x gallon marine diesel. While this may not be an issue for the very wealthy owner(s) it is certainly an issue for the charterer who may not be as wealthy, and certainly does care about his fuel bill since he pays for the fuel, and the food and beverage provisioning separately. So this would have a bearing on the hull design and designers may wish to consider a "bulbous nose" type bow design which is certainly more efficient and any other tricks of the trade that save fuel without compromising speed.

Some of our major concerns today involve the sleeping accommodations on charter yachts. Families today come in many different flavors and we are constantly wrestling with rigid accommodation arrangements that assume that everyone is either a married couple or will be relegated to sleeping in bunk beds. Ergo, try and make the accommodations as flexible as possible, i.e. King or Queen sized beds that can be changed seamlessly into two beds without compromising on the "luxury". Todays extended families with half-brothers and half-sisters who need their space, etc etc. demand good solutions from yacht designers.

Generally speaking charter customers come in two major flavors: By far the largest group is symbolized by the rich patriarch who is taking his family of sons, daughters, in-laws, and grand-children on a one or two week cruise in the Caribbean or the Med on a "rotation" basis. Next comes the groups of fun-loving middle-aged adults that escape and leave the children behind. Business charters are less common - it takes guts to take people you don't know very well on any kind of cruise. A boat, even a 150' footer can be a very small space to be with people that annoy you.

Rate per week will be between $50,000 and $100,000 plus expenses. Expenses include fuel, food and beverage, dockage, entry taxes, customs charges, etc. Gratuity of 10% to 15% of the base rate is customary.

Maintenance on a large yacht is usually and ultimately the responsibilty of the Captain who, in turn farms it out to various contractors and subcontractors, i.e. a/c guys, engine specialists, electronics companies, etc. In some cases, the owner of the boat will place his yacht in the care of a management company or clearing house that will hire the captain and crew, take charge of the maintenance, and offer the boat for charter. Sometimes there is a marine engineer on board, especially at the very high end. But it is the Captain who is, as I mentioned earlier, is ultimately responsible for making sure that the boat is running well and safely and that the paying passengers will experience the greatest vacation of their lives.

A working charter yacht will winter in the Caribbean and summer in the Med or New England. Some boats spend all year in the Florida/Bahamas area or they will winter in the Bahamas and summer in the Med or the Caribbean. Sometimes they will travel to Europe under their own steam but, most likely, they will ship the yacht over on a yacht transport commemrcial freighter. In this way they will keep working Summer and Winter. The Owner usually reserves a few weeks during the year which he makes known to the captain, hopefully in advance.

CHARTER BOAT FLAGS AND REGISTRATION

I was recently approached for my views on charter boat flagging and foreign vs. domestic choice of flag for charter boats. The registration and flag that any charter boat adopts is usually a function of three factors: cost incl. taxes, safety regulations and restrictions, if any, in the location where the yacht will be primarily chartering. Yes, there is an annual registration fee for charter-yachts and most boats tend to avoid registering in the United States because of the high cost and because the boat will now be subject to USCG standards which are expensive to maintain. This is not to say that they are the best regulations and many countries have more stringent regulations than we do but also many countries have fewer and less complicated regulations - like almost none. Fashionable places where large charter-yachts tend to register these days include the Cayman Islands (because many of the larger yachts are actually owned by Cayman Island Corporations, the British Virgin Islands and St. Vincent.

In order to improve passenger safety, there is a movement under way to establish a uniform standard of safety regulations that port officials in different countries can use to apply to visiting charter-yachts regardless of the flag that they fly. This is encouraging and should be supported. The European SOLAS standards are most likely to apply for this project.

Some further thoughts on US flagged vessels: All vessels that charter in US waters especially those US Built and registered in the US, are subject to the Jones Act of 1916. I don't want to get into the complexities of the Jones Act - suffice to say that it was put in place to protect US shipping interests in the age of the robber barons. In today's world the Jones Act does much to discourage boat owners from registering their vessels in this country and also drives non-US flagged vessels to preferentially pick-up passengers outside the US, say in the Bahamas, or the BVI.

Homeland seurity has been doggedly adding additional restrictions and pre-advise for customs arrivals and movment of paying passengers; all of this is good however what is really needed is a total revision or a "start-from-scratch" project to replace the Jones Act. Don't hold your breath.

WHY USE A CHARTER BROKER?

