“Clients like the feeling of luxury between their fingertips,” one broker told me in a tone that attempted outright gravitas. “That simply cannot be replicated in a digital format.”

I was reminded of that conversation yesterday, when I uploaded this interview with charter broker Sherry Yates of Yates Yachts, who is shown in the photograph at right. She’s running an entire charter-booking operation not only without printed brochures, but also without new paper of any kind.

“Yates Yachts is a green company,” she told me, explaining how she learned the importance of the environment while living aboard her own boat in the Caribbean for 10 years. “In addition to supporting yachts that advertise their efforts at sustaining our planet—recycling, reusable water bottles for guests, wind and solar energy, and the like—all of my correspondence is done electronically. That includes inquiry replies, yacht brochures, and charter agreements. Any paper I do generate is recycled.”

Yates is so serious about “going green” that her office is heated by solar power, and the radio she listens to is powered by wind.

“I know brokers who send out hundreds of packets and brochures, and they all get thrown away,” she said. “I am trying to limit what I put into the environment.”

“Going green” is becoming a trend in the charter industry, for sure. Large management companies regularly tout their efforts to operate in a carbon-neutral fashion. The retail-booking agency Boatbookings offers a button on its website that lets you purchase carbon credits at the time you book your charter, for an instant offset. New motoryachts generate hot water from heat exchangers on the generator and main engine, as opposed to using a traditionally separate, electricity-guzzling water heater. New sailing yachts work with firms like the CarbonNeutral Company to offset the emissions from charter vacations. Even smaller yachts that are several years old are going green by installing water chillers that let them replace plastic water bottles with reusable, refillable water bottles for guests. That’s no small shakes: Akasha‘s crew told me that they previously would go through about 22 cases of bottled water during each charter week. With 24 bottles per case, the refillable bottles are saving the landfill from more than 500 empty plastic bottles per week.

I am encouraged every time I hear of another yacht like these, or about a broker like Yates who is striving to lead by example. They are proving every day that yacht charter remains one of the most forward-thinking vacation options when it comes to environmental stewardship. My hat is off to them, and I hope you will support them with your charter business.

Editor’s Note: Boatbookings is a sponsor of CharterWave, where this blog originates.

At the 2009 Antigua Charter show, it's all about going green.

In the span of my first two hours at this year’s show, three charter brokers told me how impressed they had been last month, when the entire Tortola charter fleet banded together to provide filtered water in reusable cups instead of bottled water in plastic containers. Before lunchtime today, owner-operator Dennis Barbeau of the 60-foot sailing catamaran Diamond Girl II told me that he was preparing to install solar panels to cut down on generator use. I then ran into Trish Cronan of Ocean Getaways, who invited me to join the newly formed Environmental Committee within the professional charter broker organization CYBA International. My last yacht tour today was aboard the brand-new, 198-foot CMN Cloud 9, where Chief Engineer Stuart Laidlaw proudly showed me the yacht’s onboard sewage treatment plant—which ensures that solid waste stays out of the world’s waters.

Stuart Laidlaw shows off the onboard sewage treatment plant aboard Cloud 9.

All of this in just the first eight hours of the boat show, and absolutely industry-wide, from the smallest sailboats to one of the largest motoryachts.

“I want every charter broker to educate their clients about plastic water bottles,” Cronan told me as she described the new CYBA committee. “I want them, instead of having their clients suggest bottled water, to request charters aboard yachts with filtration systems—which of course will then encourage more of the yachts to get those systems.

“After that,” she continued, “the next item on my list is carbon offsets.”

These agenda items are not entirely new to charter, but this is the first time I’ve heard them being discussed on an industry-wide scale by so many people. Early leaders included Camper & Nicholsons International, which manages the world’s largest fleet of crewed charter yachts and has been on the carbon-neutral bandwagon for several years. Retail agencies such as BoatBookings offer carbon-offset calculators on their websites. A London-based company called Yacht Carbon Offset is a sponsor of this year’s Antigua show, hoping to get even more companies to do the same.

To my eyes, the wave of charter industry support for environmentalism appears headed for a crest in the next year or two, perhaps worldwide. That’s exciting stuff.  I truly cannot wait for tomorrow.

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 www.CharterWave.com, and writes the blog at www.BrokerageBoss.com.