Caribbean splurge: your own sailboat (well, sort of)

Last April, Chris Kotchick, an oral surgeon from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and his family spent a week on a chartered catamaran in the calm, clear waters off the British Virgin Islands. A two-person team – part of the deal – ran the show.

Until then, said Dr. Kotchick, the sum of his nautical experience consisted of sailing on ferries. But his search for a vacation that would appeal to his wife Bridget, a high school biology teacher, and their two teenage children led him to a 50-foot boat, which they used as a base for swimming, snorkeling and wake-watching. boarding and diving as they sailed from island to island. They slept on board and mostly skipped the restaurants on land, impressed by the meals prepared by the crew that could be shared with their daughter, who has celiac disease.

Cost-wise, the trip was an affordable splurge for them: just over $20,000. “It wasn’t much more than the great Disney World vacation we took when the kids were younger,” said Dr. Kotchick, adding that two others joined the family on that trip. “And it was a lot more fun.”

Although the image of sailing in the Caribbean is more oligarchic than the average Joe, the Kotchicks are much closer to the typical crewed yacht clientele than that of Jeff Bezos aboard his schooner, which is over 400 feet long and reportedly cost $500 million. After a lull in the pandemic, more and more people with comfortable, but not necessarily extraordinary, means are booking these trips, and the trend continues to rise. According to a report from April 2023 Fortune Business Insights shows that the global charter yacht market – including both crewed charters and self-sailing or bareboat charters – is expected to grow 5.5 percent by 2030, with yachts under 40 meters (about 131 feet) accounting for the largest share will be responsible for.

Because the cost includes crew, passengers do not need specialized maritime knowledge, meaning the trips attract a variety of travelers.

“Some of our customers prefer active sports, and others prefer to relax with a book or go to restaurants, bars and resorts on land,” says Carlos Andrade, a captain who works with his wife, first mate and chef Maribel Ramirez , for over 30 years traveling in the Caribbean and elsewhere, most recently aboard their 43-foot catamaran, Alize. “But they all love the outdoors and being close to water.”

For Steve McCrea, broker at the yacht charter agency Ed Hamilton & Co., the most common question from potential customers is whether their children will be bored on a boat. “I tell them that yes, it is a sailing holiday,” says Mr McCrea, who has been booking crewed Caribbean trips for 26 years, “but in fact it is more of a floating resort along the way, with lots of activities. , sports equipment and great beaches where you can spend the day.”

Jim Grant, a real estate agent at Worry-free yacht chartersthese passengers are not required to meet any specific health or physical fitness benchmark. “If you can comfortably travel on a jet plane to get to the boat,” Mr. Grant said, “you’ll be fine on board.”

The heart of the matter: boats and costs

In the Caribbean, crewed catamaran sailboats with their double hulls are much faster than motorboats and single hull sailboats as the vessel of choice. “They are more stable on the water, which is great for people without much sailing experience,” says Mr Andrade, the yacht’s skipper. “And in terms of space on board, they are unbeatable when you compare different types of boats of similar length.”

The size and age of a boat largely determine the cost of a charter, with price increases occurring during the holiday. For a weeklong trip for six passengers aboard an older catamaran with three en-suite guest cabins and a crew of two in a private cabin, the per-person rate starts around $2,500 for a vessel under 50 feet. That gradually increases to $5,000 and up for a slightly larger and newer boat, and continues to increase as size and newness increase. For example, a week aboard a two-year-old, 80-foot catamaran with four en-suite cabins and a crew of four can easily approach $20,000 per person. In the Caribbean, the charter price is usually inclusive, meaning meals, alcohol and fuel are included in the price. Only the usual tip of 15 to 20 percent is extra.

Crewed charter trips can fill up quickly. “For the best selection, consider booking at least six months in advance for popular times like spring break, Easter and Thanksgiving,” says Els Kraakman, a British Virgin Islands-based real estate agent at Waypoints yacht charters. “It could be more like a year for Christmas and New Years.”

Unless you rent a megayacht with its own gym and sauna, the amenities are fairly uniform. Even on medium-sized ships, they are usually equipped with Wi-Fi, air conditioning, music systems, swimming platforms, showers on deck (in addition to those in the cabin), motorized dinghies for water sports and transport to shore, and an arsenal of sports equipment such as kayaks, stand -up paddleboards and equipment for snorkeling and fishing.

Dining on board is a big plus: on many boats the galleys are manned by chefs with professional experience.

“The meals were fantastic,” said Steve Tyler, a retired process safety engineer from Kansas City, Mo., who recalled a particularly memorable chicken-coconut-cream curry served on the 50-foot British Virgin Islands catamaran he had previously chartered this year with his wife Laura and their 19-year-old and 23-year-old daughters. “Our daughters are so busy with their own lives,” said Laura Tyler, a family law attorney. “It was great for all of us to share three meals a day.”

Use a real estate agent

Brokers arrange most crewed charter trips in the Caribbean, especially for new passengers, with the standard 15 percent broker fee paid by the boat owner. Brokers can book almost any yacht with crew. However, the best of them work exclusively with charters managed by the boat owners themselves or by a team that works on the boat full-time (what some call true charters), as opposed to bareboat operations with a freelance captain and chef who work for a is hired for a certain period of time. one way.

Many websites appear to offer brokerage services, but actually function more like booking sites. “Real agents talk to clients before they book to get a sense of who they are and what their expectations are for the trip,” said Mr Grant. “Based on those conversations, they recommend boats and crews that they actually know through previous bookings, personal connections or visits to the annual charter yacht shows.” Many top real estate agents are members of professional associations such as the Association of Charter Yacht Brokers or the American Yacht Charter Association.

Matching crew and customer is particularly important. In addition to running the boat and cooking meals, crew members act as hosts, concierges, and de facto tour guides, and may have close contact with clients, especially on smaller boats.

So, where are you sailing to?

When you consider that there are approximately 7,000 islands in the Caribbean, it can seem difficult to choose one or more for a crewed charter. But the Caribbean’s charter fleet is concentrated in just a handful of locations with the right combination of good sailing and land services. The routes are usually the same no matter how big your boat is. Smaller ships often have the advantage of being able to travel and overnight in shallower, nearby waters that are inaccessible to megayachts.

In the Bahamas, a popular destination that’s technically in the Atlantic Ocean, boats (including motor yachts) make trips from Nassau to the Exumas, a chain of more than 300 low islands and bays with few inhabitants and miles of beaches. The U.S. Virgin Islands, home to National Park Service sites and other land-based attractions, has a sizable charter fleet. In the Leeward Islands, Antigua and St. Martin appeal to those looking for serious offshore sailing and, in the case of St. Martin, especially the French side, good food. South of normal hurricane routes, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a group of 32 cays and small agricultural islands, sees an influx of charter boats during the peak hurricane season off many other Caribbean islands.

By far the top destination, however, is the British Virgin Islands, more than fifty different islands – some sparsely populated, others dotted with resorts and well-known watering holes – whose terrain ranges from green mountains to sugar-sand beaches.

On their separate voyages, the Tylers and Kotchicks each hopped around islands like Tortola, Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda, and made the longer sail to more remote Anegada, home to vibrant pink flamingos.

For the Tylers, the trip to the British Virgin Islands, which cost about $20,000, was likely a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. “It was expensive,” said Laura Tyler, “but well worth it in terms of the memories we created.”

However, the Kotchicks are not ruling out a new staffed charter. “I would do it again,” said Dr. Kotchick. “The only question is where.”

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