Yes, we're back to this discussion again. Reason being that customers calling in to the office ask us from time to time: "are you the owner of the boat?" When the answer is "no, we don't own any boats, we're brokers...." I sense serious disappointment at the other end of the line almost as if we let the guy down in some way, like proposing to cheat him out of some hard earned cash, like we suddenly morphed into a middleman carpet merchant, or perhaps "gee, if we'd only called the right people we'd be getting a better deal" kind of thought process.

I guess I'm writing this blog to assuage my feelings of guilt almost as if I got guilty by phone osmosis. Anyway, enough of this sentimental garbage. Here are some real good reasons to use a broker: number one, try calling 4000 boats by yourself. (then do a comparative price/value analysis on an Excel spreadsheet...!! How do we assign points to the crew...??) Hmm, perhaps not - better call a broker.

No, seriously, we do perform an added value function in the industry but certainly from my perspective, this added value is, very simply, knowledge. The career track of most good brokers takes them through the ranks of chefs, mates, stewards, captains, and owner-operators of charter vessels. sometimes also through the ranks of the yacht management companies, clearing houses, yacht sales brokerages, and then finally they break out of the mold, start their own business and become charter and/or sales brokers. Then, and this is important, they travel around the world looking for the best boats and the best locations so they can share all of this with their customers; wow, this is valuable stuff. Here's my premise: this accumulated knowledge can only benefit you when you take your annual yachting vacation.

The broker can advise you where to go, choose the best boats and the best crews for you, tell you what the weather will be like and the probability of winds and sea states; where and when the special deals are going, what's the best time of year, what you should wear and how to save money on airline fares.

Here's the best part: it doesn't cost anything - this vast depository of knowledge is free for our clients to take advantage of. Using the analogy of mortgage brokers, realtors, and sales brokers, the sellers, in this case the boats themselves, pay us a fee to sell and market their products while they do what they're doing best - actually running the boats and looking after customers 24/7.

I guess I don't feel guilty anymore.

"NEW" BVI CHARTERYACHT REGULATIONS

The Crown Territory of the British Virgin Islands has had restrictions on the number of foreign flag charter vessel pick-ups on the books for several years - about 14 years, I am told. The fact that they are actually going to enforce these regulations staring in July 2006 has caused an uproar. Wow.

Here's the story: The US Virgin Islands restricts departing charter vessels to a maximum of 6 passengers. So, following the path of least resistance, everybody who owned or operated a charteryacht out of St. Thomas that had a capacity in excess of 6 passengers used to load the six pax up in St. Thomas, and encourage the rest of the passengers to take the ferry to West End in the BVI and board there; or alternatively, board everybody in the BVI.

In response to this situation and uneasy about lack of resources and possible overcrowding of facilities and frankly too many boats in their waters, the BVI Government issued regulations that restricted the number of foreign flag pick-ups to 7 pick-ups per boat per year. When these regs were issued, the BVI did not have the resources to actually enforce this limitation. i.e they didn't really know how many times any given boat actually stopped by to pick up guests.

All this has now changed. New Government + Computerized systems = Enforcement.

So this means that the St. Thomas based 8 and 10 passenger charter yachts are out of business. They have a choice:

a) Actually restrict their charters to 6 passengers.
b) Move their base of operations to the BVI, get a business permit, re-register the boat, etc.
c) Move to another area of the Caribbean.

As charter brokers, we are sincerely hoping that things work themselves out. Let's face it new brooms sweep clean and things in the Caribbean historically tend to "work themselves out" somehow, sometime. Since this is basically a money issue, i.e foreign boats don't pay taxes, don't employ BVI citizens, don't contribute to the economy, perhaps this, too, has a financial solution like, for example upping the taxes or the port fees for foreign flag boats. We'd hate to see these larger boats penalized by both Governments for no really good reason, the US Government by not letting them board more than 6 passengers, and the BVI government by restricting the number of pick-ups.

I'm sure that some boats will opt to move their operations to the BVI. Guess what? Deja Vu all over again.

