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2011

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SHIP SHAPE: Stay Fit While Yachting

Journey to the END OF THE EARTH

INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES for Captain and Crew

MOTOR VS SAIL: A Stew Tells All

YACHTDOWN UNDER:

The Next Generation of Personal Subs

www.yachtessentials.com MARCH / APRIL 2011

Publisher Chris Kennan [email protected]

Editor Brad Kovach [email protected]

Art Director Amy Klinedinst [email protected]

Contributing Editors Andrea Bailey Carol Bareuther Capt. Warren East Beverly Grant Louay Habib Jan Hein Andrew Karlsson Blair Kearney Nick Marshall Doug Mitchell Capt. Jan Robinson Steve Rosenberg Capt. Ted Sputh Anita Valium

Advertising INTERNATIONAL: Richard Barker [email protected]

VIRGIN ISLANDS: Guy Phoenix [email protected]

ST MAARTEN: Nick Marshall [email protected]

Minerva Brown [email protected]

Accounting, Subscriptions [email protected]

Yacht EssentialsOwned and

Published by Kennan Holdings LLC 382 NE 191st St #32381 Miami, Florida 33179-3899 Phone: (443) 321-3797 Fax: (815) 377-3831

This spread: Photo by David Pearlman,courtesy of U-Boat Worx submersibles. www.uboatworx.com

4 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Bottoms Up, Caribbean Style (Part III)page 44

An Enlightened Childhoodpage 50

March / April YEOWNERS

CAPTAINS

CREW

Too Hot, Too Coldpage 54

Criminal Activitypage 58

Interview Tips for Captainspage 60

Getting DownSPOTLIGHTpage 20

Journey to the End of the EarthPORTS OF CALLpage 26

Julie NicholsonWHERE ARE THEY NOW?page 32

Around the Rockpage 34

The Slojo YAG Challengepage 40

Crossing the Great Dividepage 62

Fitness Afloatpage 66

Women RockPROFILE OF A CHARTER CHEFpage 70

The Antigua Party!page 74

The Leap Back to Terra Firmapage 76

49th Annual Antigua Charter Yacht Showpage 78

Meet Charne CoetzerSTEWARDESS OF THE MONTHpage 80

Keep Your Pants OnANITA VALIUMpage 84

Need a Valium?ANITA VALIUMpage 96

Cover: Photo by David Pearlman,courtesy of U-Boat Worx submersibles. www.uboatworx.com

6 YACHT ESSENTIALS

THE BEST DAY OF FISHIN’ EVER!Four young Sitka black-tailed bucks fell upon good luck late last year as they were pulled from the icy waters of Stephens Passage, Alaska, by a group of locals on Tom Satre’s 62-foot charter vessel.

Four juvenile Sitka black-tailed deer swam directly toward the boat. Once the deer reached the boat, they began to circle, looking directly at the humans on board. Clearly, the bucks were distressed. With help, the typically skittish and abso-lutely wild animals came willingly on board. Once there, they collapsed with exhaustion, shivering.

Here, the rescued bucks rest on the back of Tom Satre’s boat, the Alaska Quest. All four deer were transported to Taku Harbor.

Once the group reached the dock, the first buck that had been pulled from the water hopped onto the dock, looked back, then leapt into the harbor, swam to shore and disappeared into the forest. After a bit of prod-ding and assistance from the humans, two others followed suit, but one deer needed more help. Here he is being trans-ported by Tom.

Tom, Anna and Tim Satre helped the last of the “button” bucks to its feet. They did not know how long the deer had been in the icy waters or if there had been others who did not survive. The good Samaritans describe their experience as “one of those defining moments in life.” I’m sure it was for the deer, as well.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

How do youget into YE Mag?

CONTRIBUTE! Email thoughts

or images to [email protected]

DYT USA: Tel. +1 954 525 8707 • E-mail: [email protected] Newport, RI: Tel. +1 401 439 6377 • E-mail: [email protected]

DYT Martinique: Tel. +596 596 741 507 • E-mail: [email protected]

Yacht at Rest, Mind at Ease

W W W. YA C H T- T R A N S P O RT. C O M • 1 - 8 8 8 - S H I P - D Y T

*** UPCOMING CARIBBEAN SAILINGS ***ST. THOMAS � MARTINIQUE � TOULON, MARCH

ST. THOMAS � PORT EVERGLADES � PALMA DE MALLORCA, APRILST. THOMAS � FREEPORT � NEWPORT, APRIL

MARTINIQUE � PALMA DE MALLORCA, MAY & MARTINIQUE � TOULON, JUNE

8 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Letters to the Editor

YACHT ESSENTIALS WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU! SEND YOUR CORRESPONDENCE BY EMAIL TO [email protected], OR MAIL LETTERS TO: YACHT ESSENTIALS, 382 NE 191ST ST. #32381, MIAMI, FL 33179-3899

We first met charter chef Victoria Allman in the May/June 2010 is-sue of Yacht Essentials. Now, she’s back with a new book. SEAsoned: A Chef’s Journey with Her Captain is a delicious travel adventure that takes readers on a journey aboard a yacht and into the heart of working for your spouse and staying afloat during the first year of marriage. Buy it at www.amazon.com, or find out more at www.victoriaallman.com.

– The Editors

Hi people From Crew by Crew.My name is Marcáo Hurodovich. I am from Brazil and reading for the first time your magazine. I am first mate M/Y Gattina. This boat is 93 feet and made in Brazil. In November 2008, we started our trip from Brazil, through the Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico and Ft. Lauderdale. This was my first

time in the Caribbean, and I love the place. I send some pictures that I take in this travel. I hope that you enjoy

the images I share with your magazine. And I really would like to win the digital camera!

Best regards, Marcáo Hurodovich

– Photo submitted by DJ Evans

How do youget into YE Mag?

CONTRIBUTE! Email thoughts

or images to [email protected]

Welcome to San Diego...• Refit Center of the Western Hemisphere• Three Outstanding Refit Yards• Reliable Contractors• Deep Water Port• Year-Round Sunshine

America’s finest city.

Visit us online at www.sdsuperyacht.org to learn more.

Yacht photo taken by Carlos Deza.

10 YACHT ESSENTIALS

YACHT NEWS

▷ ITALIAN STEELFifty years of tailor-made motor yacht design has led to this: the Sanlorenzo 46 Steel, the company’s first me-gayacht in steel and a finalist at the World Superyacht Awards 2011. The 46 Steel, measuring 46 meters in length, is the new flagship of Sanlorenzo’s fleet and has three decks and a displacement hull in steel with an alu-minum superstructure. A significant feature of the 46 Steel — never before seen in a boat of this size, according to the builder — is the “under lower deck,” an additional deck situated beneath the lower deck. It consists of a standing-headroom tun-nel running all the way from bow to stern and housing both technical areas (stabilizer fins, bowthruster) and ser-vice areas (laundry, refrigeration rooms). The vast stern area houses the “beach club,” a fitness zone complete with a gym and spa with dedicated bath-room. It faces a big, single-level bathing platform and sits adjacent to a starboard-side garage that is big enough to accommodate a 20-foot tender. Powered by twin CAT 3512B engines, the Sanlorenzo 46 Steel boasts a maximum speed of 17 knots, a cruising speed of 15 knots and a range of 4,000 nautical miles at 12 knots.

PENDENNIS APPRENTICE WINS QUEENS SILVER MEDAL Tom Clegg won the Queens Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, becoming the UK Shipyard Apprentice of the Year 2010. This is one of the country’s most prestigious apprentice awards and has been presented to representatives from the ship building industry since 1945. Annual nominations for the Queens Silver Medal come from every yard in the UK with assess-ment taking place during several stages. Clegg is now employed as an engineer at Pendennis and worked on the winter refit of S/Y Adela.

WENDY UMLA JOINS CURTIS STOKES & ASSOCIATESFormer M/Y Castaway captain Wendy Umla is the latest addition to the sales team at Curtis Stokes & Associates in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Launched in 2009, the firm spe-cializes in worldwide yacht sales, yacht charters and new builds. Umla began her professional career in sales before working her way up through the megayacht industry.

“Her competency in so many aspects of yacht manage-ment and her experience with superyachts in particular gives Wendy a strong foundation for representing our

www.YachtEssentials.com 11

high-end yachts,” said Curtis Stokes, president of Curtis Stokes & Associates.

LJ HOUGHTING JOINS CHURCHILL YACHT PARTNERS Churchill Yacht Partners has announced the expansion of its Charter Management Division with the recent ad-dition of Lara-Jo “LJ” Houghting, formerly of Northrop and Johnson Yachts-Ships Inc. Houghting began in the

yachting industry as a stewardess before moving on-land to work as a boat show coordinator, yacht sales coordi-nator and charter manager.

Since purchasing the highly successful charter company Rikki Davis Yachts in 2005, Churchill Yacht Partners has continued to expand its charter yacht management and retail booking divisions. Churchill’s Charter Fleet Manage-ment supports owners and captains of yachts in the char-ter market, and Rikki Davis Yachts at Churchill Yacht Part-ners services clients worldwide in the retail charter field.

12 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Yacht News

large community, analyze it and develop a useful tool that provides yachting crew with real-time salary statis-tics. It tabulates responses from both current crew look-ing for positions and successfully placed crew candidates on more than 30 different crew positions weekly. The sal-aries, length of experience, size of yacht and position are all determining factors, which are then communicated to the user through a series of four easy-to-read graphs charting current crew salaries.

WHAT’S NEW IN ELECTRONICS?WHATS NEW IN ELECTRO“Your yacht deserves nothing less than the most powerful electronic naviga-tion solution available,” said Nobeltec upon the launch of Admiral 11, the newest versions of its award-winning PC-based marine navigation software.

Admiral 11 gives owners all the features found in Visual Navigation Suite (VNS) 11, and also supports NMEA 2000, the new Nobeltec IR2-HD2 radar and can more fully integrate with Furuno AIS receivers and chart plotters. New fuel flow technology and the added Nobeltec Weather Service will help make owners and captains more aware, conscious and informed.

Additional Admiral 11 features include four fully-customizable NavInfo panels for immediate display and histogram representation of key navigation data, a hand-panning tool, advanced multi-monitor support, GlassBridge Network, data sharing, track-line coloring, dual radar support, vessel scaling, and the easy-to-use NavView touch-screen with a big-button user interface.

Nobeltec has also partnered with Actisense to create a USB gateway device, the Nobeltec NEMA 2000 PC Gateway, available for purchase from Nobeltec or any of its authorized dealers. This device promises to vastly expand the range and depth of data available to the Admiral and VNS software suites.

▷ IYC TAPS BOB SAXONVenerated large yacht industry veteran Bob Saxon has been installed as the new president of International Yacht Collection (IYC).

Chairman Felix Sabates said, “There is no one better suited to expand IYC’s worldwide brand: a strategic model that incorporates all aspects of the yachting life-style. IYC’s current active fleet of 150 yachts represents three-quarters of a billion dollars in central listings, new builds from Trinity Yachts, charter management, yacht charter vacations having incorporated The Sacks Group into our family, yacht brokerage and yacht man-agement. Bob Saxon’s unrivaled reputation, his under-standing of the totality of the modern yachting business and his ability to understand owners and their needs are critical to our global expansion.”

LYG LAUNCHES LIVE CREW SALARY TOOL Luxury Yacht Group (LYG) has launched a new salary tool for the yachting industry on www.luxyachts.com. Realiz-ing the need for addressing industry salaries, and with a database of more than 50,000 yachting industry mem-bers, LYG decided to convert the raw data within this

IYC Chairman, Felix Sabates, IYC President, Bob Saxon

france: +33 (0)6 8128 0813 • italy: +39 333 1460 600

[email protected] • [email protected]

skype: studiodeerparis

marc paris yacht photography

Amels shipyards, Fraser Yachts, Burgess, YCO, International Yacht Collection, etc... and yachts such as

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14 YACHT ESSENTIALS

△ BLUE MOON COMPLETES DRY-DOCKING The megayacht Blue Moon recently completed its two-year maintenance dry-docking at Bay Ship & Yacht’s ship-yard in Alameda, California, on the shores of San Francis-co Bay. The captain of Blue Moon chose Bay Ship for its complete dry-docking facilities, which include the West Coast’s only 1,200-ton Syncrolift. Blue Moon also took advantage of Bay Ship & Yacht’s berthing facility at Pier One on Treasure Island to provide additional time for the captain and the crew to enjoy the Bay Area.

Bay Ship & Yacht is the only shipyard on San Francisco Bay capable of maintaining and repairing both steel and aluminum ferries and yachts, as well as tugs and other work boats, and diversified military craft. The yard has a 3,000-ton floating dry-dock and a state-of-the-art Syncrolift for docking vessels up to 200-feet and 1,200 tons and moving them by rail to a total of 16 dry-berth working stations.

OUTER REEF AND KADEY-KROGEN TEAM UP Outer Reef Yachts of Ft. Lauderdale and Kadey-Krogen Yachts of Stuart, Florida, have entered into an agree-ment in which Outer Reef will represent Kadey-Krogen through all of the Outer Reef established international sales and service locations.

Outer Reef has offices and service centers in Sydney, Australia, and seven locations throughout Europe. Kadey-Krogen currently builds long-range trawlers from 39 to 58 feet in pilothouse and tri-deck configurations. Outer Reef builds custom long-range motor yachts from 63 to 118 feet, also in raised pilothouse and tri-deck configurations.

SANLORENZO AND RODRIQUEZ SIGN AGREEMENTSanlorenzo, builder of a superyachts up to 200 feet, has signed a commercial agreement with Rodriguez Group,

Yacht News

16 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Yacht News

a world leader in luxury yacht sales and owner of the international brokerage and management company Camper & Nicholsons. The agreement commits Rodri-guez to sell Sanlorenzo’s Ameglia-built fleet (six motor yachts) and Viareggio fleet (four superyachts) in France and Monaco.

