Vol. 2, No. 11 February 2006www.the-triton.com

GroundedSecond yacht hits Lyford Cay reef.

A7

GuttedBimini’s Compleat Angler lost in fire.

A8

Read the heatThermal imaging can make you safer.

A32

By Lucy Chabot Reed

Brace yourselves. If the word from brokers around Ft. Lauderdale is any indication, the Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show and the Miami International Boat Show are shaping up to be one massive release valve.

“We’re expecting Miami to bring the international traffic that Ft. Lauderdale didn’t,” said Nick Bischoff, executive vice president for sales and marketing

at Allied Richard Bertram in Ft. Lauderdale. “The pent-up demand has reached an all-time high. Interest rates have stopped climbing, fuel is down since Wilma, and with seven hurricanes in 18 months, people want to get out and use their boats. We expect it to be a really good sales environment for us.”

Several other brokers used that phrase – pent-up demand – to express how some of their largest clients were feeling. They also mentioned eager,

excited and ready.“I expect to see a lot more people

coming with their checkbooks in hand ready to do deals,” said Whit Kirtland, president of Merrill Stevens Yacht Sales in Miami.

The difference in this year’s Miami show, to be held Feb. 16-20, will be felt on the docks and in the aisles. The in-water part of the show itself won’t change much. While it will include more than 1.2 million square feet of

space and hold more than 550 new and used luxury yachts, it is limited in that it can only handle so many yachts of a certain size because of space and draft issues.

Most brokers interviewed for this story expect to see the difference on the docks, with more and better-qualified attendees.

Merrill-Stevens has 16 slips to

Brokers, vendors prepare for strong Miami show

See MIAMI SHOW, page A18

See THE BRIDGE, page A24

FT. LAUDERDALE – In the heat of the winter cruising season with Valentine’s Day looming, we turn our thoughts to cupid. Is there such a thing

as romance for busy yacht captains, or does being a megayacht captain mean giving up thoughts of white picket fences and the pitter-patter of little feet?

Introducing this topic is in no way meant to imply that everyone should marry and have children. But just as couples who work together have figured out how to make it work, couples who don’t work together have just as many compromises to make. Maybe more.

As always, individual comments are not attributed to any one person in particular so as to encourage frank and open discussion. The attending captains are identified in a group photograph on page A24.

We invited captains without any knowledge of their marital status. As it turned out, all Bridge attendees were married or in committed relationships. And all employed. So how do they do it? How do they keep their relationships together when the time apart is long?

“My wife married a sailor,” one captain said. “Everybody thinks it’s an unusual situation, but men have been doing this for thousands of years.”

From the Bridge

Lucy chabot Reed

Yacht captains, too, can have a personal life

By Lucy Chabot Reed

It seems a completely normal thing to do: The captain of a ship – given the power to do just about anything while at sea – stands proudly before the betrothed, recites a relevant story from Ecclesiastes, asks those fateful questions and pronounces the couple husband and wife.

But a captain’s power to officiate marriages is a nautical myth, deeply steeped in the psyches of sailors the world over.

There is no express power given to captains in any of the major licensing governments of the globe.

Yet, like true love, it’s not impossible. To begin, there is no easy yes or

no answer to the question “can a

Can You Marry Me?Being married at sea

has all the romance any lovers could want on Valentine’s Day.

For yacht captains, it’s not a matter of desire but of ability and regulations. Of course.

See MARRY ME, page A26

A� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton

WHAT’S INSIDEGuess which yard has these tunes? Page A14

Advertiser directory B26Brokerage news B12Business Briefs A28Calendar of events B26-27Classifieds B14-19Cruising Grounds A40Feature The Afterlife B5 Marina A16 Shipyard A14Columnists: Fitness B10 In the Galley B6-9 Manager’s Time B21

Nutrition B11 Personal Finance B12 Photography B13Fuel prices A33Horoscopes B25In the Stars B24Latitude Adjustment A4News A1,6-12Photo Gallery A30-31Puzzles B20Puzzle answers B5Reviews B22Technology A32-39Write to Be Heard A42-43

Here’s a hint: The mostly local employees are resourceful, and it works. PHOTO/DAVID REED

A� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton CREW NEWS

Capt. Glen Smith and Chef Anastasia “Sasha” Ostrowski have

left Govan Marine to take over the newly built 82-foot Horizon M/Y Sweet Sarah.

Delivered in January, the yacht will cruise the Caribbean and Bahamas for the rest of the winter season.