Sailing Down the Florida Keys

I hadn't been down to the Keys for a couple of years and was really looking forward to taking our venerable 37' Endeavour down from Miami to Marathon. Of course we chose the only weekend in recent history that was blowing 30 and gusting to 35..!! Cruising across Biscayne Bay was a breeze to put it lightly and no pun intended and I decided to motor for the benefit of our crew's safety and things began to get interesting when we saw smoke pouring from the Perkins. Not the big thick fire kind of smoke but that wispy white smoke that says "Over-heat situation, idiot"... Anyway we turn into the wind, stop the engine and toss out an anchor in about a 3 foot chop; 2 hours later with a new water pump belt and a repaired hose we continue on past Elliott Key and then on to the lee side of Pumpkin Key where we spend a delightful and very peaceful night. Leaving early we immediately ran aground in Card Sound - of course we were out of the channel - nothing serious though - breezed through Jewfish Creek at 9 am on the nose with no waiting and no tying up on the mangroves to keep the current from running you into the bridge, yippee. Nice leisurely cruise south on the ICW that, I may add, has had most of the channel markers repaired after last year's hurricane season. Great job USCG, thank you. We arrived at Plantation Key about 2 pm. and overnighted at this great little marina that now belongs the the City of Islamorada. We dropped off a crew member and continued on the next day without fuelling up because the fuel dock was down at the marina. Keys Disease. So I switched over to the forward tank which I knew was full and off we went. Through Snake Creek at high tide (one of the nicer cuts through to Hawk Channel - love it) and heading South West now on the outside with no wind at all, start the engine and ten minutes later, engine stops. Ouch. Air-bubbles. Switch back to the aft tank, purge the lines and bingo...!! we have an engine now. Of course, exactly at which time we get a nice breeze from the North East, beautiful. We arrived safe and sound after two more light groundings around Boot Key, we go through the tight channel at absolute low tide get the bascule bridge up 10 minutes before closing time and arrive at our Sombrero Marina dockage at exactly 7:00 pm. Lovely trip, minor mishaps, great dinner and drinks when we arrived in Marathon. You know they've got some great eateries in the Keys. Yes, you can navigate the inside route with a 5 foot draft. Proven. Not sure if you can go further south to Channel 5, maybe you'll need the extra foot or 6 inches of tide so make sure you're at high tide, OK?

BRAZIL: ANOTHER GREAT CHARTER LOCATION

There's a new company offering bareboats and charters with captain in Brazil. The new charter base is located about 2 hours South of Rio in a location called Angra dos Reis. It's one of the most beautiful stretches of coast in Brazil and has plenty of little islands where you can hang out and mingle with the natives. Call us at 305-758-2500 or email us at tony@boatmiami.com and we'll set you up.

New Mediterranean Yacht Charter Website

Yes, we added another yacht charter website to the American Yacht Company portfolio - welcome to www.luxuryachtvacation.com hot off the press. We've tried to make it as absolutely informative as possible, especially for visitors who have not had the Med experience before. Hey, guys, welcome to a new addiction.

Many of our customers say: "we did the Caribbean last year, but we'd like to try something new this year". Well, OK, try the Med, but you won't be able to use that phrase again simply because there's no such thing as "doing the Med". Greece alone has 6 distinct cruising areas. Italy has 2 or three, Then there's France, Spain, Croatia, and don't forget Turkey a great place for bargains. Then there's the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Capri, Ischia - all accessible from the deck of your private yacht.

We'd welcome comments and input to this website from any and everyone. We promise to try and include any of your really special Med hideaways that look promising and correct any information that is not quite accurate. Thanks.

Let's have some fun with this one.

FLORIDA TO THE BAHAMAS BY BOAT

It's amazing how many people still refuse to fly these days. I get calls and emails every day from desperate vacationers wanting to take a boat from, say, Miami to Nassau. The conversation goes something like this:

" Hey Tony, we have a reservation at the Atlantis on Paradise Island next week and I'd like to take a boat from Miami because my wife doesn't like to fly."

" Sir?, it's 177 miles from Miami, it could get expensive; would you like the boat to wait for you and then bring you back?"

" How expensive could it be?" asks the victim.

" Well depending on the boat and the fuel consumption - er, maybe 50 to 80 gallons an hour, by 10 hours, there and 10 back, hmm, with fuel at $3 bucks in Miami and $5 bucks in Nassau, well, perhaps $10,000 to $15,000 without the wait time." "Oh, I forgot, and there's always the cruising tax...."

Silence at the other end of the phone. I distinctly hear someone gasp and fall off a chair.

"Wow, have you got anything cheaper?"

"It's cheaper to fly"

All of which brings me to the point of this blog, at some point in time, someone has to figure out how to make the idea of a regular scheduled ferry between Miami and Nassau into a viable business proposition. I know it's been tried, but I suspect, not with the the right vessels. I think someone needs to explore the Russian Hydrofoil technologies that are arguably the most advanced ferry technologies available. Either that or try the larger air cushion hovercraft that zip across the English Channel to France and back with regular schedules on really nasty seas.

Is there a market? Hey, to judge by the number of calls we get, there's gotta be a pony in there somewhere.....