▽ SINGAPORE HOSTS ASIA’S FIRST YACHT SHOW The Singapore Yacht Show launches from April 8 to 10 at the exclusive ONE 15 Marina Club in Sentosa Cove. The inaugural show promises to bring together an international audience of Asia’s high net worth indi-viduals and all the major players of the region’s luxury yachting industry.

With active support from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau (SECB), the new Yacht Show will reinforce Singapore’s position as a prime destination for dynamic and influen-tial business exchange.

DEMAND FOR DYT GROWS IN SOUTH PACIFICDockwise Yacht Transport’s (DYT) trademark bright or-ange semi-submersible ship, Super Servant 3, arrived in Brisbane in January and is a reflection of an Australian yacht market that is “very buoyant at present due to the strong Australian dollar,” according to Jason Roberts, president of Aurora Global Logistics and exclusive agent

for DYT. “DYT and Aurora are working hard to service the South Pacific market for yacht transportation in relation to this large influx of yacht movements.”

Super Servant 3 departed Port Everglades (Ft. Lauder-dale) in December 2010 and made stops in St. Thomas (USVI), Golfito (Costa Rica) and Papeete (French Polyne-sia) before arriving in Brisbane. From there, it headed to Auckland and returned to Port Everglades in late Febru-ary, via Ensenada (Mexico).

DYT’s second “float-on/float-off” voyage to the South Pacific this year will begin in Port Everglades in early July, with stops in Golfito (early/mid July),

WHAT’S NEW IN YACHT GEAR?

The Titan Digital Low-Light Night-Vision Binocular from OceanView Technologies offers some unique features to help yacht owners and captains get out of the dark. For instance, the device can see through glass, making it easier to inspect surrounding waters without heading outside on the deck. And, different from traditional low-light cameras, the Titan’s IR Illuminator uses an infrared frequency that makes the image discernable in total darkness to a distance of up to 1,640 feet.

Incorporating the latest Closed Coupled Device (CCD) technology, the digital binocular can be used day or night without damage to the device. An anti-blooming system helps reduce any loss of image at night, even when a bright light source is in range, and two rubber eyepieces offer comfortable viewing with both eyes (many night-vision devices only come in scope form).

The Titan is offered in 8X magnification, 11X magnifica-tion and VARIO with variable magnification of 0.6X-8X models. Pricing starts at $2,800.

Andy Treadwell (Managing Director, Informa Yacht Group), Arthur Tay (Executive Chairman, CEO, SUTL Group), and Michael Tan (COO, Leisure and Lifestyle Division, SUTL Group).

18 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Brisbane (early August), Auckland (mid-August), and will then head back via Ensenada (mid-September) to Port Everglades (early October) in time for the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show. This particular voyage is ideal for those who want to attend the Rug-by World Cup, which takes place in Wellington, New Zealand, in August.

△ COLONNA INAUGURATES TRAVELIFT FACILITYColonna Yachts, a major refit and repower yard located in Norfolk, Virginia, has opened its new 1,000-metric-ton Marine Travelift facility for service of vessels with a maximum 60-foot beam and 22-foot draft. This is a particular advantage for deep-draft sailing yachts and

Yacht News

high-volume displacement motor yachts up to the max-imum capacities.

Featuring the world’s largest Travelift, Colonna’s West Yard is configured with two concrete slipway piers, 320 feet and 215 feet respectively, for safe handling during the hauling evolution; the piers also double as layberth piers with utilities and mobile crane service for in-water vessel repairs.

On shore with 14 designated work stations, Colonna is able to accommodate quick-turnaround emergency re-pairs and can schedule regular service periods with greater flexibility. Diverting projects to the West Yard also frees up demand on the two floating dry-docks, which can handle larger vessels up to 620 feet and 16,000 tons.

Vance Hull, Director of Yacht Services, Colonna Yachts


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WHAT’S HAPPENING? Abu Dhabi, UAE03/24/2011 – 03/26/2011ABU DHABI YACHT SHOWBoat Showwww.abudhabiyachtshow.comfranck.dailles@informayachtgroup.com971 (0) 4 3365161

Antibes, France04/07/2011 – 04/10/2011ANTIBES YACHT SHOWBoat [email protected]+33 492 905 915

Antigua04/14/2011 – 04/19/2011ANTIGUA CLASSIC YACHT REGATTAClassic Yacht [email protected]

04/24/2011 – 04/29/2011ANTIGUA SAILING WEEKSailing [email protected]

Liverpool, Merseyside, UK04/29/2011 – 05/08/2011LIVERPOOL BOAT SHOWBoat Showwww.liverpoolboatshow.comjames@marine-industryevents.co.uk07885 292124

Palm Beach, FL03/24/2011 – 03/27/201126TH ANNUAL PALM BEACH INTL BOAT SHOWBoat Showwww.showmanagement.com954-764-7642

San Diego, CA04/14/2011 – 04/16/2011DELUXE SAN DIEGO ~ THE YACHT & LIFESTYLE EVENTBoat [email protected]

Singapore04/08/2011 – 04/10/2011SINGAPORE YACHT SHOWBoat [email protected]+971 4 336 5161

St. Barthelemy (St. Barth)03/24/2011 – 03/27/2011ST. BARTH BUCKET RACESailing [email protected]

04/04/2011 – 04/06/2011LES VOILES DE SAINT BARTHSailing Regattawww.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.cominfo@lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com+590(0)590 27 20 64

St. Maarten / St. Martin03/04/2011 – 03/06/201131ST ST. MAARTEN HEINEKEN REGATTASailing Regattawww.heinekenregatta.comregatta@heinekenregatta.com599-544-2079

St. Thomas, USVI03/25/2011 – 03/27/201138TH ANNUAL INTL ROLEX REGATTASailing [email protected]

05/27/2011 – 05/29/201137TH ANNUAL FOXY’S WOODEN BOAT REGATTASailing [email protected] 495-1002

03/28/2011 – 04/03/201140TH BVI SPRING REGATTA & SAILING FESTIVALSailing Regattawww.bvispringregatta.orginfo@bvispringregatta.org284-494-3286

20 YACHT ESSENTIALS

GETTING DOWNSpotlight

BY STEVE ROSENBERG

“A strange twilight world opened up before me, and I felt as the first man to set foot on another planet, an intruder in this mystic garden of the deep.”

—Professor Pierre Aronnax, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ( Jules Verne, 1869)

The VAS submarine


OWNERSpersonalized training programs, the latest class of person-al sub designers is taking aim at superyacht owners who want to enhance their cruising with deep-sea adventurers — and who want to have a lot of fun at the same time.

NAUTILUS SUBMARINE & DIVING SYSTEMSAlthough it may share a name and heritage with Jules Verne’s famous vessel, Nautilus Submarine & Diving Sys-tems has taken personal sub transport to an entirely new level. The VAS Submarine is practically designed from the inside out with the end-user’s experience permeat-ing every detail.

The VAS features flat, distortion-free optics as opposed to the familiar curved domes or viewports. This provides a clear view of the sub’s surroundings not only for the enjoyment of passengers, but it helps when using col-lector or manipulator attachments and close-quarter ma-neuvering. It’s also the only private sub available with an ingenious diver lockout, allowing you to exit the vessel to personally explore around the vehicle while another pilot takes the controls.

With several different configurations available, the VAS is designed to provide maximum interior passenger space (up to 12 people) in relation to its exterior foot-print. For instance, the VAS 525 Super K three-person is 6 meters long, 2.4 meters high and 5,200 kgs. The VAS 525 MK five-person is 8 meters long, 2.5 meters high and 10,000 kgs.

The VAS has the option of single-point and dual-point lifting and is launched unmanned and boarded while in the water. The sleek hydrodynamics of the VAS allow it to travel either at the surface or underwater at speeds of up to 6 knots. It is also capable of being towed to a dive site manned or unmanned. The vessel is rated for up to 525 feet, not coincidentally the same allowable depth for a mixed-gas diver in case an emergency rescue is needed.

The VAS submersible uses air and oxygen for operation. With a mission time up to eight hours and a 96-hour life support capability, the mother ship will need a high-pres-sure air compressor system and oxygen storage and/or production. A team of naval architects and engineers is charged with incorporating the VAS holding, launching and retrieval footprint into any yacht’s existing design. www.yachtdive.com

Ever since Captain Nemo captured the public’s imagination with his adventures in the mysterious depths aboard the Nautilus, there has been a fasci-nation with exploring the seas in an enclosed ves-

sel under its own power. While it’s true that author Jules Verne based his submarine on existing designs — steam-boat entrepreneur Robert Fulton successfully launched his Napoleon-funded Nautilus in 1800 — Verne’s writing has inspired generations of inventors and engineers to go deeper, faster and further.

Today, there are several such visionaries bringing the dream of submarine exploration and recreation to private owners around the world. With state-of-the-art safety sys-tems, custom-built launch-and-retrieval installations and

22 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Getting Down

U-BOAT WORXThe U-Boat Worx company, founded in the Netherlands in 2005, has found a niche in the personal sub market by concentrating on “value for the money” with its C-Quester and C-Explorer lines. By building the easy-to-pilot, comfortable and safe vessels in small production series, U-Boat keeps manufacturing costs to a minimum (as opposed to custom-building each sub) and limits de-livery time to under a year.

The newest model, the C-Explorer 5, seats five includ-ing the pilot (a five-guest configuration is also avail-able) and features the company’s familiar 360-degree acrylic pressure capsule to offer nearly unrestricted viewing. C-Explorer 5 is capable of eight hours of autonomous operation with an underwater speed of about 2.5 knots and a surface speed of 4 knots. Pricing is dependent on the depth rating, which is standard at 328-feet but is also available at 200- and 300-foot ratings. Other models are designed to carry between one and three people.

All versions of the C-Explorer feature a one-atmo-sphere design, meaning there is no pressurized at-

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mosphere inside the cabin, but rather the cockpit is sealed at the surface pressure. Because of this, occu-pants never have to regulate their dive or ascent rate to allow for decompression.

U-Boat Worx submarine


U-Boat Worx encourages owners to be part of the con-struction process and provides comprehensive after-sales service. The Germanischer Lloyd Classification Society, an authority that oversees the design and construction of every craft, performs rigorous testing to ensure the highest possible safety standards for the submersibles. www.uboatworx.com

SEAMAGINE HYDROSPACE CORPORATIONSEAmagine’s two- and three-person submersibles are designed for ultra-deep operations (up to 3,000 feet), so they clearly tread the line between yacht toy and serious exploration vehicle. But for superyacht own-ers who want the best of both worlds, this may be the best option.

All models are built with a single acrylic bubble cabin that permits a 360-degree view and features a clamshell opening for entry and exit. Once the craft is sealed, pressurized and launched, the elec-tric motors can take you well below the safe diving limits to reach shipwrecks or reefs that had pre-

viously been out of reach. A built-in robotic arm allows you to remotely retrieve and store artifacts from the sea floor.

Specifically designed to be operated from large luxury yachts, SEAmagine designs emphasize aesthetics and comfort while offering all the safety features of the best scientific submersibles. Taking a team approach to the sub’s integration with a superyacht, the owner is invited to bring in the vessel’s captain, management company and naval architect where appropriate to en-sure proper installation and operation.

All SEAmagine submersibles are classed +A1 by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and can also be certified by US Coast Guard or the Cayman Island Ship-ping Registry (CISR). During the construction of each submersible, ABS surveyors inspect all key aspects of the construction, survey all functional tests of the vari-ous systems and witness the sea trials, which include the final test dive to the submersible’s maximum op-erating depth. Delivery time for the two-passenger Ocean Pearl is 14 to 18 months, while the three-person Triumph delivery is about two years.

24 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Getting Down

Since SEAmagine’s submersibles have a patented buoyancy system that permits them to float high above the water line when on surface, the operator launch-es the vessel with no occupants on board. The launch and recovery of SEAmagine submersibles is performed unmanned, reducing the cost of the handling system since the cranes are not required to be “man-rated.” Once launched, the external controls on the submers-ible allow a pilot to drive the submersible on surface as a tender and dock the craft to the dive deck for loading. www.seamagine.com

INTERNATIONAL VENTURECRAFT CORPORATIONSportSub personal submersibles have a deceptively simple design. Looking up from below, the hull ap-pears to be nothing more than an open shell. The se-cret is the same principal as a diving bell, with the air trapped inside by ambient pressure, so the internal and

external pressure is equalized. An automatic buoyancy system maintains neutral buoyancy throughout a dive, and the craft is kept in a stable, upright position at all times, so its center of buoyancy and center of gravity are as far apart as possible. The majority of its weight is on the bottom, and the top is where the buoyant air pocket is located. This causes the bottom of the sub to stay directly under the top, and prevents any air from spilling out the bottom of the cockpit.

SportSubs can be configured to ride high on the sur-face, with the entire cockpit and upper hull above wa-ter; submerged at neutral buoyancy; or landed on the bottom for occupants to exit for extra-vehicular excur-sion. Rather than an entry/exit hatch at the top of the vessel, SportSubs feature a swim-in/swim-out system. There are two advantages to this design. The simple rear opening can never get stuck or jammed shut, trap-ping occupants inside. Also, the sub’s cost is greatly reduced by leaving out a sealed hatch system.

SEAmagine’s submarine


Steve Rosenberg is the owner of Avid Custom Media, a content development and social media strategy com-pany specializing in the marine industry. He is the former editor and publisher of Boating World magazine and has held roles with the WaterSports Industry Association, Discover Boating and numerous boating advisory coun-cils. Reach him at [email protected].

