The 158 foot motoryacht Grace

Peter Insull’s says the 158-foot gentleman’s-style motoryacht Grace (shown in the photograph at right) will be available for charters all summer in Norway. Built in 2004, Grace will take 10 guests with nine crew at a lowest weekly base rate of €100,000.

Camper and Nicholsons International also has an unusual design expected to charter in the Baltic Sea this summer: the 134-foot power catamaran Silver Cloud. Launched in 2008 from the Abeking & Rasmussen shipyard, this wave-conquering design takes 12 guests with nine crew at a weekly base rate of €160,000. (I found Silver Cloud to be comfortable and smartly designed for all-weather cruising during my tour at last month’s Antigua Charter Yacht Show.)

Not to be outdone, Edmiston and Company just announced that three of the traditionally-styled charter yachts in its fleet are headed to the Baltic Sea and Norway this summer. They are the 235-foot Feadship motoryacht Utopia, taking 12 guests with 17 crew at a lowest weekly base rate of €450,000; the 151-foot Feadship motoryacht Northern Light, taking 12 guests with nine crew at a lowest weekly base rate of €175,000; and the 128-foot Feadship motoryacht Kathleen Anne, taking 10 guests with seven crew at a lowest weekly base rate of €140,000.

I was on charter in Norway during the summer of 2009, and the few days I spent in the region were not nearly enough. The fjords are magnificent, the salmon and caviar are divine, and the port towns are extremely welcoming to visitors. It’s unusual to have so many charter yacht options in this region, and I encourage anyone who has been thinking about visiting to seriously consider booking while the opportunities are available. It’s impossible to say when we will see so many legitimate charter yachts back in the Baltic, if at all, during the summer seasons to come.

To find a yacht charter in the Baltic, visit the YachtWorldCharters Baltic destination page.

But there’s an alternative to Caribbean chartering that most boaters don’t know about: bareboat charters on powerboats like this Jefferson 48.

The second image is likely to be that of a luxury megayacht, carrying a half-dozen crew members, cases of champagne and a charter price to match. But there’s another alternative to Caribbean chartering that most boaters don’t know about, and that’s bareboat power charters.

Picture this: We have cleared Customs into the British Virgin Islands aboard our 48’ Jefferson motoryacht and headed immediately for Norman Island, where Robert Louis Stevenson reportedly set his tale of pirate loot, Treasure Island. Using the electric anchor windlass, we effortlessly ease our anchor down into the gin-clear water and are soon off in our outboard-powered dinghy to see if we can find any leftover chests of gold doubloons in the sea caves nearby. After swimming into the caverns and spending the afternoon snorkelling among the brilliantly coloured fish on the nearby reefs, we return to our yacht, aptly named Holiday.

The Virgin Islands offer too many harbors for most week long charters; the reliable transport of powerboat chartering maximizes the possiblities.

Stepping onto the swim platform, we rinse off the salt with a warm freshwater shower, dry off and head for the salon, which we’ve left closed up all afternoon. On a sailboat, we’d expect it to be sweltering inside but, aboard Holiday, it’s cold enough to hang slabs of beef because we left the air conditioner running.

Changing into dry clothes, we’re soon sprawled on the settee, the blender is churning out icy pina coladas and a football game is on the television.

Blender? Air conditioning? Television? For anyone used to the often Spartan sailboat charters in the Caribbean, this is pure decadence. It is, as I tell people who ask about power charters in the Caribbean, not exactly man against the elements.

All the comforts of home, including air conditioning: power charters in the Caribbean are not exactly man against the elements.

Best of all, you can have all the comforts of home without having to sell the home to pay for it. Holiday, our Jefferson 48 from VIP Yacht Charters on Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, rented for about US$6300 during our seven-day charter in late May. The peak charter season runs from mid-December through the end of April, during which time the same boat would have been US$700 more. I like chartering just outside the prime charter season because it is not only less expensive, but less crowded as well.

While we had a crew of friends Bob and Cathy DeBusk, we could have carried another couple since Holiday has two staterooms forward and an owner’s cabin aft. That would have worked out to $2100 per couple for the week, which isn’t out of line with a vacation ashore in the islands, yet we could move to a new harbour every day.