Capt. Smith, who is also the engineer, and Ostrowski, a recent graduate of Le Cordon Bleu who is also the mate, met while working as engineer and stewardess, respectively, on M/Y Kaleen, the 112-foot Broward. They are engaged to be married June 21.

Their old boss, Capt. Don Govan, as well as all of us here at The Triton wish you both luck.

Captains Laura Moss and Alex Proch have taken over the 100-foot Broward Quiet Place. After holing up in

Aruba for hurricane season, they have taken the boat to Trinidad to prepare her for Europe this spring and to cruise the Baltic this summer, the Med next

summer.Their Web site, www.yachtequinox.

com, continues to feature striking photographs from their travels. Keep on having fun you two.

Scott Barsin is the new first mate on M/Y Floridian, the 224-foot Oceanfast. He most recently was mate and the relief captain on M/Y Mimi, a 125-foot Burger that just completed an eight-month refit at Bradford Marine in Ft. Lauderdale.

During the refit, Barsin oversaw the installation of a new davit and tender, a new generator, stabilizer fins, water pumps in every compartment, a new interior, and repairs from Hurricane Wilma.

Mimi headed to the Florida Keys in January when Barsin flew to St. Maarten to meet up with Floridian. Keep in touch Scott.

Chief Stewardess Dawn Kuhns has decided to leave her job on M/Y Golden Rule this month to return to freelancing.

“I’m going to miss the boat and the crew, but the schedule has exhausted me,” she said.

While it’s still too early to tell, Kuhns may return to writing her stew column for The Triton. Here’s hoping.

Capt. Rick Lenardson took over the 138-foot Sovereign/Richmond Status Quo at the Ft. Lauderdale show this year.

Since then, the yacht has been keeping a hectic schedule of charters, leading the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Parade and catering to the owner.

When he’s not running the boat, Lenardson has been trying to wrap up the ongoing ABS certification in time for the Miami show. And somewhere in all that, he’s been trying to repair roof damage Hurricane Wilma left at his Ft. Lauderdale home this fall.

Prior to Status Quo, Lenardson spent six years as captain of M/Y Lady Sarah, the 114-foot Hatteras. Good luck on the new gig, Rick.

Capt. Ken Maff has recently left the M/Y Lady Sheila, a 108-foot Mangusta, and has returned home to Perth, Australia, to spend a little time with his family. He said he plans to head back to Ft Lauderdale later this year. Stop by when you get here, Ken.

Capt. Charles Hudspeth of the 112-foot Westport Via Kassablanca upgraded his USCG license to a 1600-ton master in January.

Congrats on the upgrade Chuck and keep that crew of four happy.

Send news of your promotion, change of yachts or career, or personal accomplishments to Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com.

Moving up together, captains and teams take new commands

Latitude adjustment

Lucy chabot Reed

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A� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton NEWS

Former Highlander steward has heart attack after yoga

Oscar Cardenas, long-time member of the crew of M/Y Highlander, died Dec. 15 of a sudden and massive heart attack. He was 41 years old.

According to friends, Cardenas was leaving a yoga class when he had the heart attack. Cardenas was most recently estate manager for Leonard and Evelyn Lauder in Palm Beach, and before that was chief steward on Highlander, owned by the Forbes family.

Before getting into yachting, he worked at Disneyland in California as the character Goofy, according to a family-written obituary.

“It’s just a great shock to all of us,” said Mary Murphy, the chef/stew on M/Y Cortina and a friend. “He touched so many people’s lives.

A memorial service was held on

Dec. 29 at The Breakers in Palm Beach. Cardenas’ body was cremated and his ashes will be spread in the Florida Keys some time around his birthday in March, Murphy said.

“He always made you laugh, made you smile,” Murphy said. “I remember one time he called and asked if I could be ready in 10 minutes. He wouldn’t tell me anything else. Then he zoomed by my place, picked me up, and we crashed some big party at The Breakers.

“The next thing I know we’re behind stage where Robin Williams [the actor and comedian] is,” she said with a laugh. “He was always doing stuff like that.”

One of the main qualities Murphy and others said they will remember about Cardenas was his professionalism.

“He was from the old school of yachting,” Murphy said. “He did what he had to do to get the job done. He never said a bad word about anybody and he was always happy to be at work. It’s sad to see him go because a standard goes with him.”