The SportSub Solo allows a single pilot to ride inside the body of the sub with their head inside the air pock-et of a top-mounted dome. It uses two thrusters for control and maneuverability, which permits the sub to rotate in its own length, hover, and cruise straight up and down, like a helicopter. The vessel can be operat-ed to a maximum depth of 30 feet for up to one hour.

The SportSub’s balanced pressure hull allows large, flat win-dows to be used because they don’t have to withstand much pressure difference. Flat windows minimize the natural dis-tortion, called refraction, which occurs when water and air meet. These are used for forward-looking windows to permit accurate visual navigation. The dome shaped side windows exploit the distortion effect and provide a wide-angle lens effect allowing occupants to see a larger vista.

One of the pilot’s hands controls the speed and direc-tion of both thrusters simultaneously, using a single joystick. Each thruster’s speed is continuously variable from full forward to full reverse thrust. The pilot’s other hand controls the up and down angle of the dive plains, which direct the thrust and provide hydrodynamic force if the sub has forward speed. www.ivccorp.com

SportSub

26 YACHT ESSENTIALS

JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE EARTH

Ports of CallBY LOUAY HABIB

Via Australis


Punta Arenas, Chile, is a frontier town of 60,000 inhabitants and gateway to the wild southern reaches of South America known as Patagonia. The monument in the main square is dedicated to

Ferdinand Magellan, who opened up the route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the early 16th century. There are less than two people per square kilometre in Patagonia, and most of them live in Punta Arenas. It’s a friendly town with very little crime, which was made obvi-ous by observing that a local coffee shop still had the key in the front door.

Punta Arenas lies on the eastern side of the Magellan Strait, less than 1,000 miles from Antarctica and further south than New Zealand. Winters here are long, with only a few hours of daylight, and the temperature rarely climbs above zero. The town is also the homeport of the cruise ship, Via Australis, a 200-foot motor yacht that would be my home during a four-day voyage to Cape Horn — the end of the earth.

The day before departure, the north-westerly wind picked up pace, rolling down the Andes and blasting into Punta Arenas like an avalanche. It was absolutely screeching; 50 knots of wind announced its awesome power in every gust. Beyond the shore was a bleak and colourless sea-scape. The sky had taken on a frosted appearance, echo-ing the surging water below. The weather was raw to say the least, and there was an air of apprehension prior to our leaving, as it was pretty clear we were venturing into desolate territory.

Dockside, the Via Australis was a delight to behold, an ideal vessel for navigating the narrow confines of Pata-gonia but sturdy enough to handle the severe weather we would experience. After being welcomed aboard by the captain, we cast off and headed into the Magellan Strait. Conditions had abated somewhat, but it was icy cold in the wind.

On board, the cabins were spacious with full en suite facilities and a large window to the outside world, giv-ing a breathtaking view. Briefings on trips ashore and lectures about this fascinating region were conducted in the yacht’s two comfortable lounges, and these ar-eas also served as a great place to chat with ship’s crew and other guests who hailed from 18 different countries. Dinner in the large dining room was very well received, and sleep was deep, aided by some fine Argentinian Malbec.

A giant petrel

Punta Arenas

28 YACHT ESSENTIALS

At dawn, we navigated through the Aimirantarzgo Sound and dropped the hook in Ainsworth Bay. Charles Darwin stopped here to collect samples during his voy-age on HMS Beagle, whilst researching his theory of evolution. The bay borders the Marinelli Glacier, and it was our first site of small icebergs. It was snowing heav-ily and below freezing.

The basic principle of Darwin’s theory is survival of the fit-test, and Patagonia certainly provides a worthwhile envi-ronment. It’s a bleak, storm-frequented place where only the strongest can endure. However, that doesn’t mean there’s no life — far from it. Dolphin, penguin, sea lion, giant petrel, swift and geese are all in abundance. There are also thousands of species of moss, lichen and other plant life, which can thrive in the harsh conditions. These plants cling to the rocks, and to do so they secrete acid. This causes erosion, which eventually becomes soil, which is used by other plants…and so the chain of life goes on.

The weather deteriorated during our two-hour shore trek, and by the time we returned to the Zodiac land-

ing boats, it was quite frankly absolutely awful. Large shards of hale were whistling through the air, turning exposed skin red raw. I realized why our guides were all wearing balaclavas. The trip back to Via Australis was freezing cold, and to borrow a quote from one of my favourite films, Apocalypse Now, I muttered, “Never leave the boat.”

During the second night at sea, we passed out of the Magellan Strait and experienced our first taste of the fe-rocity of the southern Pacific Ocean. Although we were still inside the maze of islands, 70 knots of wind had the Via Australis listing a fair few degrees. Horizontal snow and a pretty lumpy sea required extreme caution, but the ship handled the storm well.

Our course was west, beating into the teeth of the tem-pest, as we had to go around the glacial field that cov-ers Tierra del Fuego. We were now well past 54 degrees south, and the air temperature outside was rarely above freezing. Snow flurries were virtually continuous, and the landscape became more barren. Glimpses of wildlife

Ports of Call: Journey to the End of the Earth

Ainsworth Bay

30 YACHT ESSENTIALS

were becoming scarce, save the giant petrel that glided astern, plundering our wake for food.

Our next stop was the Pia Glacier in the Beagle Channel, which is in excess of 50 meters thick and moves at more than 14 meters per day. Small chunks of ice crackled un-derneath the Zodiac as we made for shore. Fortunately, we got a break in the weather to witness this marvelous glacial formation. Like an avalanche frozen in time, the immense ice wall creaked and groaned with the occasional ear-split-ting crack; all around us was granite bedrock, carved and scarred by ice movements over thousands of years.

After returning to the Via Australis, we continued on our journey through the Beagle Channel and passed through an area nicknamed Glacier Alley to witness the stunning beauty of the ice flows that extend towards the Pacific.

By dawn, there was excitement on board as the Via Aus-tralis left the Beagle Channel to make way to Cape Horn. The day before, our sistership, the Mare Australis, was

unable to land, the foul weather preventing them from landing at the final destination. We were hoping to have more luck and make the landfall of Cape Horn in the early hours of the morning.

Conditions were absolutely perfect as we left the Beagle Channel into open water — well, as perfect as they can be in this remote part of the world — and shortly after day break, we arrived at Cape Horn, perhaps the most thought-provoking place for any sailor. Historic explorers have come here in search of adventure and glory. Drake, Cook and Shackleton have made his-toric voyages in the stretch of water between Cape Horn and Antarctica, but there are also 900 shipwrecks, and those are just the ones that are charted. The monument dedicated to those lost souls adds a somber tone to this truly awe-inspiring location.

On a personal note, I have often written about racing sail-ors passing the Horn, so it was especially pleasing for me

Ports of Call: Journey to the End of the Earth

The trip back to Via Australis was freezing cold, and to borrow a quote from one of my favourite films, Apocalypse Now, I muttered, “Never leave the boat.”


to finally visit the cape. All sorts of emotions come to the surface when you stand on this rocky island at the end of the civilized world. For sailors making Cape Horn from the South, the Horn is a wonderful sight and a great relief. It means they have traversed the remotest ocean passage possible — they have survived the Southern Ocean.

For the company of the good ship Via Australis, Cape Horn marked the end of a thought-provoking journey through a land of devastating beauty. This is without doubt the most dramatic environment I’ve ever witnessed. I’ve been fortunate enough to see much of our planet, but this short journey to the end of the world has only increased my ap-petite to travel. I am hungry for more.

For more information on Cruceros Australis tours of Pata-gonia and Cape Horn visit www.australis.com.

Louay Habib is a freelance journalist and broadcaster based in the UK. With 30+ years of international yacht racing experience, he has visited more than 40 countries around the world.

32 YACHT ESSENTIALS

JULIE NICHOLSONWhere Are They Now?

BY CAPTAIN JAN ROBINSON AND JOYCE MacMULLEN

Julie Nicholson sits by the fireplace in her charm-ing, rustic home in Blue Hill, Maine, surrounded by mementoes of her life as the doyenne of yacht chartering. Scattered around each wall are photo-

graphs of sailing yachts and other nautical art and ar-tifacts; over the mantle hangs a lovely painting of her mother. While Julie’s once brown hair is now a soft gray, she sports a tan from a recent outing in the Antiguan sun, and her laugh carries the sparkle and positive at-titude that has guided her life.

Born in New York City in 1928 to Edwin Pyle, an or-thopedic surgeon, and Annette Pyle, a stay-at-home mom, Julie’s sailing career began when she was a child in Blue Hill, where the family owned a summer cot-tage. A graduate of Smith College, she joined the 96-foot brigantine Yankee at age 19 and sailed around the

world. The crew was comprised of 23 young men and only four women, the captain’s wife and three other females. Although she was teased unmercifully by the men, the captain and his wife were strict in maintain-ing propriety. The purpose of the journey was to col-lect information for lecturer Irving Johnson, and Julie’s

Through the years, Julie has placed thousands of charters on as many charter yachts. Her passion is and always has been people —

“We’re in the people business,” she said.


primary duty was to stand watch at four hours on and four hours off.

This first voyage shaped much of Julie’s life, giving her not only a love of sailing but a thirst for travel and exotic places. In one of these foreign ports, the Sul-tan of Jahor wanted to buy Julie. The young men on the Yankee knew they had to stay in their place, and to avoid complications, they tried to “fix her up” with other young men in various ports of call. They would place chairs in a circle, leaving the one next to Julie empty so an eligible male had to sit next to her. It was during this around the world trip that Rodney Nich-olson was “the man in the chair” when they stopped in Antigua.

It was love at first sight, and Julie and Rodney stayed in contact after Yankee completed her voyage. Rodney was skipper on the 70-foot schooner Mollihawk, char-tering out of Antigua. Julie joined him on Mollihawk, and together they chartered the Caribbean for several years. The accommodations on Mollihawk were small, and during this time Julie slept on a shelf in the en-gine room. Julie and Rodney were married in Blue Hill in 1954, and after a honeymoon on a freighter, they moved to the 96-foot schooner Freelance, which had a proper captain’s cabin. They continued chartering in the Caribbean until they were hired to run Cynara in the Greek Islands.

Julie and Rodney’s family began to arrive in 1959, be-ginning with Dana and quickly followed by Libby and Shelby. The three girls were born during a period of only four years. During this “stay in one place mode,” Rodney and Julie built and operated two hotels in An-tigua: Hawks Bay Hotel and The Admirals Inn. They were part-owners of the Hawks Bay property and had a 99-year lease from the Antiguan government on The Admirals Inn.

Julie’s job at the hotels was hostess. “This made me very uncomfortable, as I could not imagine being paid to be nice to people,” she said. And nice she

has always been. It is agreed in the industry that Julie relates only positives. One long-time broker said to me, “When I ask for Julie’s opinion on a yacht she has chartered, I always expect something like, ‘Well, the boat sank halfway through the charter, but no one was hurt and the guests had a marvelous time for four days.’”

Julie lived in Antigua for 20 years, during which time she was cook on the first charter yacht in the Carib-bean, ran the hotels, raised her children and was the voice at VEB Nicholson Company — the first charter company in the islands. In 1973, she relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and established Nichol-son Yacht Charters. She was joined by Sylvia Weston from Antigua. “Having Sylvia in my life has been the most blessed gift,” said Julie.

Through the years, Julie has placed thousands of charters on as many charter yachts. Her passion is and always has been people — “We’re in the people business,” she said — and Nicholson has arranged charters for the rich and famous, for statesmen and for just plain folks. “I’ve been [arranging yachting vaca-tions] for more than 50 years, and my heart still leaps with pleasure,” said Julie at the end of our interview. “We are selling happiness.”

Rodney Nicholson died in November 2010 in Blue Hill. Julie continues to book yacht charters, enjoys studying a wide selection of subjects, paints and is active in the Ed-ucation for Ministry. She lives with her daughter, Shelby, two cats, a dog and a rabbit.

A native of New Zealand, Jan Robinson sailed the Ca-ribbean on her 65-foot yacht for more than 20 years as a charter chef and yacht captain. She now divides her time between homes in the US Virgin Islands and Charlotte, North Carolina. Jan has been profiled in nu-merous publications and conducts monthly columns in All At Sea, Yacht Essentials and Pilot magazines.

“I’ve been [arranging yachting vacations] for more than 50 years, and my heart still leaps with pleasure,” said Julie at the end of our interview. “We are selling happiness.”

34 YACHT ESSENTIALS

It seems obvious that voyaging to Canada’s Port Mc-Neill can be a difficult task, but those who visit this land of enchantment will tell you…leaving is even harder. Nestled on Vancouver Island’s northeast shore,

the small, rustic town clings to Broughton Strait, where it serves as the hub for the north end of the island. Here, Mother Nature is alive, well and strutting her stuff. The population of the town doesn’t amount to much unless

you count the black bears, cougars and deer, but sum-mertime finds the place buzzing with adventure-seeking yachties, hikers, fishing fanatics and tourists.

Known as the “Gateway to the Broughton Archipelago,” Port McNeill is located at 50.35 degrees north, but de-spite its chilly-sounding position, the area enjoys a tem-perate climate allowing for year-round boating and on-


AROUND THE ROCKBY JAN HEIN

shore exploration. Snow-capped mountains, steep treed hills and fjord-like outcroppings spill down to a body of water that rarely sees a swell.

From June to mid-October, killer whales inhabit nearby Johnstone Strait, entertaining intrepid whale watchers while guided kayaking expeditions, coupled with camp-ing or lodging, take resolute paddlers into the wild.