VIP Yacht Charters is the largest power charter company in the Virgin Islands, with a fleet of more than two dozen yachts, mostly in the 46’ to 53’ range although they do have several smaller powerboats. With their own marina, the yachts are maintained in Bristol condition and, on boarding Holiday, we found her spotless. VIP’s Simon Ferguson quickly walked us through the yacht and, frankly, we were impressed. Fully equipped with everything from sheets and towels to kitchen utensils, dinghy with outboard to cellular phone, all you really need to bring are swimsuits and suntan cream. While VIP will provision the yacht to your needs, we chose to pick up the supplies at a nearby grocery store ourselves.

One of the three staterooms on the Jefferson 48

Holiday is a 48’ cockpit motoryacht, meaning that she not only has a large aft deck for entertaining, but a water-level cockpit for easy access both for swimming and to the dinghy provided with the yacht. The aft deck, with a wet bar, barbecue and dining table, has a hardtop for sun protection, and we found it the perfect place for alfresco dining in the evenings. The main salon has an L-shaped dinette, an entertainment centre with television and VCR, a fully equipped galley, and an inside steering station. Surrounded by large windows for great visibility, our two chefs enjoyed meal-making with a spectacular view.

Two steps down, a stateroom to port has a large double berth, and the forward cabin has a double berth as well as a single bunk that serves as a seat when not used by youngsters. Both cabins share a large enclosed head with electric toilet and separate stall shower with pressure hot water.

As the captain’s perk, I grabbed the owner’s stateroom aft which has a queen-sized berth, built-in bureaus, a big hanging locker, and even a combination desk and vanity. The en suite head also had an electric toilet and spacious shower.

Underway, we spent most of our time on the flybridge, which is protected from the sun by a bimini top. The skipper has a separate helm seat behind the dash, and there is wrap-around lounge seating for the rest of the crew. The hardtop just behind the flybridge doubles as a huge sunning area for those who want to take home a bronzed tan, and the built-in settee on the foredeck was another place to enjoy a cool drink and watch the stars at night.

The Baths on Virgin Gorda feature a tumble of huge boulders that creates quiet wading pools and shelters friendly tropical fish.

Our generator was so quiet that you couldn’t hear it more than a few feet away from our stern, so I wasn’t concerned that we were bad neighbors in an anchorage, although more than a few of our neighbors aboard sailboats viewed us with undisguised envy. I know, because they told me. At night, as they were tucking into their bunks and hoping that the tiny portholes would bring a few breaths of warm air, we had the air conditioning on high and were sleeping soundly in luxurious comfort.

The generator did more than provide power for the air conditioning and blender; it also provided endless hot water for showers, allowed us to run the microwave (we popped popcorn!) and kept the ice cream in the two big freezers rock hard.

The twin Caterpillar diesels provided an economical propulsion that doesn’t rely on the sometimes-iffy winds in the British Virgins, and we were able to cruise comfortably between anchorages and make the most of our time exploring, swimming and beachcombing.

After Norman Island, we motored east along the island chain, stopping to explore The Baths on Virgin Gorda, a tumble of huge boulders at the water’s edge that creates quiet wading pools inside sunlit caverns and shelters tropical fish that are friendly enough to peer into your face mask. On the same island, we shopped at the Pusser’s store at Leverick Bay, buying rum ($7 a fifth!) and nautical mementos.

Jefferson 48 floorplan

Off Salt Island, we explored the wreck of the Rhone, an 1800’s Royal Mail ship that sank in shallow water and is probably most famous for Jacqueline Bissett’s wet t-shirt diving scene in the movie “The Deep”.
We anchored off Sandy Cay, owned by Laurance Rockefeller and maintained as a botanical sanctuary, which has a flawless crescent of white sand beach. At the nearby island of Jost Van Dyke, we stopped in Great Harbour and dinghied ashore to Foxy’s Tamarind Bar, a legendary yachting hangout for 25 years. Foxy, a seventh generation Jost native, is a calypso singer of renown who makes up his tunes to fit each audience in the open air bar.

With regret, we crossed back into the US Virgin Islands and returned to VIP Yacht Charters, where we quickly eased through the check-in procedures and headed for the airport.
In addition to the base charter fee for our yacht, we had paid an additional $175 for insurance that protected our yacht during the charter as well as eliminating the need for a sizable security deposit. Though we ran the generator much of the time and kept the twin diesels at cruising speed while running, we only used $412 worth of fuel, bringing our total cost for the boat to under US$7000.

The bottom line is that we had an incredible vacation at a price that was the equivalent of what we probably would have spent at a four star resort on shore, yet we had complete mobility and access to islands that landbound tourists can’t reach.