Here's a beauty..!! 

FIRE DESTROYS HEMINGWAY MUSEUM IN BIMINI

I was horrified to hear that a fire destroyed the Ernest Hemingway museum and The Compleat Angler bar on Friday on the Bahamian island of Bimini, one of the American novelist's 1930s haunts during the days he stalked big game fish. The early morning blaze leveled the wooden inn in Alice Town and destroyed photographs and Hemingway memorabilia, police said. They also said the caretaker of The Compleat Angler, Julian Brown, was presumed dead. Brown, said to be in his 60s, alerted the inn's sole guest, who escaped though a window, but then disappeared. A neighbor, Katherine Weech, said Brown's remains were found in the debris. Brown's father, Harcourt Brown, built the inn. The destruction of the tiny island's biggest tourist attraction was the second major blow to hit Bimini in a month. On December 19, 11 residents were among 20 people killed when a Chalk's Ocean Airways seaplane plunged into the sea in Miami's shipping channel. Hemingway drank at The Compleat Angler between fishing trips in his vessel Pilar in search of marlin, wahoo and sailfish in the pristine waters around Bimini. His novel "The Old Man and The Sea" was said to be inspired by his fishing exploits in the Bahamas and Cuba, and he worked on "To Have and Have Not" in Bimini. The Hemingway legend became a major draw and The Compleat Angler created a museum which included hundreds of photographs and artifacts of the author. --

CLARIFICATION OF RULES REGARDING CHARTER YACHT OPERATION IN US WATERS

As usual, the new year brought many questions regarding US policies for crewed charter yachts operating in US waters.  Below is a synopsis of our questions to the Department of Homeland Security/Customs and Border Protection with their answers.  

1. If the vessel is US flagged with a US crew they only need US passports or other valid proof of citizenship.  After 12-31-2006 all US travelers must have valid machine readable passports.

2. If the vessel is Foreign flagged with a US crew they only need US passports or other valid proof of citizenship.  After 12-31-2006 all US travelers must have valid machine readable passports.

3. If the vessel is US flagged with a Foreign crew they require green cards and passports or other valid proof of citizenship. After 12-31-2006 all US travelers must have valid machine readable passports; non-US citizens may not operate a US flagged vessel in US waters.
4. If the vessel is Foreign Flagged with a Foreign crew they must have C1/D visas (work
visa) to charter; This visa allows the vessel; unlimited entries into
the US for periods not to exceed 29 days at one time; It is recommended
that crews ALSO have a B visa (tourist visa) in order to allow more time in the
US waters in the event of vacation, vessel maintenance. etc.; For example,
if the foreign flagged vessel enters US waters on the B visa they cannot legally
charter but could put the boat in storage for hurricane season.
Hope this continues to clarify some of the new regs.

CHARTER AGREEMENTS AND NON-PERFORMANCE

We've come across a couple of party charter boat non-performance issues recently. Most of them have to do with mechanical break-downs during or before the charter. For "Term Charters" or vacation or overnight charters, most contracts adhere to the Standard Caribbean (CYBA), Mediterranean (MYBA) or Demise agreement formats which are pretty clear. Not nearly so clear are the Party Boat agreements that are in most cases proprietary to the boats themselves or to the locations where they are based. We had a case the other day of a party boat that broke down before the charter and the parties agreed to do their charter "dockside" so the boat didn't actually go out on charter, however a good time was had by all with the boat tied up at the dock. Obviously the charter boat did not meet the expectation of the charterer who hired the boat to spend a nice evening on Biscayne Bay; nevertheless, the party went on and the guests had a good time and consumed the food and the beverages while tied up. The question arises as to what, if any, compensation is due to the charterer? Given the wide range of interpretations of each charter contract, this becomes almost a issue to be resolved by the parties themselves or a mediator. In our view some compensation is in line. Not a complete refund but, arguably, some monies need to be refunded. We would appreciate any feedback from clients, brokers and the boats themselves. Thank you.