The shore side of Port McNeill, which rose from the log-ging industry, offers a full range of amenities and as such has become a major re-supply point for travelers up and down the craggy coast. There are a handful of places to stay and eat, ranging from fine to funky, along with ma-rine and sports stores, galleries, a golf course and airport — there’s even a theatre where you can catch a movie or host your own event. The main attraction in town for

36 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Around the Rock

mariners is the Port McNeill Fuel Dock and Marina, offer-ing 6,000 feet of dock space for fishing vessels, trawlers, superyachts and floatplanes.

The facility, owned and run by the Jackman family for 20 years, has seen recent renovations that include an ex-tended breakwater and additional dock space. Patriarch Bruce Jackman began the business with fuel and auto parts, and son Steve, who joined the team four years ago, has been instrumental in the expansion of the ma-rina and its diverse services.

Steve, who defines his role as a marine concierge, logged many hours in the high-end hospitality industry before returning home to host yachtsmen and visitors. To facilitate the inimitable needs of their waterborne guests, he said he always asks himself, “If it were me, how would I want to be treated? How can we make it easier?” One call from an owner or captain nets quick results that include flight arrivals and departures at the nearby airport, provisioning, flowers and an endless list of guided tour arrangements.

“We worry about it, so you don’t have to,” Steve as-sures clients. And with floatplane docks at the marina, two courtesy sport utility vans to grab guests from the airport, quick access to helicopters and a highly trained staff, he doesn’t have to worry, either. What isn’t avail-able locally is no problem. “Yachts send in a shopping list, and we have it flown in fresh,” he said.

Steve sometimes ventures off Vancouver Island, collo-quially known as the The Rock, to hit the lecture circuit,

enlightening yacht clubs about the well-kept secrets of Broughton Sound and the northwest coast of Vancouver Island. Getting there is a three-day trip from Campbell Riv-er, running 6 to 12 knots. There’s an abundance of anchor-ages, marine parks and, of course, fresh fish everywhere. Do-not-miss spots include Bella Coola and the Queen Charlotte Islands. Some captains choose the road less traveled by navigating the outside passage through the splendor of Desolation Sound. It’s an eyeful either way.

Just in case you tire of gawking at pristine scenery and wildlife, there’s plenty of other memory-making opportu-nities, and folks at the Port McNeill Fuel Dock and Mari-na will gladly guide you in the right direction. According to Steve, “We arrange heli-tours for sightseeing, fish-ing, hiking. Sometimes we take people out to the west side of the island for a picnic…land right on the beach.” Getting to remote surf spots is the perfect getaway for some, while others prefer the thrill of being dropped on the edge of a glacier. For the majority of visitors, it’s all about catching the big one.

Delineating choices, Steve explained, “There are all kinds of fishing: rivers, lakes, the ocean. I only recom-mend guides I’ve worked with. That way I know clients get the experience I’m promising them.” Whether going on an expedition or taking an expert aboard your own yacht, catching one that won’t get away is a sure bet; the area holds abundant runs of Chinook salmon, trophy-size sockeye and larger-than-life halibut and lingcod. You can serve it for dinner or have it shipped home. For more information on Port McNeill, and to make reservations, go to www.portmcneill.com.

Broughton Archipelago

38 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Around the Rock

Nimmo Bay (above) and heli-ventures (below).

Jan Hein and her husband, artist Bruce Smith, divide their time between the Caribbean and the Pacific Northwest with a boat and a life at each end. Visit their website at www.brucesmithsart.com.

NIMMO BAY

For an over-the-top fishing and living large experience, hop on a helicoptor for a short ride to Nimmo Bay or pull into that paradise on your own bottom. Here, you’ll meet the Murray family who, in 1980, planted the seeds of what is now a high-end fly fishing and wilderness adventure destination. Their Luxury Lodge Retreat perches on the coastline of B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest with Mount Ste-vens looming above.

Nine inter-tidal chalets accommodate up to 18 guests who partake in gourmet meals and beverages served in the floating main lodge with an attached, sumptuous smelling bakery. Bucolic wooden structures, elegantly adorned with furnishings and art, weave together the worlds of wilderness and exclusivity.

The heli-fishing escapes take spin and fly fish anglers deep into the wild for salmon, chum, cutthroat trout and coho. Catch and release allows for a day’s tally that often exceeds the sum of fingers and toes.

Another one of Nimmo Bay’s choose-your-own-adventure options is its heli-venture, designed by you and choreo-graphed by an audaciously skilled staff. A day with a he-licoptor can take you to the beach, an alpine meadow, a glacier, kayaking, whale-watching, river rafting and, if that’s not enough, there’s always more fish to be caught.

The Murray mission statement says it all: To Fly is Hu-man…To Hover, Divine. You can begin with a bit of flying on their website at www.nimmobay.com.

40 YACHT ESSENTIALS

This page, at top: Josh McInnes; at bottom (left to right): Bree Bojdak, Damon Ward, Kate Herregods, Scott Farrell, sujo, Jim, Sarah Wood, Heather Nelson, Josh McInnes, Tabitha Lewtas, and Adrian Annable

THE SLOJO YAG CHALLENGE PHOTOS COURTESY OF M/Y SLOJO

The Slojo YAG Challenge: 2010 Transpacific Triathlon raised $53,100 to benefit YachtAid Global (YAG), a

charitable organization that orches-trates superyacht deliveries of hu-manitarian, conservation and devel-opmental aid to isolated communities worldwide. During a 3,200-nautical-mile passage, Slojo’s owners, guests and crew ran, biked and rowed on machines 24 hours a day for 12 days as the motor yacht crossed from San Diego to the South Pacific. In return, the “athletes” earned funds from peo-ple who had pledged donations per nautical mile. Yacht Essentials applauds Slojo’s athletes and donors for support-ing YAG. Learn more at www.slojoyag challenge.org and www.iyag.net.


This page, clockwise from top left: Tabitha Lewtas; sujo, Gerard Ellmers, and Mark Drewelow; Scott Farrell; sujo

42 YACHT ESSENTIALS

The Slojo YAG Challenge

This page, clockwise from top: Sarah Wood, Tabitha Lewtas, Heather Nelson, and Adrian Annable; Rob; Rob, Damon Ward, and Josh McInnes; Heather Nelson and Sarah Wood


This page, clockwise from left: Damon Ward; Bruno Herregods, sujo and Kate Herregods; (front left to front right): Kate Herregods, Bruno Herregods, Josh McInnes, Adrian Annable, and Heather Nelson, (back left to back right): Damon Ward, Tabitha Lewtas, Scott Farrell, Sarah Wood, Bree Bojdak, and Gerard Ellmers

44 YACHT ESSENTIALS

BOTTOMS UP, CARIBBEAN STYLE

(PART III)STORY AND PHOTOS BY CAPTAIN WARREN J. EAST

This is the third story covering my favorite an-chorages in the Caribbean, and last time we ended up in Antigua. Having sadly left the northern reef there, you might assume that the

next logical stop for any sailor would be St. Martin. Why? Is it because you don’t have time, or you just can’t take another day without a McDonalds?

If I can hold off on a Big Mac for one extra day, I always use that 24 hours after leaving Antigua to break up the

sail to St. Martin or St. Barths and have a nice evening in Barbuda.

It’s ironic, really, that Barbuda is part of Antigua because it pretty much runs on par when it comes to magnificent beaches and reefs. I anchor right in front of old K Club in about seven feet of water all day and go back to the main anchorage at the bottom of the island for the night. I’ve also taken S/V Wonderful deep inside the reef at the northern end of the island, where we anchored close to


CAPTAINS

I also love Grand Case on the north side of St. Martin. It can get a little lumpy there when the wind is blowing strong out of the northeast, but it’s tenable most of the time. It’s great to take a walk through the town in the evenings, and the snorkeling is great around the rock in the northeast corner.

Anguilla, in general, is pretty spectacular. But as this article is about my favorite anchorages, I will only mention Crocus Bay. It’s just to the northeast of Road

the cormorant bird sanctuary. But wherever you go will be breathtaking.

Moving northward, the next place that springs to mind is Isle Pinel in St. Martin. I like the easy vibe of this place, and it’s mainly always calm when the day boats are not zooming around. It has a lovely beach, a great snorkel site and is close enough to Orient Beach if you or your guests want to indulge in St. Martin’s most renowned stretch of sand and all of its amenities.

Barbuda and Grand Case (top right)

46 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Bottoms Up, Caribbean Style (Part III)

Bay, where you can clear customs, and is right next to the island’s marine reserves, where I’d strongly rec-ommend a visit. It’s a peaceful place with long, sandy beaches and clear waters. It’s well protected from any-thing but northerlies, and there’s a nice restaurant on the beach if you don’t want to cook.

Finally, we have the Virgin Islands, where there’s a place to anchor every day of the year. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, but S/V Wonderful will be there in March and April, and I look forward to going back to an old hangout of mine in Peter Island called Little Harbor. For a long time, it was forbidden by a few bareboat companies for their customers to go — those were the good old days — but as time has gone by, more and more of those little boats have started using the bay

and providing lots of entertainment for me and a few of my fellow sailors who relax there between charters.

The bay requires the use of a stern line tied to a rock or tree, so as not to swing into other boats. There’s a hike and a couple of dives within a minute or two of the an-chorage, and Road Town is a 10-minute dinghy ride on a nice day…11 minutes on a bad day!

Another favorite spot in the Virgin Islands is Mountain Point in Virgin Gorda, where I tuck up into the corner in about 10 feet of water and tie a line ashore. You have great access to the official dive site just around the corner, and you can dinghy or even walk as far down as Savannah Bay. The scenery is stunning, and it breaks up a sail to Gorda Sound if the weather is a little too much for you.


Now that I’ve come to the end of this three-part series about my favorite anchorage in the Caribbean, I should highlight which one of them is my No. 1. With not very much hesita-tion, I’d have to say Cumberland Bay in St. Vincent.

At the end of six charters and a transatlantic passage, we found ourselves anchored in here for a week trying to get some rest. We did a couple of hikes and, as always, hired a couple of the locals to work on the boat. My friend “Brother” slept in the cockpit at night, so I didn’t have to worry about anything untoward happening, and by the end of the week, the crew and myself were back on track and ready for the sail to Antigua.

St. Vincent and St. Lucia were hit quite hard by Hur-ricane Thomas, but the spirit of the locals and their

efforts to reestablish themselves is admirable. The trails through the forests and to waterfalls were noth-ing short of carnage, and a lot of attractions remained officially closed by the government. But above and beyond that, Cumberland Bay is an amazing place where a healthy mind and a healthy body prosper. I hope you go there and feel the magic of the place. It’s really quite rare!

As I close this article, I’d like to say thanks for all the nice feedback from my articles. I write these piec-es because I want you, the readers, to know about the beautiful places I’m so lucky to get to see and photograph. You’ve got to read about them to know about them, and I’m happy it’s here in the pages of Yacht Essentials.

Cumberland Bay in St. Vincent and Diamond Falls in St. Lucia (at right).

48 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Bottoms Up, Caribbean Style (Part III)

Capt. Warren East has been sailing since age 7. After finishing university in 1994, he started sailing commer-cially and found himself hooked on catamarans shortly after. He now stands at the helm of S/V Wonderful, which he was commissioned to design and project manage

back in 2001. Warren holds a commercially endorsed 3000 tonnes (class 4) license awarded by the Maritime Coastguard Agency. As of December 2008, Warren has completed 311 charters around the world and has sailed close to 180,000 miles. www.yacht-wonderful.com

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50 YACHT ESSENTIALS

AN ENLIGHTENED CHILDHOOD

BY ANDREW KARLSSON

They’re awesome and frustrating, amusing and incredibly annoying. They can be spoiled be-yond belief, and other times they’ll surprise you with their insights and un-jaded view of the

world. They crave attention and want constant stimulus.

I don’t have kids, but I’ve spent the past four years work-ing with them. Not that long ago, I was one. I still am a kid, really. At least I feel more like one than a soon-to-be thirty-something.

I grew up on boats. Not the modern yachts around which my friends and I have been working since we be-gan “adulthood,” or something resembling it. No, my

days as a kid on my dad’s 36-foot ketch Sojourner were filled with adventure. When I was 9, my mom and dad absconded with my sister and I, and we set off to cruise the Bahamas for a winter. We traveled mostly with oth-er adults, cruising in company with my parents’ friends who didn’t have kids. If I remain a kid at heart to this day, it’s likely because my childhood was spent more like an adult — my fourth-grade classmates followed my progress from back home while my companions on the water were rum-drinking pirates.

Dad and I would go on spearfishing excursions. One of our favorite spots was a single coral head in about 15 feet of water near Sampson Cay in the Exumas.


My dad wore glasses and didn’t have a prescription mask, so I was his eyes — I did the spotting, he did the spearing. We weren’t particularly good; our best catch was a handful of squirrel fish, a margate and one solitary grouper.

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Dad and I would go on spearfishing excursions. My dad wore glasses and didn’t have a prescription mask, so I was his eyes — I did the spotting, he did the spearing.

52 YACHT ESSENTIALS

We were excellent conch fisherman. My 7-year-old sister would join us in the dinghy, providing “surface support.” Dad and I would tow her along as we snorkeled over the grassy bottom collecting our dinner. We’d fill the din-ghy with conch, and after a while they’d get restless and start inching around the floor of the dinghy, much to my sister’s chagrin. In a panic, she’d climb up on one of the pontoons. I’m not sure what she was afraid of — they aren’t exactly fast movers.

We hiked a lot. At Norman’s Cay, we explored the ruins of the drug cartel operations based there in the ’70s and ’80s. The first time my mom and dad visited in 1980, before us kids, the island was closed to cruising boats, ruled by the drug lords with steel boats and machine guns. In the end, the cruisers won out, and we enjoyed the spoils. With a bunch of my parents’ adult friends, we barbecued on the deck of an abandoned mansion. The scene set in the Baha-mas from the movie Blow was almost personal for me.