There were, as they say, too many islands, too few days. The sheer luxury of our powerboat charter has made me a convert to this decadent lifestyle, and I know that we’ll be back to explore the rest of this island paradise. No question about it, we’ll choose a powerboat again.

For more information about chartering in the Virgin Islands, visit the Yachtworldcharters.com Caribbean page.

View a BVI sample charter itinerary

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in the February/March 2010 issue of Yachtworld.com Magazine. View current issue

However, management company WEM Lines just announced to charter brokers that the yacht has two bookings confirmed this winter in Costa Rica. One is from December 25 through January 2, and the other is March 20-27. Both charters are round-trip from Golfito, which is on Costa Rica’s western shoreline.

That means RM Elegant will be in the area if you are interested in chartering before or after those specific dates. And there should be no delivery fee from the yacht’s home port in Sint Maarten, a nice financial bonus.

I was on Costa Rica’s western shore some years ago for Yachting magazine, which in 2007 uploaded my article to its website. I can still vividly recall the tropical dry forests full of howler monkeys, whitewater rafting along a river flanked by towering waterfalls, and the sheer scope of the banana plantations that stretched across the land. Believe me when I tell you that I do not recall all my charter experiences so clearly. Costa Rica remains a unique charter destination in my mind, one whose sights I have yet to see anywhere else in the world.

Sexsea Lady is a vintage Hatteras that has been refitted into a comfortably luxurious motoryacht.

The bad news came when the two couples had to cancel because of family illness. The good news was that we now had the yacht to ourselves. Tee hee.

It would be hard to find a better yacht than Sexsea Lady on which to explore the Bahamas, because she is comfortably luxurious and the crew is both competent and charming. Priced at a rate that is not too far above what you might pay for a much smaller bareboat motoryacht, she is a perfect choice for anyone dipping their toes into the world of crewed charters.

Sexsea Lady is a vintage Hatteras with that distinctive Jack Hargrave sheer line that makes her a timeless classic. Originally built as Lauderdale Lady for the Fort Lauderdale Boatshow, she had an interior that can best be described as Vegas Sixties – all mauve and pink and formica. Happily, that is no more.

Her current owner, in a deep pockets refit, removed every trace of her gaudy décor and replaced it with a muted Tommy Bahama look that is at once comfortable and elegant. The tacky mirrored bulkheads of the master suite became teak and fabric, and the saloon was softened with loose chairs and couches that fairly beg for a good sprawl with a trashy novel.

the saloon's loose chairs and couches fairly beg for a good sprawl with a trashy novel.

We joined Sexsea Lady in Nassau and were greeted with an “Island Bloody Mary” (spicy and made with rum) as well as a tray of sliced fruit. Each afternoon that followed, the mate would surprise us with a new frozen concoction, but our favourite quickly became the yacht’s own Sexsea Lady.

Our charter destination was Harbour Island at the northern tip of Eleuthera which is reachable in one day from Nassau, but we were in no hurry and planned to anchor out the first night. Besides, the morning of our departure brought a solid 25 knots out of the south, so we decided not to push too hard.

It was here that the captain’s competence became evident because, rather than simply setting a rhumb line course, he took Sexsea Lady on a gently curving route that kept us tucked in the lee of the many little islets along the way. He didn’t know whether his guests might have queasy tummies and his choice would have made a world of difference to anyone affected by lumpy seas.

His thoughtfulness made it so smooth (Sexsea Lady’s stabilisers also keep her rock steady) that the chef served lunch en route, and it was a prelude for meals to come. A whole lobster tail was presented on a bed of tossed romaine and accented with crumbled bleu cheese, bacon and a zesty mustard vinaigrette. Washed down with a lovely Pinot Grigio, it made the saloon sofa very inviting for an afternoon nap.A

We tucked into the protected harbour at Royal Island for the first night, with the ruins of a once proud mansion peeking through the overgrowth. The afternoon was leisurely, as crenellated castles of clouds with slanting rain squalls grew and passed, and we enjoyed our first frosty Sexsea Lady along with hors d’oeuvres of Kielbasa sausage sautéed with garlic and onions, served with green olives stuffed with Chipotle chili.

The teak and fabric master suite

Sexsea Lady has a full array of water toys including a jet ski and Robalo tender, but our choice was to simply relax in the cool saloon. With the clouds turning pink at dusk, dinner was served on the after deck that can either be open or enclosed, where we enjoyed a juicy beefsteak, young asparagus in Parmesan cheese, and roasted potatoes. Unlike many charter yachts where the chefs are so dedicated to some nouvelle fusion cuisine that the helpings are sized for parakeets, the chef provided hearty meals for appetites whetted by salt air.

