Last weekend at the 2010 Heineken Regatta in Sint Maarten, broker Carolyn Titus of Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters was among the group that chartered Safara, the 72-foot Andrews sailing yacht that took first prize in its class (Non Spinnaker 1) as well as the trophy for the Fastest Non Spinnaker Around the Island Race.
Following is an exclusive interview with Titus about how the charter came about, and how other people—even those with no racing background—can make a regatta part of a fun-filled yacht charter vacation.
You’ve been chartering sailing yachts at regattas for 15 years now. Are you always with the same people?
Our group varies depending on whoever has the time and wants to invest in the vacation, but it’s basically the same core group. Some years, we’ve had 25 people on a big boat. This year, we were 12 people on a smaller boat.
Does one person charter the yacht and bring everyone else as guests, or do you all chip in for the yacht’s weekly base rate?
We get a group together and collectively charter the boat, which is something that any group of charter clients can do if they want to split the bill for a charter boat for a week. An event like the Heineken Regatta is three days long, so you can go cruising for four days and then race for three days during a week-long charter. It’s really a nice vacation for anybody looking for a little more adventure.
What about people who have little or no racing experience?
You don’t have to be full-on racing people to do this type of charter. In events like the Heineken Regatta, there is a cruising class. It is different from racing class. There’s enough racing to keep everybody entertained and active, but you don’t have to overdo it.
For instance, it can be one race a day as opposed to two or three. And the race days themselves aren’t going to crush you. During the Heineken Regatta this year, our second day of racing didn’t start until 1:45 in the afternoon. We lounged around all morning, raced, and then went out to enjoy a party at night. It’s a nice combination of racing activity and leisure.
The owners of true racing sailboats don’t always make them available for regattas because of liability concerns and other issues. Do you find it difficult to match regatta charter clients with appropriate yachts?
Usually, it’s not an issue if you’re considering cruising class. The wear and tear on the boat is really limited compared to what goes on in racing class. You’re not overloading the boat with people, and the races are only about two hours a day, so you’re not putting a whole lot of pressure on the boat. It’s not too far off from just cruising, so more owners would consider cruising class racing for charters.
Are there certain charter yachts that you regularly recommend for regatta charters?
Obviously, I have to recommend Safara (shown in the photograph at right). She was fantastic for our charter last weekend. She’s part of our fleet at Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters, and, actually, she is still available for Antigua Sailing Week in April and the Newport to Bermuda Race in June.
I also recommend the 100-foot Swan sailing yacht Virago, which my group has chartered for regatta racing in the past. That owner and crew are eager to do racing charters. We’ve also had a lot of racing charters on the 62-foot Swan sailing yacht Eden.
You mentioned the Newport to Bermuda Race and Antigua Sailing Week. In addition to those, and to the Heineken Regatta where you competed, what are the best regatta charter opportunities each year?
The BVI Spring Regatta is in late March or early April. Also at the end of March is the International Rolex Regatta in St. Thomas. In August, there’s the New York Yacht Club Cruise, where you race from port to port in Maine. In the Mediterranean, there is Les Voiles de St. Tropez, which takes place in late September or early October.
Can any charter broker help a client book a regatta charter, or is special knowledge required?
In general, the boat that’s best for any charter group really depends on the regatta format and how the group plans to use the boat, so you need a broker who knows about racing as well as chartering.
Last weekend’s win at the Heineken Regatta seems proof positive that you fit that description.
I’ve been racing my entire life. I arrange a lot of racing charters, and I’ve done all the regattas myself. So yes, it’s nice for the client to be able to work with a broker who knows the logistics of how things are going to work every day.
Having done it myself, I have a very good idea of how to put these charters together. My personal group has won eight or nine times over the years, and a lot of that has to do with the boat that was chosen for the event. I can help people make the most of their regatta charters, too.
For additional information, contact Carolyn Titus through the Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters website.
On Friday night, the Florida Yacht Brokers Association presented Ann Landry of Northrop and Johnson with its Charter Broker of the Year Award for 2009. That’s Landry displaying her plaque in the photograph at right, sitting alongside Charter Marketing Director Terry Hines of International Yacht Collection.
Editor’s Note: Kim Kavin is an award-winning writer, editor and photographer who specializes in marine travel. She is the author of six books including Dream Cruises: The Insider’s Guide to Private Yacht Vacations, is editor of the online yacht vacation magazine 
One of the things I heard a lot of talk about at last week’s Antigua charter yacht show was discounts. And not in the way I’ve been hearing about them during the past few months. As you know if you follow my blog, deals and discounted rates have been flooding the crewed charter market for a little more than a year now, as yacht owners try to adapt to the financial pressures of the continuing global recession. Brokers have been pushing for deeper and deeper discounts on behalf of charter clients, and though not all yacht owners have obliged, a good number have. The talk on the docks last week was different because, instead of all the brokers saying they wanted to negotiate the biggest discounts possible, I began to hear some brokers saying that if they saw a yacht offering more than a 15-percent discount, they would think twice before trying to book it for their client at all. One broker from 
Report from Miami: Cautious Optimism
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010I’m just back from the Miami International Boat Show, where traffic on the docks was a bit light to my eye but reportedly composed of serious shoppers as opposed to tire kickers. I’d like to put what I heard about the charter market into broad context for you first, before diving into details farther below.
Leading mid-range and large-yacht builders such as U.S.-based Sea Ray and British-based Sunseeker told me that they were selling enough new boats to consider the show “good for the current economic climate.” That’s a heck of a lot better than their tune at this time last year, when sales were all but nonexistent.
The brokerage market, too, seemed to have an air of hope in Miami. I spoke with the captain of a 112-foot Westport who told me that his motoryacht was now the least-expensive for sale in its class and getting serious offers from potential buyers. That, to him, indicated that the brokerage market has hit bottom and may be starting to turn around. His sense jived with my conversations with multiple sales brokers, who argued that now is the time to snap up the best remaining deals, as the brokerage market is poised to begin a slow but likely rebound.
With all that said, the sense that I got from the half-dozen charter fleet managers I met in Miami is that the charter industry, too, may be experiencing cautious optimism for the first time in nearly 18 months. The market for crewed charter appears to still be mixed according to many specifics that I heard, but in general, charter brokers’ phones are ringing again.
I was told that a good number of the charter inquiries coming right now are for the Bahamas during next month’s Spring Break and the Easter holiday in April. In years past, those dates would have been booked months ago and current calls would be for “last-minute” charters during the summer in the Mediterranean, but, as the managers put it, at least the calls are coming.
In terms of pricing, every charter fleet manager I spoke with confirmed for me that price negotiations are the order of the day, and that perhaps as many as two-thirds of the charters being booked today are coming at negotiated price reductions, extra days aboard, or some combination of the two. Some yacht owners are refusing to negotiate their prices at all (and some are still finding clients who book boats at full price), but the yacht owners who are willing to negotiate appear to be giving at least 10 percent to 15 percent off published weekly base rates.
Other charter yacht owners are giving more, but as quietly as possible. Charter fleet managers at several companies told me about cases where discounts were given as high as 40 percent to 50 percent off published base rates, but qualified their statements by saying the circumstances were particular to the specific yachts and clients involved. In at least one case, the charter client was required to sign a confidentiality contract in order to receive the sizable discount.
What does all this mean for the upcoming high season in the Western Mediterranean? It’s hard to say. I’m keeping my ear to the ground.
Stay tuned.
Tags: brokerage, charter, Miami International Boat Show, optimism, sales
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