What we didn’t have aboard Sojourner were luxu-ries from home, something a modern yachtie kid has in abundance. I did have some of my favorite Legos along, jammed in the quarter berth that was my cabin. And I became a voracious reader, devouring books far above my supposed fourth-grade reading level.

On a yacht with all the comforts from home (and then some), it’s all too easy to sit the kids in front of the cin-ema or the Wii console. Or tow them in the inner tube behind the WaveRunners. Or simply ignore them while the adults entertain themselves over cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and supposed adult conversation.

Boring kids to death with the same mindless entertain-ment they get at home is laziness on the part of the caretaker, whether mom, dad, the deckhand, stew or the skipper is given this responsibility. Take the kids diving. Go hiking. Involve the kids in the running of the boat.

An Enlightened Childhood

We hiked a lot. At Norman’s Cay, we explored the ruins of the drug cartel operations based there in the ’70s and ’80s.


Get the skipper to teach them to navigate, not with the GPS and computers but with paper charts and hand-bearing compasses. Teach them the night sky and show them how to use a sextant. Get them on the bridge and steering the boat, not with the autopilot but by hand.

If they’re old enough, teach them “dinghy school,” and empower them to explore on their own. Team them up with the chef and send them on missions to the local markets in search of a food they’ve never seen or heard of before. Heck, involve them in some of the adult con-versations — this was certainly a highlight of my seafar-ing childhood. In short, excite their imagination with the things that are different from home.

My career as a writer and yacht captain is on a decided-ly different tack from many of those fourth-grade class-mates I abandoned for a year back in 1993. My parents always encouraged me to follow my passions. And they most definitely knew how to entertain me as a young-ster. I was never bored and always stimulated; they had the world as a classroom and opened my eyes to things my mates back home could scarcely imagine.

Don’t waste kids’ formative years on the comforts of home. It will take some effort on your part, but you’ll end up with happier kids — and a quieter boat when they all pass out smiling and exhausted in the evenings.

Andrew Karlsson is a professional captain and freelance writer who, along with his fiancé, Mia, is preparing to sail their yawl Arcturus across the Atlantic to Sweden. Visit Andy’s website at www.fathersonsailing.com.

Dad and kids, Annapolis, in the ’80s.Shelter Island Marina: 619 223 0301

Island Palms Hotel: 619 222 0561

54 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Men and women of the sea may fall under the sun’s fiery spell of hyperthermia or into the frigid cold fingers of hypothermia. Hyper is the Latin derivative for “over,”

while hypo is Latin for “under.” Thermion is Greek for “heat.” The yachting profession is a prime industry for both over or under heating.

Hyperthermia can upset your core temperature when the sun is beating down on you while you’re engaged in deck drudgery, when you’re working in a heat-filled

engine room or even when you’re soaking in a late evening hot tub. It occurs when the body absorbs or produces more heat than it can process, causing symp-toms of hot, dry, red skin and the inability to perspire, coupled with nausea, vomiting and a headache. In cases of severe hyperthermia, hostility and confusion to the point of suspected intoxication can be signs of body heat that is out of control due to outside factors. These symptoms should not be confused with a fever. A fever occurs when the body sets its own core tem-perature to a higher degree; something very similar to turning up a thermostat.

Hyperthermia is treated by cooling down in the shade, drinking and sponging with cool water, and removing re-strictive or heat holding clothing until the body is able to

TOO HOT, TOO COLDBY CAPTAIN TED SPUTH

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56 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Too Hot, Too Cold

regulate its own temperature. Aspirin or fever reducers will not affect hyperthermia.

Hypothermia, on the other hand, can be exacerbated by the exact chemical compound that saved you from hyper-thermia…water. Cold water carries heat away from the body 25 times faster than air of the same temperature. It occurs when the body’s core temperature falls below a normal 98.6 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit or cooler. (These “normal” tem-peratures may vary slightly from individual to individual.)

A Smart Risk Study done by the Canadian Safe Boat-ing Council in conjunction with doctors from the United Kingdom explored the psychological shock brought on by sudden immersion in cold water. They based their study on minds being deeply linked with bodies. The group found that the immediate physiological response upon falling into cold water is a “gasp” reflex. Next, the victim begins to hyperventilate and the heart races as blood pressure increases. This initial response all hap-pens within the first one to two minutes of falling into the drink and culminates in panic.

But then, after the horror, the victim has the capability to bring themselves back to stability by regaining their

calm and controlling their breathing. It helps to be able to swim because of the psychological boost; however, where swimming is possible, about as many swimmers drown as non-swimmers. The boating accidents study showed that between 1991 and 2000, 41% of victims who drowned while boating were within 10 meters of shore. An additional 22% were within 10 to 15 meters from shore. Two thirds of these drowning victims were strong swimmers.

Cold water immersion survival is better served by keep-ing your face out of the water, your back to the waves, and by not swimming and conserving energy. Every individual, whether a swimmer or non-swimmer, must take control of the situation and concentrate on plan-ning his or her own rescue. In other words, use your brain. Think survival! This psychological and physical trauma is easier to en-dure with a floatation device. Survival time can be less-ened by as much as 50% without a PFD, and putting on a PFD after falling into cold water is almost impossible. A 50% return on struggling for your life makes it smart to wear a PFD whenever and wherever indicated. If you failed to put one on before entering the water, you have


about 10 minutes in water below 59 degrees before arms and legs become nonfunctional.

In addition, 50% of heat loss is from your head; cover it if possible and enter the Heat Exchange Lessening Posture (HELP) position — cross your arms across your chest, keep your elbows close to your sides and draw your knees up to your chest.

Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht, a thermophysiologist at the Uni-versity of Manitoba, developed the 1-10-1 concept (1 minute-10 minutes-1 hour). This is a formula that’s valid for all temperatures less than 59 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Once you fall into cold water, you will hyperventilate for 1 minute. Don’t panic. Plan your next steps.• During the next approximately 10 minutes, you will have reasonable mobility and dexterity. Use this time to extend your survival. Take steps to keep as much of your body out of the water as possible. Conserve your energy.• You will have 1 hour of useful consciousness. Use it wisely. Plan your survival.

Reports from Titanic survivors describe the cries of vic-tims who were wearing cork life vests lasting for more than one hour, even in the frigid 31-degree waters of the Labrador Current.

Rescued victims suffering from hypothermia should be treated with the utmost gentleness to avoid precipitat-ing a cardiac arrhythmia. They should be kept as still as possible and moved to a warm environment with insu-lating blankets.

Land and water hyperthermia presents with many of the same symptoms. The same goes for hypothermia. They both demand a huge respect for nature…the water, the land, the weather and the sun. So, by land and by sea, remember to dress appropriately and wear a hat, be-cause your future lies beneath that hat.

Fair winds and calm seas….

Captain Ted Sputh holds a USCG and MCA, 3000 Ton, Upon All Oceans with Sail license and has been a profes-sional mariner for 33 years. He is currently doing relief and delivery work. Contact him at [email protected].

58 YACHT ESSENTIALS

The huge increase in yacht size and number over the past five years has left government and industry authorities struggling to catch up with outdated and unsuitable regulations

— or simply offering no regulation at all. Case in point: Yachts continue to be constructed with insufficient crew accommodation to fulfill the demands of legal seafaring and the first-class level of service that owners and guests quite rightly demand.

The UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has introduced some excellent regulation, including the Safe Manning Document, which outlines requirements for “safe manning” and the minimum crew needed to suf-ficiently operate a vessel. But the authorities — and I lay the blame here on the MCA, the Flag States and, to a lesser degree, the Classification Societies — have never addressed the fact we’re running both an ocean-going vessel and a luxury boutique hotel. The latter has never been taken into account with regard to crew size, crew area and bunk space.

This directly affects yacht captains, leaving them un-able to operate in compliance with MSN 1767 (Hours of Rest). Whilst there is a minority of yachts that run in ac-cordance with this regulation, for most yachts and crew, it’s impossible to obey. Captains and crew are forced to operate illegally by commercial pressure from either owners and/or charter brokers who want to maximize

their financial gains with little or no regard to the occu-pational health and safety of the crew or the laws we’re obliged to follow.

Honestly, how many crew reading this article receive the required 10 hours of rest each and every day — and 77 hours every seven days? The amount of yacht crew who have confided in me that they’ve been forced to break the law and sign Hours of Rest records that are blatantly false is staggering, but not surprising.

At no stage has the MCA visited the situation of crew numbers, or the job description of those employed aboard, or who runs “the ship” and who is involved with the hotel/guest service and entertainment. Until the regulatory authorities learn and understand what is actually required in regards to sufficient manning, then the bulk of the yacht fleet will continue to oper-ate illegally.

The rules and regulations have been introduced to in-crease safety, so why then is this activity “accepted” as part of yachting? Some might consider the MCA has been a bit “unilateral” on the issue of fatigue, but it has been provided by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) with a long and gruesome list of ocean-going vessels that have come to grief because of fatigue — and there’s a justifiable wish not to see “the big one” happen in the yachting industry.


The introduction of MLC 2006 should have been a step in the right direction, helping bring yachting into the 21st Century, but sadly, members of the Professional Yachtsmen’s Association (PYA) working on this very subject are of the opinion that “no owner will want to reduce the number of guest cabins at the expense of adding extra crew” and have vigorously tried to dilute the requirements. As a result, they’re failing the very people they supposedly represent and our ability to comply with the law.

I’ve had much involvement with commercial aviation, and hours of rest for aircraft pilots aren’t open to nego-tiation. Owners, companies and management under-stand this. This is the professional difference between two not dissimilar industries, and it originates from the level of policing, regulatory checks and “justice being seen to be done.” Aviation industry representation en-sures that safety and law is of paramount importance and focus.

The nonsense I hear from persons within the yachting industry that we’ll “scare owners away” is a fallacy. If the law is the law, and all areas of yachting tell the truth, then owners will understand their obligations as to crew hours of rest, maximum number of guests allowed aboard, maintenance requirements, etc., and will be forced by law to comply. Yacht owners will understand this, as most of them operate private jets, and if their jet is required

CRIMINAL ACTIVITYBY CAPT. SUE DENIM

to be in the air beyond the time allowed, they must (and do) carry extra crew. They might not like it or agree with it, but they comply with what the law requires.

The role of government regulators is not only to im-plement regulations, but to also ensure these are com-plied with — and taking captains to task is not the answer. The issue and answer to this endemic problem lies elsewhere.

Now, before you wheel out the “it’s part of yachting” argument, I would urge you to study basic OWHS and management practice and all those laws that govern our industry. If we must break the law to get the job done — and that’s what 98% of this industry is doing — then there’s something very wrong. If crew numbers are insuf-ficient for you to fully comply with MSN 1767, then you have insufficient crew. If you cannot carry more crew due to lack of cabin space, then the yacht has a design flaw. Incidentally, for those who employ the practice, “hot-bunking” is both illegal and unhygienic.

The continued short-staffing of yachts also manifests it-self in anchor watches not being stood, in contravention of Rule 5 of The International Rules for Prevention of Col-lisions at Sea 1972. Deck crew outside washing down through the hours of darkness doesn’t constitute compli-ance with Rule 5, so please don’t fool yourself. More on this in my next article: More criminal activity.

60 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Lots of crew magazines offer helpful hints and ad-vice for how to prepare and act in a job interview, but not much consideration has been given on the other side of the table: How should captains

interview a potential crew member?

Let’s start with looking at the point of interviewing. Presum-ably, you’ve already read the CV and can see what qualifica-tions the candidate holds; you should have an idea of what they’ve done and what they want to do next. So, what you want to know now is if they can do the job you require of them and if they’ll fit in with the current team on board. An interview should give you a good indication of both.

Depending on the position you’re interviewing for, you’ll have different questions to ask. You might find it help-

ful to highlight anything on the CV that has caught your interest. Make a few notes, write down a few questions. Winging it, although sometimes unavoidable, usually leaves you kicking yourself afterwards when you think of all the questions you forgot to ask.

We’ll start with the obvious: What do you want to find out about this person? A good ice breaker is to start with the usual “how did you get into yachting” questions. From there, you can talk through their previous expe-rience and ask questions as the opportunities pop up. What are their long-term goals and aspirations? Where do they see themselves in the future?

Encourage them to ask questions about the role; an in-terview should be an interactive experience, not just a

INTERVIEW TIPS FOR CAPTAINS

BY ERICA LAY


grilling from one side to see if they fit the profile. Do they have any other skills from pre-yachting jobs that you can utilize? Some people don’t even list their previous positions on their CVs, so it’s good to ask. Ask about their hobbies and interests; you might discover you have someone with more skills than you realized.

Bear in mind when you start the interview that a lot of people get a bit nervous. If you’re feeling nervous about interviewing, this will create a stiff atmosphere and neither side will come away feeling particularly good. Relax and be yourself. This might encourage the candidate to relax, too, so you can get a glimpse of the “real” person.

A company director once told me he only hired people who were more qualified or had more knowledge about a particular field than he did. That way he could rely on his team to deliver more and keep improving.

If you’re a captain interviewing a deckhand, or a stew-ardess, then make sure the heads of departments get involved, too. Ideally, get them to vet the candidate first so you only interview the select few.

A good question I enjoy asking — and usually it’s a good way to see if people can think on their feet — is to ask for strengths and weaknesses. Strengths? That’s easy. Every-one comes to an interview ready to sell themselves. But weaknesses? That’s a tricky one to answer!

Some captains, after formally interviewing, like to invite the potential new crewmember to a night out with the current team to see how they interact. Not a bad idea.