The next day, we cruised into Spanish Wells to pick up our pilot for the big adventure of the region: running the treacherous Devil’s Backbone into Harbour Island. Our pilot would be A-1 Broadshad, a lifetime resident of Spanish Wells who gave us a spin around the village in his golf cart. A-1 is an irrepressible character of undetermined age with an endless supply of jokes and patter, who is also a fishing guide and real estate agent (his card states “Read My Lips No Fish No Pay!”). His pride in Spanish Wells, where treasure galleons once filled water casks, is well deserved and the town is absolutely pristine, with brightly painted cottages and a fishing industry that uses a fleet of what A-1 calls “coon-ass boats” from Louisiana.

Once safely through the Backbone, we tucked into the Harbour Island Club marina, choosing it over Valentine’s Marina which is often noisier with its party atmosphere. We had breakfasted on freshly baked croissants and a divine omelet, while lunch was ham and grilled onion sandwiches on soft slices of Spanish Wells bread that A-1 had brought with him.

Our captain had thoughtfully arranged to have a golf cart waiting for us at the marina, so we took the afternoon to explore what appears on charts as Dunmore Town, but which locals call “Briland”, a slurred contraction of Harbour Island.

Harbour Island is a charming antidote to the tourist-trap of Nassau, with a few shops along the waterfront on Bay Street selling straw goods and shells, winding lanes lined by colorful homes covered with bright bougainvillea, and a long beach of pinkish sand.

The Bahamas glass window bridge

We gave the chef an evening off and dined at the Rock House restaurant in town, with our foursome sampling superb grouper, pork and beef. Insider tip: you need reservations, and be sure you insist on a view table overlooking the water or they’ll try to tuck you into an airless corner against the wall.

The next day brought the high point of the entire charter, as the crew loaded up the Robalo and we sped off for a picnic on a deserted beach. This wasn’t any sand-on-the-blanket picnic, though, because the Sexsea Lady crew brought table, chairs, barbecue and cooler laden with icy drinks. We dined on grilled chicken with a mustard glaze, shrimp and veggie kebabs, and a freshly-made coleslaw served overlooking aquamarine waters.

Mom always said don’t swim after eating, but the offshore coral heads were too inviting, and we spent the afternoon floating face down over brilliant reefs and some of the largest angelfish I’ve ever seen.

As if challenged by our dining ashore, the chef finished our day with a sunset meal on the after deck of tender medallions of pork, baked sweet potatoes with honey glaze (that South African sweettooth!) and stuffed Portobello mushrooms to die for. We spent a quiet evening aboard after strolling the docks to check out the catches on nearby sportfishers, took leisurely hot showers (the master suite also has a tub), and drifted off into angelfish dreams.

The cool quiet of Sexsea Lady's stern deck

Our last day dawned hot, humid and calm, with A-1 once again tiptoeing us through the reefs before zipping back in his skiff to Spanish Wells. On a sea as smooth as molten metal, we slid easily back toward Nassau, past throngs on the daytripper beaches and sunburnt tourists on speedboats. Cosseted in the cool quiet of Sexsea Lady, it seemed only minutes before we were in our slip at the Nassau Harbour Club.

As the Chalk’s seaplane lifted off the water for our return trip to Florida, I caught a glimpse of Sexsea Lady and marvelled at the sheer delight of our charter. Glancing across at my wife, I knew that she was thinking the same, and I also knew that our decompression from the elegant comfort and gracious service of Sexsea Lady wasn’t going to be a pretty sight.

For his writing in Sailing magazine, Chris Caswell won the 2009 Boating Writers International top prize in the Boating Columns category.

To find charter yachts in the same area, visit the Yachtworldcharters.com Bahamas page.

The Moorings 474PC, a larger version of the author's 37 footer, is now available for charter in Baja.

It was absolutely, exquisitely, perfect. I was sitting on the flying bridge with my feet propped up on the rail, an icy cerveza at my elbow, watching the sun drift downward toward the distant mountains that looked like cardboard cutouts. The silence was absolute, if you didn’t count the occasional pop from the glowing charcoal in the barbecue on the transom, and I fancied I could hear the faint hiss from the wings of a hawk gliding on the ridge above our cove, no doubt looking for his own dinner.