BARE-BOATING IN THE BVI

Yes we finally put our money where our mouth is and rented a bareboat from Footloose in Tortola, BVI. Actually the experience was excellent and I would recommend it to anyone who is not in the racing business because, of course, after 5 high seasons, any boat will have sails that are as baggy as my aunt Agatha's knickers. Nevertheless this is not a story about my aunt Agatha; it's about the BVI and specifically about anchorages. Now, I'm not trying to adopt a holier than thou attitude about operating a bareboat, only that, my goodness, don't they ever actually VERIFY the credentials of people that rent boats? Sitting at the anchorage in Marina Cay, for example, here are a few of the amazing feats happening around us: boats with no nav lights sailing through the mooring area at dusk looking for mooring balls; power boats trying (and failing) to pick up moorings after 5 or 6 passes; half the boats have anchor lights on and the other half without a glimmer; 3 or 4 boats, obviously part of a group shouting and carrying on all night with a REAL TRUMPET blowing rousing pieces suitable for a football or hockey game; dinghies traveling at 150 miles an hour between anchored and moored boats. Wow, we were amazed. OK, but none of this really detracts from the sheer beauty of the place and, by the way, you can actually escape all this during the day because everyone starts to leave, silently and hung-over, thank goodness, fairly early in the morning and you can always take the dinghy and escape to a secluded beach. Actually we had our own little escapade after losing our boat-hook overboard on the way to St. Thomas; eventually, we wound up at Maho Bay, one of our favorite places in St. John, with no way to pick up a mooring. We tried everything including the use of a long handled blue cleaning brush (we must have looked REALLY stupid). We tried backing up to the ball but as we all know, Beneteau 362's don't reverse very well, we finally anchored along side the mooring ball and used the dinghy to run a line out...!! Everybody's got a story. Good time had by all.

COLUMBUS DAY REGATTA SHENANIGANS IN MIAMI

We can hardly wait for this grand occasion to be over and done with; used to be when we actually looked forward to it. Now we can only hope it goes by with a minimum of accidents, arrests, etc. Seems like the whole Miami population and then some, will be on Biscayne Bay and all the way down to Elliott Key on an assortment of floating contraptions blasting loud music.
This is one of the most dangerous weekends to be out on the water. Boats of all sizes at anchor in the most incredible places, boats rafting up, people jumping in the water and floating around from raft to raft; accidents waiting to happen. Too much alcohol and stuff to smoke and sniff. Boats don't mix well in this explosive environment. Let's hope the authorities will exercise some degree of control over the whole mess.
Now I like a good party as much as the next guy, OK? And I know this sounds like we're all a bunch of sanctimonious party poopers here. I don't care; being in the business I know that boats and alcohol don't mix. Please help us to keep Miami's Columbus Day celebration safe and fun for everyone.

FLORIDA'S NEW MARINA CONSTRUCTION REGULATIONS

We love them; there is already a serious lack of marina dockage in South Florida. PLUS many marinas are becoming "Docominiums" and selling dockage on long term leases. Hopefully the new regs will ease the pressure and allow existing marinas to expand and new ones to be built.
The down-side of course is more boats, more pollution, more crowded boating areas on weekends. Wow, is this possible? Ever been out on Biscayne Bay on a Holiday Weekend? Nevertheless we support the regs but sincerely hope that some kind of Boater's Operating License is introduced so that at least, every boating person is reading off the same sheet of music in regards, to the do's and don'ts of safety and pollution.
Doesn't need to be a fully fledged Captain's License, but basic boater education should be compulsory like a driver's license or a pilot's license. Why hasn't this happened before? Start by asking the boat builders..!!

NEW HOMELAND SECURITY ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE REGULATIONS

I learned that as of October 4th, 2005, Homeland Security is requiring all vessels with paying passengers to file an electronic notice of Departure and Arrival. This, of course, means that CHARTER yachts departing to and arriving from foreign locations need to do this as well. Information required includes name of passenger, date of birth, nationality and passport or visa number. Each charter yacht's clearing house will require this information now together with the food and beverage preference sheets. For those paying customers who do not have passports, a State issued ID will be OK, such as a Driver's license number.

Please note that this is a US requirement and does not affect any destination country's separate requirements, for example you can use a birth certificate to enter the Bahamas and Tortola in the Caribbean but NOT a Driver's License.
These regulations fill a gap in the effective policing of our borders but have a downside as well. They will continue to drive many charter boats to operate from locations outside the US. In the past, other regulations have had a similar effect on the Charter Industry and this will be no exception. In the US Virgin Islands, for example, the pick-ups from St. Thomas will diminish in favor of pick-ups in the British Virgin Islands; passengers will simply fly into Tortola instead of St. Thomas; the charter boat support infrastructure will also move.
In the Florida Bahamas area, these regulations will no doubt have an effect on the day traffic and fishing boat excursions to Bimini. i.e. the boats will move to Bimini or other locations and passengers will simply fly in to the Bahamas to pick up their boats. Oh well, I suppose progress is progress, let's hope that Ozzie doesn't blow up the BVI next.