There’s no interview technique set in stone for yachting. Often the best way is to approach it in a flexible manner and see how it goes! Once you have the information you need, have a chat and see what sort of person you have in front of you.

Erica Lay is general manager of YCO Spain. Three years ago, she successfully set up YCO’s crew agency in Palma de Mallorca, where it is now firmly established, and she is currently opening YCO’s new headquarters there. Con-tact her at [email protected].

INTERVIEW TIPS FOR CREW Here are a few recommendations you should take heed

of before going to your interview.

1. Before you go, find out as much about the yacht and the position as possible. Google it (www.yacht spotter.com it) and ask your colleagues and friends. Just a few minutes of research will help you look prepared in front of the captain.

2. Be smart in appearance, and if you can’t, then explain why and apologize. If the captain knows you’re working in the yard and you’re coming over in your lunch hour for a chat, then he probably expects you to be in work gear; however, take a minute to throw a clean shirt on and wash your hands.

3. It sounds daft, but if you’re not au fait with giving a good handshake, try it out on a few friends. There’s nothing worse than getting a limp mitt in your hand at the start of the interview. Be confident, give a firm (but not knuckle-breaking) handshake and look people in the eye with a smile.

4. Answer questions honestly, but not too honestly. If you left your last yacht because you couldn’t stand your last captain you might want to be diplomatic. It’s a small industry, and word gets round.

5. Be interested and ask questions, especially when invited to. Before the interview, think about what you’d like to know. I wouldn’t recommend asking if the tips are decent or if you can bring your mum on for a tour though. Save those for later.

6. Be yourself. The captain will want to know if you will fit in with the current team, and you want to know if you will, too. If you’re asked to go on a social event with the crew, then don’t get plastered. Join in, but let the existing crew take the lead.

I hope this helps, and good luck with the new season!

62 YACHT ESSENTIALS

CROSSING THE GREAT DIVIDE

BY RACHEL BOUGHTON

“Stinkpot” and “blowboat” yachties are like skiers and snowboarders. Flipsides of the same coin, we make endless generalizations about one another. In my time, I’ve heard them all: Motor yacht crew are “soul-

less,” “in it for the cash,” “unimaginative” and even “poncy.” Sailors are “soulful,” “nicer people,” “scruffy,” “posh” and, fascinatingly, “drunks.” Are there nuggets of truth in the glib comments we make about one another? And how does it

work when a confirmed member of one faction “crosses over?” Last summer, I had the chance to find out.

After six years as a motor yacht stewardess, and seek-ing a job near to my partner, I took a chief stewardess job on a 43-meter schooner. Prepared to drown in a sea of stereotypes and rum, I had a frank chat with the cap-tain in which I openly admitted my sailing ignorance.

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He, prompted by an owner who desired “motor yacht-standard service,” suggested we go ahead with a trial.

Responses to my decision were varied. “Bleurgh,” said a motor yacht stewardess. “Good. The sticky up bit’s the mast,” said my friend’s boyfriend, who is a sailing yacht captain. “Ha! I have GOT to see this,” said my best friend. “A proper boat. Get me a crossing,” said my dad. And one of my favorites: “You’ll lose a limb. Or die,” said my mum.

On climbing aboard in Split, the giant winches glinted on the aft deck and I mentally slapped myself for tread-ing outside my comfort zone. The second stewardess, a friend from seasons past, flung herself at me and gave me a hug that calmed my fears a little. As I met the rest of the crew, I reflected on how my favorite part of the job is the fantastic people I get to meet on each boat. We chatted and laughed and got stuck into charter prepara-tions — just like any other boat.

A talk with the captain left me elated. “Don’t iron the uniform,” he said. “It’s unnecessary.” “How about order-ing flowers?” I asked. “Don’t bother. They’ll only fly all

CREWover the place.” “Fruit bowls?” I eyed him suspiciously. “Nope,” he said and grinned. “And don’t get loads of those silly magazines, either. They just slide about, too.” I skipped back to the crew mess. Easy!

My excitement waned on the second afternoon, when the mate handed me some too-small second-hand shorts and some smelly old sailing shoes and took me on a deck tour. “All in all,” he summed up after valiantly explaining a mag-nificent racing-schooner in 20 minutes, “the hinge-blap goes round the snarf. You’ll only be asked at first to attend to the winching flange, which you just trundle with a grind-ing blob. And, of course,” he chuckled, “whatever you do, don’t harangue the bimbly pips!” I nodded sagely.

The first day of sailing I was assigned the main sheet, within shouting and grabbing distance of the captain. I sat in my allotted position watching a baffling display of boys running up and down, fiddling with bits of rope, climbing onto things with monkey-like agility and a fair amount of shouting. Before I knew it, we were flying along at 14 knots. It was stunning and exhilarating. Crystal splashes of water leapt over the side deck. The guests were whooping with joy.

64 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Soon the cry came: “Trim on!”

Flustered, I felt my cheeks burning. “Erm,” I muttered.

Another shout: “For Christ’s sake! Bring it in!”

“OK,” I thought. “Safety release? Slow button or fast but-ton?” Before I knew it, the engineer had sprinted down the side deck, grabbed the sheet from my hands, stepped on the button and brought the main sheet in. He gave me a conspiratorial wink. The charter guests stared.

“Can you do a runner,” the skipper shouted. I felt sick. “You want me to leave?” I croaked. “No! The runner!” He pointed at the lines coming back along the side decks to the smaller winches behind me. Ah! The run-ners! I grabbed a winch handle and tried, unsuccessfully, to look useful. Second stew patted me on the head.

By the end of the sail, I was exhausted from sheer nerves. I looked at my watch and realized it was 6 p.m. Aperitifs, din-ner, turn-down…With a sinking heart, I clomped down the steps to the galley realizing there would be no afternoon break. For the first time, the fact that my salary had gone down by a thousand Euros a month popped into my head and lodged there like a poisoned dart. “How’s it going?” asked my boyfriend on the phone that night. “My pants are too tight, I have no soul and my feet stink,” I told him. “Business as usual,” he said, and laughed himself silly.

As the season passed in its usual blur, I loved seeing Croatia and Montenegro without the filter of a porthole. Like most crew, we worked hard, laughed ourselves silly and won some good tips. During a co-charter with a mo-tor yacht, the old debate came up a few times round the crew mess table. “Would you go over to the ‘dark side?’” I asked. “Never,” shouted the engineer, chef and stew. Only the deckie said “yes” and then added, “But, I’ll do anything for money.”

There were things I missed, like having a bigger budget to work with, fresh flowers and more props to decorate tables with; having a bunk that didn’t give me numb arms with its narrowness; proper breaks; a good stock of uniform; storage space; radios…alright there was a lot I missed. But I was OK. I got better on deck, if not con-fident. I got some bigger shorts and became adept at working at a 45-degree angle. I got used to the lingo, “I need the toilet, mind if I use your head?” I also became accustomed to the shouting and the hazards.

Even when I accidentally cut the owner’s toe off — with the main sheet, a whole other story — I only ate one packet of biscuits and cried for one day. And he cried very little, I am impressed to say. But my discomfort on deck never waned. Finally, on our last leg of the season, in 40 knot gusts and driving rain, I swayed in the cock-pit, green-faced in yellow foulies and made my decision to leave. The summer was over, the Atlantic crossing loomed and I knew it just wasn’t for me.

The captain battled an amused grin when I told him the prospect of the crossing made me “want to kill myself.” He nodded and said simply, “You know, I’m glad you were honest. Some people don’t like flying. Some peo-ple don’t like sailing. Experiment complete.” And we left it there. I got a good reference (for stewardessing, not sailing), some new friends and a new appreciation for my old field of work. He got to take on a crewmem-ber who could pour a glass of wine and leave the owner digitally intact.

So, did my experiment fail because I am just a ste-reotypical “motor yacht girl?” I don’t think so. Many others I know hop between sailing and motor yachts frequently. I happen to enjoy sailing, but don’t love it enough to make certain sacrifices. Also, I’m just plain not very good at it. Some suggested I tried to make too great a transition onto a “hardcore” sailing yacht. Oth-ers said, charmingly, “You can’t teach an old dog salty dog tricks.” Either way, my preferences and/or failings are mine alone.

Of course, the nature of different vessels dictates differ-ences in the job and the crew attracted to it. But the differences to me are superficial. I’ve worked with lovely crew and bad crew, and those distinctions are the ones I’ve found to matter. Skiers and snowboarders may squabble, but they have a shared love of the mountains. Most yachties I’ve met, on either side of the power/sail divide, love travel, adventure, people and the sea. The common threads for crew are hard work and enjoying the job. That’s what really counts.

Rachel Boughton has worked in the yachting industry as a stewardess and chief stewardess for the past sev-en years. Based in Antigua over the winter months, she combines temping on yachts with writing, and spends her summers on charter in the Mediterranean.

Crossing the Great Divide


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FITNESS AFLOATBY SUZANNA CHAMBERS

Spending months on end aboard a cramped yacht, miles from shore, can play havoc with crews’ fitness levels. Even if the boat in ques-

tion is one of the largest and most luxu-rious in the world, it still doesn’t lend itself to long-distance running or endur-ance training.

Peak-season days with guests on board are long and hard, with respite only to sleep. And when guests are not around, the schedule is just as grueling in prepa-ration for their arrival. There’s simply no time or space in which to train. And let’s not even mention the delicious food that the chef knocks out three times a day, week in and week out!

66 YACHT ESSENTIALS


But don’t despair. Living and working on a yacht doesn’t mean you can’t train, and train seriously. There are nu-merous ways to keep those muscles toned during the season, according to fitness expert Ben Kefford of Ben Kefford Fitness.

Kefford and his team are some of the leading trainers on the Cote d’Azur. A former Harlequins rugby player and Ironman athlete, Kefford has been working in Mo-naco and Antibes for the last seven years. Many of his clients work on boats. Yacht Essentials spoke to Kefford to find out what advice he gives his crew clients once they have set sail.

“It’s crucial to train for mental wellbeing and physical health,” he said. “Working on yachts is a very physi-cal job, in confined spaces in a stressful, exacting environment. Training will give you the energy and confidence to operate well in this environment and prolong your career.”

And, the confined space shouldn’t be an excuse. “You actually need very little area to train,” Kefford said. “To have a great workout, all you need is enough room to lie down. This can be either in your room or on deck before anyone else gets up.

“You also don’t need any kit. All you need is your own body to put together a great all-over workout. If you’re someone who prefers to train with weights, try to squeeze a kettlebell into your bag.”

Kefford has written three programs especially for Yacht Essentials readers. The first is for yacht crew when guests are on board; the second is for during a cross-ing; and the third is for out-of-season training.

“Working on yachts is a very physical job, in confined spaces in a stressful, exacting environment. Training will give you the energy and confidence to operate well in this environment and prolong your career.”

68 YACHT ESSENTIALS

PROGRAM ONE:• Even in peak season, it’s possible to manage 20 minutes of exercise. Try yoga, shadow boxing, skipping rope, pilates or kettlebell work (using a weight that looks like a cannonball with a handle). If you need examples or work better if you follow someone, take along a yoga or pilates DVD for help.

• Combine this with excellent nutrition. Snacking on the crisps, biscuits and chocolate that exist on almost every boat actually gives you a false sensation of energy, creating quick sugar highs and lows, exacer- bating feelings of tiredness and low energy.

• Choosing healthy snacks gives you balanced blood sugar levels, more energy and is a great source of minerals and vitamins to help you operate at the levels you need day after day.

• Get the chef and captain to help with the nutritional aspect by asking for healthy food options for crew.

• Choose the correct time to train and don’t overdo it: 20 minutes of gentle exercise at the end of the day, or perhaps a little more strenuous before you are back on shift.

Fitness Afloat

PROGRAM TWO:• You have more time and space on the crossing to train, plus the chance to train with another crewmember, so aim for 20 to 40 minutes of yoga, boxing, skipping, pilates or kettlebell work.

• Again, this needs to be combined with excellent nutrition. The chef has more time and no guests or owner to please, so he/she can really tighten up on the healthy options at mealtimes.

• Stay disciplined, consistent and keep the fitness momentum going, using your down time to rest and recover.

PROGRAM THREE:• Use the money you saved during the rest of the year to hire a trainer or buy the kit you’ve always wanted to really take your fitness to another level.

• Enjoy the time off but continue to eat well and use the occasion to enjoy the sports you can’t do as regu- larly during the season.

Throughout the whole year, be as consistent as you can in all aspects of your training and nutrition, rest when you can and follow a detailed plan that takes into account your lifestyle and job, combining realism with progres-sion when possible.

If you have any queries or would like to get in touch with Ben Kefford and his team, email [email protected] or visit www.benkeffordfitness.com.

British journalist Suzanna Chambers worked for the Mail on Sunday, Sunday Express and News of the World be-fore moving to the south of France in 2003. She is now property editor for US magazine France Today and writes articles for various news publications, lifestyle magazines and websites. Her love of yachts began went she went sailing with her father as a child in Poole Dorset.

“All you need is your own body to put together a great all-over workout.”

70 YACHT ESSENTIALS

WOMEN ROCKProfile of a Charter Chef

BY BEVERLY GRANTPHOTOGRAPHY BY CAPT. JAN ROBINSON

talents and the path that brought them to the Charter Chefs Competition. What I heard was three divergent sto-ries all centering on the theme “living life to the fullest.”

SUSANNA JOKKALAWINNER, TRADITIONAL CLASS – MAGIC CATAs a youngster in Lapland (not the usual homeland of a yachtie), Susanna and her siblings worked the fields with their parents, raising root vegetables such as carrots, po-tatoes and onions, along with cucumbers, tomatoes and flowers. She recalled being very interested in cooking at a young age, telling me how she would run to the field to ask her mother for recipes and then prepare food while the others were working.