The water was absolutely still, the air breathless after the warm afternoon, but the sun had no strength as it sank redly behind the jagged mountains. The only other boat in our anchorage had left at midday and, not counting the hawk, we had the cove to ourselves. It was a fitting end to an idyllic week: our chartered powerboat would be returned the next morning and, by late afternoon, we would be heading back to civilisation.

Sunset and its reflection, on the Sea of Cortez.

dIf your experience with bareboat cruising is a daily race against dozens of other boats to the next anchorage, which will probably be filled to brimming and churned by dinghies ferrying crews to a beach dotted with Styrofoam cups, well … think again. The Sea of Cortez may just be the last great unsullied cruising ground, but don’t dally because the word is getting out.

Less than two hours south of California by jet, Puerto Escondido is a good starting point to explore the Gulf of California, known to insiders as the Sea of Cortez. Two hundred miles north of Baja’s capital, La Paz, it offers several offshore islands to explore as well as a number of superb coves along the peninsula. We chose to take a 37’ powerboat, since she would give us the speed to sample the area without having to rely on the wind, which can be an iffy proposition in these parts. What we found were nearly empty anchorages, beaches that bear none of the ravages of civilisation, incredible fishing and perfect weather during our mid-May cruise.

We started at El Presidente Hotel in Loreto, a luxurious all-inclusive resort. The next morning, we were whisked to the charter base nearby. Because supermarkets don’t exist in Baja, the charter company provisions the boat for charterers, allowing them to tailor their desires by trading food before departure. Because of the vagaries of Mexican deliveries, you may find some surprises; ours was that a case of lemon-lime drink had been substituted for the Diet Coke we had ordered. On the other hand, the meats and fish were absolutely fresh and the Mexican wines were superb.

A radius of 25 miles from the charter base provided plenty of pleasant anchorages - and shells.

The charter briefing, using projected slides to show the cruising area, was extremely thorough and competent, the package of instructions and charts were more than we needed for the entire cruise, and the checkout on the boat was pleasant but comprehensive.

We’d heard about a pocket anchorage called Honeymoon Cove that holds only a single boat and headed there on our afternoon departure but, finding it already occupied, we moved 15 miles north along Isla Carmen to Puerto Ballandra, where we anchored with three cruising ketches. The cove, protected from all but westerly winds, which the locals say almost never blow, was calm as we grilled chicken on the mesquite coals, sipped pina coladas, and tucked in for the night. Naturally, that “rare” westerly popped up at 0100, making us pitch uneasily on the rode, but it died away before dawn.

The next morning, we were visited by Lou and Jeannie Corwin from Southern Cross, their pretty Angleman ketch that had been used to film the movie, “Overboard”. After exploring a deserted shark-fishing encampment ashore, we left mid-morning to head across the glassy waters to Isla Coronados. Along the way we were watched by seals and sea lions that seemed unafraid as we slid past.

Isla Coronados is a volcanic island with lovely sand beaches and a lava cone that radiates heat at high noon. After cruising slowly through the anchorage area, which held several other yachts, we went south to a separate bight and dropped the hook in 15’ of crystal clear water. Taking the dinghy ashore, we explored the volcanic rocks and then moved back to the more protected anchorage later.

As we prepared to anchor, another cruising skipper came alongside in a dinghy to suggest that if we waited, another boat would be leaving from a more desirable spot. It was the sort of cruising camaraderie that seems to have been lost in the more popular cruising grounds but still thrives in Baja.

A camp of Mexican fisherman was on one of the beaches, and there was a constant arrival and departure of their pongas, a local skiff. At dusk, the smooth water was constantly broken by the splash of fish and, at one point, the fish were so active that it sounded like water running. It was a noise to make an avid fisherman salivate.

On the following day, we explored a radius of perhaps 25 miles from the charter base. You don’t have to travel far to find pleasant anchorages, and our shell collection grew to cover the entire dinette.

Caleta de San Juanico is a spacious and protected bay known locally simply as Juanico. It is notable for weird rock formations and several all-weather nooks, as well as the “shrine” where yachtsmen have contributed rough-hewn artwork and carved signatures on an ever-growing monument to cruising.

The offshore side of Isla Carmen is called the “Painted Coast” for its multi-coloured cliffs. A Bahamas-style striped lighthouse guards the entrance to Salinas Bay. Originally a company town for harvesting the huge salt flats, all that remains is a ghost town of heat and glare as a reminder of the workers’ miserable existence. Rusted train tracks once carried the salt to a now-ruined wharf near a beached tugboat, and the only population other than the single guard is a squadron of red-necked turkey buzzards that watch over the decaying houses and church. A wrecked freighter offshore makes interesting diving, but the light breeze was building, turning the bay into a lee shore that encouraged our departure.

Cruising camaraderie still thrives in Baja.

Honeymoon Cove was once again occupied, but we picked so-called “Cousteau’s Cove” a few hundred yards south, where Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso had once anchored for a filming session in Baja. A huge rock overlooks the cove, and Calypso’s helicopter used that as a natural landing pad. We snorkelled along the reef, amused by the colorful fish that would cluster inches from our masks to peer in at the invaders. At dusk, we found that Lou and Jeannie had brought Southern Cross into an unmarked but protected cove south of Honeymoon. They joined us for dinner when we discovered that we were overstocked with food and our boat was due for return the next morning.

As we prepared to leave the next day, Lou came past in his dinghy and asked us to stop by. We came alongside later and Jeannie, who is an inveterate and highly successful shell collector with many museum contributions, presented us with a rare olive shell as the crowning touch of our new collection.

The world needs more cruising areas like the Sea of Cortez, and more cruising friends like the Corwins.

Editor’s Note: For more information on charters in the Sea of Cortez, view the La Paz listings.

Her name is Islander, and she was built in 1991 as the boat you see in the top photograph on this page. Yes, that is a full set of sails helping to power her across the ocean. Masts and rigging and all.

The owner of Islander in this form died in 2002, and his son has since taken ownership of the yacht. The son always thought she should be a motoryacht, I’m told by broker Fiona Maureso of Peter Insull’s, which manages Islander for charter. Hence the work that is being completed right now in a shipyard in Jacksonville, Florida, to turn Islander into the proper motoryacht, shown in the bottom image on this page.

Once the refit is complete, which is expected to be during the current winter season, Islander is expected to become available for charters in the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

Note that the yacht also will be for sale following the refit, which means her summer 2010 availability and location will depend greatly on immediate charter inquiries as well as any new owner’s decisions.

Look for more details from me about the Islander refit (including new audiovisual and communications systems) after the work is complete. Until then, you can learn more or book a week onboard through any reputable charter broker.

The 130-foot Mea Culpa, built in New Zealand by McMullen and Wing. Click on the image to see more photos.

That’s also true for the suppliers of the components that go into such a motoryacht.  In Fort Lauderdale, those suppliers filed, like ants still on the job, aboard the 138-foot motoryacht Mea Culpa.

Mea Culpa launched from McMullen and Wing in 2003, and she has since cruised nearly 70,000 miles around New Zealand, Australia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Western Samoa, greater French Polynesia, Hawaii, the U.S. West Coast from Panama to Alaska, and the U.S. East Coast as far north as Nova Scotia.  Much discussed and serviced, she had yet to make her formal, domestic debut.

Although Mea Culpa has cruised over 70,000 miles, meticulous maintenance has kept everything like new.

“This boat show is the first time many of our suppliers are actually seeing the boat they helped to build years ago,” Capt. Mike Hein told me as we sat in the sky lounge, which, like the rest of Mea Culpa, had been so well maintained that it looked practically brand-new. I specifically looked to the edges and corners of the rich woodwork and plush carpeting, scanning for the kinds of nicks and tears that seem to scar a yacht through the sheer force of ticking time. I found not a one.

Camper & Nicholsons International will manage Mea Culpa for charter, which means anyone willing to pay a weekly base rate of $120,000 for eight guests will have a chance to enjoy this beauty over the winter, in the Caribbean.

Come summertime, though, Mea Culpa will be on the move again. “We plan to go back to the places the owner liked the best,” Hein said. “We will keep traveling the world.”

No doubt Mea Culpa will take a good number of Fort Lauderdale hearts and souls along for the ride. 

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.

The 151-footer is making her world premiere here at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, and I was fortunate to snag a personal tour with Capt. Alec Cunningham. He told me that Katya‘s owner–whom I also met and liked quite a bit–is keen to keep track of the yacht’s fuel expenses. So keen, in fact, that Cunningham sends the owner a daily report about how much fuel was burned in the most recent 24-hour period. The photograph above shows the data as Cunningham reports it in Katya‘s log book, in a space custom-printed for the very purpose.

Now, fuel is one of the biggest expenses on any charter yacht. And on many occasions, I hear stories about how surprised charter guests can be at how quickly they run up a high fuel tab in addition to any given yacht’s base rate.

Not so aboard Katya. Cunningham told me that he aims for “total transparency” in terms of keeping clients informed day-to-day, just as if he were reporting to the owner.