At age 19, she started traveling the Med, exploring her creative interest in the culinary delights of the world. She

They are not just pretty faces. Rather, at the An-tigua Boat Show in December, a trio of talent-ed female chefs took the 12th Charter Chefs Competition by storm, earning first place in all

three categories.

The annual competition is always a close battle between gifted chefs, and this year was no different. What was dif-ferent was the theme: The test was to produce small plates of “local sustainable” cuisine in a “taster menu” format in-tended for guests arriving late at night for their charter. Each category — traditional yachts, luxury yacht and megayachts — included 10 vessels. Menus were judged on five points: innovative and creative interpretation of Caribbean local sustainable cuisine, presentation, taste, hygiene/knowl-edge of food handling, and overall impression.

I had the pleasure of speaking with each of the winning chefs after the awards ceremony, asking them about their

Susanna Jokkala, Tarina Shadgett and Brigitte Rosemann


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ended up in the Middle East, where she discovered pa-prika (one of her favorite spices) and added zest to her private life when she met Bruno, her now partner. To-gether, they started working on yachts.

Later, Susanna realized her dream of attending culinary school. She completed the course and graduated from Cordon Bleu in Paris with nine months of pastry training and apprenticeship in several three-star establishments.

When we walked on board at Charter Chefs Competition in Antigua, we saw the table set for the competition, and it embodied Susanna’s energy. She is bright, enthusiastic, colorful and joyful. Her food was all of the above. She is an accomplished chef, and though she has just begun, she is already a star shining brightly in the culinary heavens.

BRIGITTE ROSEMANNWINNER, LUXURY CLASS – FATHOMIt’s no surprise how Brigitte went about her research to pro-vide locally sustainable foods for the competition, given her corporate background and training. She planned the menu in a methodical procedure, seeking out the locals and ob-taining knowledge from them. She learned their resources and methods, and came up with a winning formula.

This was Brigitte’s first visit to Antigua, and she made it quite a memorable journey with her successful accomplishment. She made everything from the ingredients she bought lo-cally, including the rotis and the empanada dough. It was a taste journey to the heights of a culinary dream.

With a CV that boasts working in Michelin-starred restau-rants and several years experience in head chef positions, Brigitte loves to cook a variety of dishes, from French to Southeast Asian to Indian fusion, demonstrating her wide range of culinary skills. Growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a German / Dutch heritage, she knew she was destined to travel the world and started very young.

Brigitte talks of her grandmother being her biggest influ-ence in the direction she chose to pursue. Holidays were “big,” with all the food that goes with them. (Her favorite was the chicken pie made from scratch.) She traveled Eu-rope while very young, and her eyes were opened to the art world. She loves to work with her hands, thusly trans-forming her food into a visual treat as well as a tasty one.

72 YACHT ESSENTIALS

After obtaining various qualifications in culinary arts, wine appreciation, confectionary and hospitality prac-tices, Brigitte began her career as a commis chef at London’s the Rhodes in the Square, a French-influ-enced fine dining restaurant led by celebrity chef Gary Rhodes. Early in her career, Brigitte took on a variety of roles, including head chef and executive chef at French fusion restaurants and wine estates in South Africa.

After working at the five-star game lodge Marataba in South Africa, Brigitte found a new challenge by joining the yachting industry. She was head chef aboard the 43-meter motor yacht Alta and joined Fathom in April 2008. She has since further developed an eclectic range of cooking styles and a sharp wit. In addition, her organiza-tional skills allow her to be the perfectionist she aspires to be. In short, this gal is going places.

TARINA SHADGETTWINNER, MEGAYACHT – CASINO ROYALEBorn and raised in New Zealand, Tarina always knew travel was in her future. But she went to school and was working as a packaging designer when she had her “aha” moment. She was feeling stagnant in her life; she had a desire to learn French, so she found a job as a nanny in Paris. Most of her time was spent cooking, and she moved on to Ireland to follow her passion.

Tarina had started cooking at the age 8, since she was the oldest of three siblings and a child of working parents. If there was a family birthday, she would stay home and prepare an elaborate meal for the family. At age 11, she enrolled in Miss Cook classes and learned

Profile of a Charter Chef: Women Rock

to poach eggs, make featherweight sponge cake, etc. Then, watching a TV cooking show “Hudson & Hollis,” she started learning more exotic cooking tricks.

While traveling the Med, Thailand, wherever she goes, she frequents the markets and talks with the locals. Tari-na is inspired by fusion cooking, and she is a fan of the great work of her compatriot Peter Gordon, a pioneer in the art of making and contrasting ingredients from different cultures.

She went back to NZ only to spot a yacht in the harbor, and again she was off, working as a stew and cook for several years. Her return to home was to study culinary; finally she had arrived to build the career of her dreams: “to please people in a most rewarding way, to travel and learn more fusion cooking, to be challenged by guests and owners alike. And to collect artwork from around the world to someday go home to a NZ beach to open her café,” she said.

Tarina’s menu was a culinary delight and a masterpiece on the china palate. We are lucky she found us…yacht-ing that is.

So, in this issue of Yacht Essentials, we celebrate women of culinary achievement. Women rock!

Beverly Grant started her yachting career as a chef, then came on land and established the company Culinary Fu-sion, specializing in crew placement and catering, which she sold after 15 years. She now serves as director of crew solutions with IMA Yachts.

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74 YACHT ESSENTIALS

THE ANTIGUA PARTY!PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS KENNAN

For more than 10 years, Yacht Chandlers has been kicking it at the Antigua Charter Show, throwing

the craziest informal Captain and Crew Appreciation party at Mad Mongoose. Now, with Bud-get Marine as a new co-sponsor, things are even wilder. Imagine wall-to-wall captains and crew and an open bar...that’s like throwing fuel on a fire! As you can imag-ine, the boat races at the end of the evening are the highlight of the event. Start building your team and practicing for next year, because the reigning champions from M/Y Passion have won the event two years in a row!

This page, clockwise from top right: Crew Gearing up for the Boat Races; Konkordia’s Stew Phoebe, Engineer Dave, Chef Sophie from Icarus and OnDeck Sailing’s Ben; Rene from Budget Marine and Trevor from Yacht Chandlers


This page, clockwise from left: The Winners from M/Y Passion including 2nd Officer Ben, Chef Thomas, Bosun Matt and Deckhand Wes; S/Y Lush’s Lou and Kate; The Stew of Kimberly II including Ulrica, Jean, Susana and Sara

76 YACHT ESSENTIALS

THE LEAP BACK TO

TERRA FIRMABY DOUG MITCHELL

Four years ago, I didn’t know this industry existed. I grew up landlocked in Alberta, Canada, with the nearest ocean being a 12-hour drive through the Rocky Mountains to coastal British Columbia. Sure,

I had been around boats before, the kind that pulled us around on wakeboards on freshwater lakes, or the pad-dle-powered sort that lazily floated us down icy rivers on hot summer days. And having done a great deal of inter-national traveling since graduating high school in 1998, a lot of which brought me to beautiful coastal locales, seeing yachts would have been inescapable.

But besides showing up in the background of a few poorly framed snapshots, I guess I never gave these massive, gleaming-white vessels much thought. Apart from a quick ponder of how much one of them might be worth or who was sitting inside, sipping champagne out of gold flutes while lighting the finest cigars with million-dollar bills, they never really grabbed my full attention. To me, they were just another episode of “Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous” and something that I would never be a part of.

Around 2007, that began to change. A good friend of mine from high school who was living in Vancouver told me she had been working in the industry and how she thought I would love it. Over the course of the next year and a half, while picking her brain about this mysteri-ous “yachting” she spoke of, the idea of getting paid to live and work aboard a multimillion-dollar vessel that traveled the world began to sound appealing. The seed had been planted, and with nourishing thoughts of sun-shine and coastline, it blossomed into a full-blown plan. Ties were cut, belongings were stored, a small bag was packed, and in September of 2008, I arrived in Ft. Lau-derdale ready to become part of a crew.

After a sobering three-month plummet back down to Earth courtesy of the struggling economy and a very com-petitive newbie job market, I finally found my place on a yacht in January 2009 and have been with it ever since. Becoming a man of the sea was a swift and smooth transi-tion. Any sacrifices in the way of small cabin quarters or limited personal space were dwarfed by the excitement of being employed to live and travel on board an amazingly beautiful craft. It simultaneously felt surreal and natural, and leaving my land-based life behind was painless.

However, after two years, I find myself wondering what the reverse shift would be like. Not that I plan to bid fare-well to yachting any time soon, but certain changes that have transpired in my life over the last six months have caused me to bridge the gap between the two worlds in some ways. Since coming back to Florida after our Med season, I’ve moved into a place with my non-yachtie girl-friend, bought a vehicle, and even joined a gym that of-fers more than a couple of dumbbells and a yoga mat on the fly bridge. Since we’re currently in a yard period, we more or less work a Monday to Friday week, and when the work day finishes, I get to go home and delight in the spaciousness of it before going to sleep in a full-size bed.

I’m very grateful to get the best of both worlds. But yacht-ing is different for all crew, and how involved one gets or


for how long depends on a million variables. For some, yachting is a career, and hopefully one that will success-fully and enjoyably float them all the way to retirement. For others, it is a temporary swap from the monotonous routine life holds on land; maybe a chance to save some money or see some of the world before planting some roots. Whatever forces led us to the docks, we’re all in it for different reasons and may very well find ourselves one day deciding to leave yachting in the wake. I spoke to a few people who have taken that leap to find out how soft the landing was.

A South African friend of mine that I met a couple years ago left yachting to go back to land but soon found himself working back on a cruise ship in the entertain-ment department. It was a decision fostered by the realities of rent, bills and all the other land based ex-penses. “Earning that amount of money while yachting and spending like wildfire while docked and not saving as much as I could was a big issue for me when I got back to land,” he said.

Others like deckhand Sam of M/Y Gran Finale, have re-cently returned to yachting after playing the land game for a while. When the full-time positions were hard to come by two years ago and desperate crew were mak-ing a lot more sacrifices to lock up those positions, Sam

decided it maybe wasn’t for him. However, after work-ing away from the industry for some time, he realized that some of those sacrifices are a small price to pay and knew he wanted to get back into it. “This industry would allow me to do at work what I’d previously worked to do on my vacation time,” he said.

Certainly, there are others who have made the transition back to land for good without regrets. I know of some who have kept ties to the industry by working with yacht-ing publications or brokerage firms, and even some of the trade or tech guys in the shipyards tell me how they once threw the lines like I do now. So, while it may not be an easy decision to make, shifting priorities in life some-times bring it to the surface to be dealt with. I’ve never been one to plan my life too far in advance, so for now I still have a great future in yachting. There’s still a lot to learn, a ladder to climb and experience to soak up. But one day, I may find myself making that big leap back to terra firma, and hopefully, I’ll be ready for it.

Doug Mitchell is the bosun aboard the 130-foot West-port M/Y Sovereign. He grew up in High River, Alberta, Canada, and studied photojournalism at college in Cal-gary. He has been in yachting since 2008.

78 YACHT ESSENTIALS

49th ANNUAL ANTIGUA CHARTER

YACHT SHOWPHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS KENNAN

This page, clockwise from top right: M/Y Arioso’s 1st Officer Graeme, Chef Philippe and Engineer Shane; M/Y Atlantica’s Engineer Eugene, First Mate and Chef Dirk with Captain Roy; M/Y Northern Lights’ Captain Bill, Bosun Christian and Engineer Link

Few events have a bigger impact on the yachting industry than the Antigua Char-ter Yacht Show. Roughly 115 quality yachts participated this year, showing off

their amazing talents to the visiting charter bro-kers and industry insiders. Where else can you get a real chance to see the yachts and get up close and personal with the captains and crew in a breathtaking setting. Let’s make this clear: If you own or run a charter yacht, plan on being in Antigua for the 50th annual event from De-cember 4 to 10. The Golden Anniversary edition promises to be even more spectacular!


This page, clockwise from left: M/Y Northern Lights’ Chief Stew Tara-Leigh, First Mate Brandon and 2nd Stewardess Burto; S/Y Tiara’s Chief Stew Sarah with Deckhand Sean; M/Y Parvati’s Deckhand Anthony, Chief Stew Claire, Deckhand Nick, Captain Russell, Stew Lauren and Engineer Renato.

80 YACHT ESSENTIALS

SO, HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE INDUSTRY?“It was word of mouth that brought me to the South of France, and it definitely wasn’t easy to break into the industry at first, let alone find the right position. After my first job as a stewardess, though, doors opened. Since then I’ve worked on some amazing boats, mostly sailing yachts as a sole stew. I still can’t believe where my life

MEET CHARNE COETZERStewardess of the Month

BY ANDREA BAILEY

Charne Coetzer is a photographer-turned-stew from South Africa, who, in her own words, “fell into the hospitality industry.” While she didn’t grow up near the ocean or around boats, she’s

been in the yachting industry since 2003. “Some might say I was crazy to leave photography, but I kind of love the idea of challenging the unknown,” she says.


has taken me! You never know what the next day might bring, and while a lot of the interior work can be monoto-nous, the view outside is always a lovely surprise!”

TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE DOING NOW.“My boyfriend and I are managing a classic 23-me-

ter motor yacht built in 1964. In October 2009, we convinced the owner to bring her back to the yard in the Netherlands where she was originally built for a complete refit. It was a lot of work, and now we’re putting on the finishing touches and concentrating on the small details, from varnishing to choosing fabric for the galley and guest areas. We’ve been working

82 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Stewardess of the Month: Charne Coetzer

closely with the owner, designers and projects manag-ers the whole way. It’s taught me a lot about the work that goes in behind the scenes to make these boats look magnificent.”