“I don’t go 15 knots to get somewhere at 3 a.m. when I can go 12 knots and get there at 7 a.m.,” he explained. “The guests aren’t even awake yet, so why spend their money burning extra fuel? It’s the guests’ money, and we’ll of course do what they want, but I think there should be transparency in the process. They should be able to see, day-to-day, how their cruising decisions are affecting their overall charter expenses.”

What a fantastic idea aboard a new yacht that has all the makings of a great new addition to the global charter fleet.

Katya is part of the Ocean Independence charter fleet. Any reputable charter broker can provide you with more information.

A fine vessel for a day cruise, at a fine price.

Trying to find great value on a corporate entertainment budget slashed by half can leave your head feeling nothing but a dull thud. Individual hospitality prices for Wimbledon’s centre court start from £899, Ashes cricket at Lord’s from £279; even two hours in an executive box at a Queen’s Park Rangers football club home match costs £170. Most corporate hospitality seems designed for a more prosperous and profligate age.

But don’t despair; there is still at least one headache-easing bargain around. Look towards the south-coast of England to find Seafin – a classic English motorboat – cruising into Port Hamble, near Southampton, and waving a flag for serious business fun on a modest budget. A perfect day out in a delightful setting costs less than £100 a head.

Triangle Marine has been offering hospitality days aboard its elegant, 75-foot motor yacht for more than 20 years, and Reed Business Information has chartered Seafin several times annually since 1989.

“We used to take our advertisers to Henley, Wimbledon and Test match cricket, but once we analysed the costs we found they were amazingly high compared to Seafin,” says Mike White, Reed’s client services director for two decades until 2008. So, instead of paying two or three times as much, he booked the vessel up to ten times a year to reward the top advertisers of Reed’s diverse magazine portfolio. “It’s one of the most cost-effective ways of entertaining clients and being able to discuss our business with them informally,” adds White. “People are very disappointed if they aren’t invited.”

Seafin is equipped – and licensed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency – to carry thirty passengers around the Solent, which makes it suitable for any company keen on generating and maintaining business during choppy financial waters.

Charter rates for 2009 start at £2,500 for a whole day onboard, with thirty of your most valued customers wined and dined by Seafin’s diligent crew. The set up allows you plenty of one-on-one time with all your guests on a sunny top deck, on land by the quaint village pub at the picturesque Buckler’s Hard, and on the water – courtesy of the on-board jet-skis.

“We booked a year in advance and I certainly don’t regret it now the recession has arrived,” says Ben Rayner, general manager at communications agency, CHS Creative. “Some of our clients survived the previous recession and realise that if they do nothing, they achieve nothing. If you don’t do marketing you get less business and we’re aware that there will always be someone around the corner to snap up ours.”

He says the day includes plenty of fun activities for all age groups. “Seafin allows us to bomb around on a fast motorboat on the Solent and to use hired jet RIBs to let our clients get to a nearby island if they wish to go shopping.”

But how does the vessel compare with others available for hire? “We’ve chartered other boats and they haven’t delivered as much, so we returned to Seafin,” adds Rayner. “We struggled to find any other boat that gives us what we want. Right down to constantly filling people’s glasses with Pimms and feeding them all day, Seafin does things the way they should be done.”

David Blackburn, director of HR & business support at Shepherds Bush Housing Group (SBHG), echoes those views. “When people climb aboard for the first time, you can see their absolute joy and wonderment that they’re on a great big motor cruiser where people are serving them free drinks.”

Unlike the Bank of England, Seafin doesn’t print her own money, but it’s clearly a venue with an atmosphere conducive to big business deals. Indeed, apart from the sparkling service and beautiful destinations – “Buckler’s Hard is a wonderful place to visit in its own right,” says Blackburn – it’s the business brokered on board that keeps clients re-booking year after year. “Once aboard, there is a huge amount of cross fertilisation and business brokered.”

Warwick Bergin, a director of Triangle Marine, which bought the yacht in 1986, says: “Our regular clients know there is no better place to enjoy a Pimms, swim or jet-ski than when cruising onboard Seafin in the summer sun. Because we do much more business than other boats – and half of our catering is done in-house – the economies of scale allow us to bring the price right down.

“We tend to get the train down with our clients, spend the day on Seafin and head back together on the train. It’s literally a 12-hour bonding session.”

Apart from affordability, great service and fun, Seafin travels to “some very characterful places” according to David Norman, a director at financial services company, Davon Ltd. “There’s a choice of Buckler’s Hard on Beaulieu River, or Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight in the morning, before anchoring down to set the jet-skis free in the afternoon,” says Norman. For five consecutive years, he has rewarded his clients with a trip on what he calls “a classic gentleman’s yacht with wonderfully varnished timber”.

George Deedes, classified national sales manager at the Daily Mail newspaper, books Seafin because its intimate environment compares favourably with other opportunities to thank clients. It offers “the chance to get up close and personal with invited guests”, compared with the superficial greetings afforded by large drinks parties for 150 people, and a River Thames boat he used to hire for 70 people.

“It’s nice to operate in a fairly large group in an environment that’s still small enough to enable us to give everyone personal attention,” says Deedes, grandson of the legendary journalist WF Deedes. “We only got three hours on the Thames boat compared with an entire day on Seafin. We tend to get the train down with our clients too, spend the best part of the day onboard and merrily head back together on the train. It’s literally a twelve-hour bonding session. u

“The vessel is beautifully looked after and was recently refurbished, so it’s perfect for entertaining,” he adds. “Let’s face it, there’s no greater environment to get to know someone than sitting on a boat, soaking up the sun with a beer in hand.”

Seafin has three levels on which to sup that beer. The top deck fits thirty people, the middle deck is designed for comfort, with an open gallery to eat food, and the lower deck houses four cabins with power showers to help guests warm up after riding the jet-skis.”

Alex Widdicombe, Seafin’s operations manager, says: “I’ve worked on private jets that are cramped but Seafin is roomy with plenty of space. Our guests have the full run of the boat and can find somewhere to relax by sitting on deck outside or reading a magazine on the comfy sofas inside – and there is enough indoor space for everyone if it rains.” Guests who want to take the wheel can do that too, with supervision from the skipper Fred, who, with more than thirty years’ experience, takes any little hiccup in his stride.

Chartering Seafin also means that you can pass off every inch of the vessel as your own to impress deserving and disparate clients. “We encourage our clients to welcome their guests with their own banners and flags. We help to create the illusion that our boat is theirs on any particular day,” says Widdicombe – very useful for maximising television exposure during Cowes Week.

“We need a vessel for spectator purposes. Seafin has a fantastic viewing platform … and is fast enough to follow the yachts around.”

Cowes Week is very popular with those with a nautical bent or who simply want to make the biggest impact. “As we’re based on the south coast and not tucked up in London, Cowes is an apt day out for us,” says Rayner. “We book then because the regatta has boats zipping down the harbour, which creates a great deal of excitement.”

The boat also makes for a fabulous viewing gallery. “She is very comfortable, with lots of areas to watch the passing races,” says Widdicombe. “We need a vessel that is good for spectator purposes,” adds Simon Boulding, marketing director at Britannia Corporate Events, which runs its own corporate sailing regattas.

Cowes Week is a very popular charter period for Seafin.

“Seafin looks the part and has a fantastic viewing platform,” he says. “At 11 knots, she is fast enough to follow the yachts around and provide our clients with quality, close up views of the racing at the start and finish lines. A very small number of vessels can do this and Seafin has a good reputation.”

For Norman, the appeal of booking Seafin lies in its financial transparency. “With other corporate hospitality, it can be quite hard to quantify what the total cost will be – and you have to make certain arrangements yourself,” he says. “But Seafin offers the complete package and it’s very easy to arrange.”

“In the current climate, some entertaining budgets have literally been halved,” says Deedes. “On Seafin, you can entertain a decent amount of people for a very extended period of time, in favourable conditions. It helps us to build a great impression and relationship with our biggest clients, many of which spend in excess of a million pounds in advertising.”

For all that, he says, “£2,500 is bloody good value.”

For more information contact Triangle Marine.

Originally built in 1999, Senses underwent a refit in 2008 that left charter brokers positively bubbling. She is among a handful of “go-anywhere” expedition yachts that are available for crewed charter at all, combining an exploration-ready exterior with a luxurious interior. I’ll bet you’d never guess, looking at the profile shot, that the main saloon inside looks so elegant.

I haven’t personally chartered in Madagascar, but several brokers I know have sent clients there, and all reported successful vacations with an “off the beaten course” vibe. The Seychelles, I can enthusiastically recommend based on a charter that I did there in 2006. Truly some of the most memorable beaches in the world.

Senses takes 12 guests with 13 crew. Her lowest weekly base rate is $260,000. For more info, contact Edmiston & Company.