WHAT’S THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF YOUR JOB?“I’m balancing the interior and service, and I’m respon-sible for the cooking right now, so making sure that it all meets the highest standard is definitely a huge task. This job is totally different from what I’m used to, but sometimes it’s good to step out of your comfort zone. I’m learning something new every day, which keeps it challenging and fun.”

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT BEING A STEW?“As most stewies and chefs will tell you, it’s a great feeling to be complimented by the guests or owners after a lot of hard work for a job well done. I can relax when I know everyone is happy. After all, that’s why I’m here!”

YOU’VE BEEN IN THE NETHERLANDS ON THIS REFIT FOR A WHILE, BUT WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WORLD?“I’m a proud South African, so I will always say it’s the best place on earth. But on the water, I would say that sailing around East Africa (Mozambique, Kenya, Tanza-nia) surprised me by the absolute beauty — not just of the coastlines and the islands, but also the nature of the people. Some of my best sailing memories are from there. New Zealand also tops the list.”

WHAT’S YOUR IDEA OF A PERFECT DAY?“To be anywhere on an African beach or in the Bushveld with friends and family, cooking up a storm or having a ‘braai’ (South African barbeque).”

DO YOU HAVE ANY GREAT OR EMBARRASSING TALES TO SHARE?“I truly believe that you learn from your mistakes, but some of mine still make me cringe! An owner once asked me if I liked the name of his new boat, and I told him that I honestly thought it sounded like the name of a laxative. I should have kept that one to myself!”

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?“I won’t work on boats forever, but I do want to stay in the hospitality industry. Hopefully, I can use the experi-ence I’ve gained as a stew on shore someday. I will, how-ever, always be a photographer at heart. I just can’t ever let a scenic view go unnoticed!”

ANY FINAL WORDS OF WISDOM FOR NEWBIES?“Learn as many skills as you can. Don’t think that just be-cause you’re a stewardess, for example, you don’t need to know anything about cooking, varnishing or navigation. You never know what your next job might entail. Last but not least, listen and learn from your chief or captain! You can always benefit from the experience of others.”

For Charne or other fabulous crew like her, contact Erica Lay of YCO Crew Palma at +34 971 402 878 or [email protected].

Andrea Bailey was born and raised in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. After graduating from Georgetown Uni-versity in 2009, her love of the ocean brought her back to the island she always called home. Andrea is a writer and editor, but she’ll forever be a sailor at heart.


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84 YACHT ESSENTIALS

What is it about yacht crew that seems they can’t keep it in their pants? One minute, I’m interviewing a couple that simply cannot be divided. Then, the next thing I

know, they’ve split up because she’s banging the captain on her boat and he’s boinking the new chef. WTF?

OK, so yachting does seem to maintain that “work hard, play hard” image, but does it have to be at the expense of morals and, quite frankly, a little bit of com-mon decency?

My fabulously lovely and stylish friend Adela arrived to the Riviera when her job brought her here a few months ago. Refreshingly, she has absolutely nothing to do with yachting, and absolutely no clue about it either. Hence why I latched onto her and immediately bullied her into being my friend.

KEEP YOUR PANTS ONAnita Valium

BY ANITA VALIUM

Now, Adela is YFS. No hang on, YFSH. Young, free, sin-gle and, most importantly, HOT. She has been working her socks off for some time, enjoying the social aspect of summertime in the sunshine, and generally having a bloody good time.

A couple of weeks back, we caught up over martinis — be-cause this is the Riviera, darlings, and coffee is common — and I couldn’t help but notice how sheepish she was look-ing as I rambled on about some friends of mine who had recently broken up due to the pressures of working apart on yachts. I believe the phrases: “NEVER date a yachtie,” “you’d have to drag me over hot coals before I got involved with a captain” and “they’re all wankers anyway” escaped my lips before I realized Adela was hiding a secret.

“You’ve pulled a yachtie, haven’t you?” I asked a red-faced martini sipper.


“Mmmf,” she replied non-commitally.

“You bloody have, haven’t you,” I pushed.

“Well, kinda...,” she said, looking rather perplexed.

Not wanting to piss on anyone’s parade immediately — I like to save that for at least six months into a friendship — I changed tack and back-pedaled as fast as I could. I said I was generalizing, not all yachties are wankers (cough cough), just the ones I’d dated years ago as a young and impressionable type, etc.

And so, Adela spilled the beans. Turned out she’d met a lovely chap who worked on a large motor yacht based here in port, only away a brief spell in the summer, so no fear of long-distance loving. She told me how different he seemed, so grown up, mature, seemed to know what he wanted out of life. Most importantly, he didn’t seem to move in the yacht circle as much as others and as a result was fairly untainted by the bed-hopping in which the rest of his crew partook.

Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt, I met him one night with Adela, and indeed, he seemed nice. I was happy for once to be proved wrong. And yes, sportsfans, I admit that. I was wrong.

But, don’t get your hopes up, because sadly, shortly af-ter, I was proved right. A week later, so-named No-Nuts stopped calling Adela. She phoned me up in a right old state, so off I went to her marina-view apartment with a sack of rose in tow and a box of those nice tissues with balsam that help prevent Rudolph nose.

No-Nuts had decided that honesty was not the best pol-icy. Adela had found out that despite his constant claims that he disapproved strongly of inter-crew relations, No-Nuts was shagging the old yo-yo stewardess on board, who had already been with the deckhand and the cap-tain. Sharing is caring, apparently.

Adela has now sworn off all yachties for the foreseeable future and also told me she wished she’d listened to me. And, no, I was not smug about that fact. Life is about

living and learning; we all make mistakes and grow from them. Well, we do. But yachties don’t, do they?

Case in point: my friend Dave, a sail yacht mate from Brisbane. I enjoy immensely his regular installments de-livered by email or Skype from wherever he is at the mo-ment, updating me on the tangled web that is his love life. Did I say love life? I meant sex life.

Dave arrived in my town a couple of years ago, and we struck up a friendship immediately. He had a wicked time partying and slept with as many stewardesses as he could lay his hands on. And, once he found a job, off he went all over the Med.

Dave eventually left his job when it turned out his captain was sleeping with the first mate — female, before you act all shocked — and that she was using her position of power to make the deck crew’s life pretty miserable. Anyway, long story short, Dave returned to the South of France after only having been away for a few months to find three, no hang on, four lovesick stewardesses who declared their undying love for him. What they didn’t know was that he’d actually met and fallen for a girl on his latest yacht. So, he had to break several hearts.

Sadly, Dave was completely oblivious to the fact that he was knicker-dropping hot, and he thought he had just been having a bit of harmless fun. He let them all down gently — as gently as a rough-and-ready lad from Brizzy can, I think his actual words even included “Sheila” — and off he went again to the States to join up with his new love.

Unfortunately for Dave-o, one of these spurned lovers decided that “sorry love, I’m taken” didn’t mean “back off and leave me alone” but actually meant “darling, I love you. I’m leaving you for another woman, but you’re secretly the one I want. Track me down. Stalk me. It can only show me how much you love me.”

Yep, our boy Dave had a bunny boiler. Brilliant.

Weekly installments only get better in his soap opera sex life. Bunny Boiler has upped sticks and followed him across the Atlantic. What has ensued since can only be described as hilarious. Well, it was for me. Let’s hope Dave has learned to keep it in his pants for the foreseeable future.

So, let this be a warning to all you Romeos (and Juliets) out there: You reap what you sow, so be careful with your oats.

“You’ve pulled a yachtie, haven’t you?” I asked a red-faced martini sipper.

Kirk Boeger • vikirkboeger@gmail .comCara Jo Hinton • carajohinton@gmail .comTel 340.776.9792www.StThomasRE.com

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the caribbean’s marine service directory

T H E C A R I B B E A N ’ S W A T E R F R O N T M A G A Z I N E

FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF ALL AT SEA MAGAZINE

2011

Marine Services Listings

Onlinewww.firstmateonline.com

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Muse Professional Group Yacht Protection Service is designed to offer security solutions which reflect the needs of the private yacht owner and protects the lifestyle of clients, by implementing a combination of

regulation, risk assessment, training and the proper use of manpower and technology.

You can get certified through our Online Anti-Piracy BMP3/Citadel Training that is designed to prepare seafarers for transit through waters where there is a significant risk related to piracy.

MUSEProfessional Group

Contact us at [email protected] or visit us on the web at museprogroup.com

Meeting Your DemandsProtect Yourself And Your Yacht

Marketplace

94 YACHT ESSENTIALS

Marketplace

Makes Stainless Steel Sparkle

No Rubbing. No Scrubbing. No Polishing.

SpotlessStainless.com

SpotlessStainless

Brush it ONLet it Work Rinse it OFF



SpotlessStainless

“Totally professional. Eminently personal.”

– Richard Thiel, Editor-in-Chief, Power and Motoryacht Magazine

[email protected]

(360) 510-2213 • (800) 901-1220

Alaska Yacht Charters Since 1996

Experience Luxury in the Wild

SPONSOR DIRECTORY:ABI Insurance Company Ltd. 95Aero Tec Laboratories .........92 Alaskan Song Yacht Charters .. 94Antillean Liquors ..................71 Bay Ship & Yacht Co ...........BC Ben’s Yacht Services .............65 BOW Worldwide..................23 Budget Marine ................... IBC Cartier ..................................29Dockwise Yacht Transport ......7 East Yachts Ltd .....................49 Echo Marine ........................83 Electec .................................15 Fraser Yachts ..................90, 91Global Marine Travel ......... IFC Island Global Yachting ...........1Island Marine Inc. ................95Island Water World ..............19Jimmy T’s Provisions & Gourmet Foods ............92Marc Paris Yacht Photography .......... 13Marina CostaBaja ................17Marine Industry Cares ..........57MHG Marine Benefits ..........67 Muse Professional Group ....93 Nautical Landing Marina .....39

Nelson’s Dockyard Marina ... 63 Newport Shipyard ................ 31No. 1 Steam Carpet and Upholstery Care ................ 94Palapa Marina ......................15 Professional Captain Services, Inc. ..................... 55Real Solutions Real Estate and Mgmt. Services ...........86, 87Renaissance Marina .............65 Rocket Research ..................69 SDSA - San Diego Superyacht Association .......9Seabreeze Books and Charts . 92Seagull Inflatables ...............92Shelter Island Marina ............... 53Shipwreck Shops ...................... 93Sotheby’s International Realty ................................37Spotless Stainless ................94St. Maarten Sails ..................95 The Grateful Palate ..............73 Trumpy Yachts ...............88, 89 Ward’s Marine Electric .........51YachtAid Global ...................92Yacht Equipment and Parts ... 25 Yacht Haven Grande Marina ..5

Professional Carpet & Upholstery Care(340) 776-5572

Commercial • Residential • Marine

#1 Steam Carpet and Upholstery Care has been special-izing in the industry since 1983. It is recognized by the Superyacht Service’s Guide in the Virgin Islands as the only recommended service used by captains of mega yachts and was voted by readers of the VI Daily Newsas the best carpet and upholstery cleaning company in the Virgin Islands the last 4 years.

CALL FOR A FREE ESTIMATEP.O. Box 9423

St. Thomas, USVI 00801 email: [email protected]

www.number1steam.com


Marketplace

Visit us to discussyour New Sails

and Canvas Work

www.stmaartensails.com

Opposite Island Water World in Cole BayTel: (599) 544 5231 • [email protected]

96 YACHT ESSENTIALS

NEED SOME VALIUM?

Dear Anita,I pride myself on running a good deck team on board a busy private megayacht. Recently, one of the deckhands has developed a rather disgusting fungal infection on his feet. Not only do they smell, but they’re starting to weep and the resulting goo is staining the teak. The other deck-hands are avoiding him, and the stewardesses have started leaving air fresheners outside his cabin. How do I tell him he needs to sort this without hurting his feelings?

Motoryacht Mate, Antigua

MM, Hurl, gag, blarg…you just made me very nearly spew my Cheerios all over my assistant. Where are your balls, man? Not only are you making me and every reader of this column want to vomit, you’re running the risk of let-ting that dude’s leprosy affect everyone. OK, the stains are leaving skid marks on the deck, but eeeeewwww, what happens if you tread in it? Are your feet going to wither and fall off, too? What are you going to do if the owner’s wife’s feet suddenly erupt into pustules and weeping sores? Say that you didn’t sort the deckhand’s feet out because you didn’t want to upset him? You think that’s going to wash? I think not. Be a grownup

and tell him he’s got to see a doctor. Ugh. Vile.

Dear Anita,I’ve been a captain for over 30 years and have never en-countered a recruitment agent like you. In my day, they were helpful and pleasant. Why are you so bitter? You seem to really hate yacht crew. Why, then, be a crew agent?

Old Man of the Sea

Hi OMS, I don’t hate yacht crew. On the contrary, I love to mix things up with them, especially since I can’t afford Sky TV here — I miss my soaps, so crew give me all the shock, horror, amusement and devastation through drunken behavior that I need. And I like to remember that even though they all earn a lot more than me, I get to go home every night and don’t work weekends. And I live in a place slightly bigger than a carton of eggs. Which is nice. And you? Shouldn’t you be thinking of retiring and giving the younger guys a chance at running the show? You said in your day the crew agents were nice. Well, in your day I assume you spent eve-nings around the wireless whilst mother baked pies?

ASK ANITA Please email

[email protected] any thoughts

or questions.

NEED SOME VALIUM? SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO [email protected] AND WE’LL ANSWER YOU IN A FUTURE ISSUE. NAMES WILL BE WITHHELD UPON REQUEST.

yacht · tion solution available,” said nobeltec upon the launch of admiral 11, the ... yacht...

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