Cardenas is survived by his siblings and numerous nieces, nephews and relatives. Former yacht chef Trish Lafferty is hosting a guest book online as part of the Palm Beach Post obituaries for anyone who wants to make an entry or post a photo. Access that at www.legacy.com/palmbeachpost/LegacyHome.asp, then enter Cardenas’ name in the box beside the calendar.

Lafferty also would like to organize a memorial service for his yachting friends in Ft. Lauderdale. For details on that, contact her at 954-257-9829 or oceantrish@aol.com.

– Lucy Chabot Reed

Enterprise engineer dies

Chief Engineer Adam Nelson of M/Y Enterprise V died shortly after Christmas. Details of his death could not be confirmed by deadline.

Nelson’s friend, Capt. Timothy

Wheaton of M/Y Themis, wrote this:“The loss of my pal Adam Nelson

is felt with utter disbelief. I cannot say enough about Adam to do him justice. I can say he was an outstanding individual and an outstanding chief engineer with a double 500-ton master license.

“Adam was very professional in everything that he set out to accomplish, from yachting to building his custom motorcycles out in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Adam had a calming presence in any situation and was a can-do guy.

“Adam leaves a beautiful wife, son and daughter. I will miss him for the rest of my life.”

– Lucy Chabot Reed

Yachting industry loses two veteran crew in December

Cardenas, left, with a friend in October.

Cardenas, left, with Robert Merritt on Highlander in 1998. Nelson, left, shares fun with part of the crew

in St. Maarten in December. PHOTO/LUCY REED

NEWSThe Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A�

By Lucy Chabot Reed

One year to the day after watching the Royal Denship Unforgettable lose control in the channel at Lyford Cay, yacht crew in the Bahamas last month got to watch another megayacht try to come into the harbor in rough conditions.

According to the captains and crews of several yachts, M/Y Electra was the sole yacht on the water late in the afternoon of Jan. 14 with 30 to 40 knots of wind and 9- to 10-foot seas. Believed to be in excess of 100 feet, Electra missed the channel and ran onto the reef, witnesses reported.

At about 5:15 p.m., the captain of Electra (who is also believed to be the owner) declared that the yacht was taking on water and that the nine people aboard (five passengers and four crew) were going to evacuate. He requested assistance.

Capt. Erik H. Goodwin of M/Y Madcap said he and Mate Brian Warner borrowed an inflatable and traveled to the boat, pulling five people from the water as daylight dwindled.

They had previously picked up two people and another boat retrieved the final two, along with some personal belongings and electronic equipment. No one was injured.

“Engine failure in the channel was suggested as being responsible for the grounding,” reported a crew member on the scene who asked not to be identified. “Cause of failure unknown.”

The engine room reportedly held 2 feet of water soon after the accident, and the crew quarters and guest suites were completely submerged. The following day, the captain/owner told one of the assisting crew that the boat and everything inside was lost. The full moon brought higher-than-normal

tides and the first deck went underwater over night.

A few days later, salvage workers off-loaded fuel. Goodwin reported seeing a fuel slick 100 feet wide heading north.

“The hull is damaged too much and is breaking in two,” he said. “They are talking of bringing in a crane barge next week to lift the remains off.”

The Triton went to press before more news could be acquired.

The 120-foot Unforgettable ran amok inside Lyford Cay Marina for about 20 minutes on Jan. 14, 2005, before finally ending up aground on the same side of the channel as Electra. It is still unclear what caused that grounding

or what, if any, damage it caused the reef.

“I do not recommend going boating on this date next year,” Goodwin said.

For more photos, visit www.the-triton.com. Contact Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com.

Expedition-style yacht hits reef entering Lyford Cay

The day after the grounding, witnesses reported seeing a fuel slick on the water. PHOTO COURTESY OF A TRITON READER

M/Y Electra missed the channel at Lyford Cay in the Bahamas in January. Witnesses report that the boat ‘is a loss.’ No one was injured. PHOTO/CAPT. ERIK H. GOODWIN

A� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton NEWS

The Compleat Angler, a cultural landmark on North Bimini and once temporary home to American author Ernest Hemingway in the mid 1930s, burned to the ground in the early morning hours of Friday, Jan. 13.

According to Capt. John Wampler who visited the scene later that morning, the sergeant in charge of the constabulary on Bimini indicated that all of the hotel’s guests were accounted for, but that the owner of the establishment – Julian Brown – was missing.

He had not been seen before The Triton went to press. Witnesses at the scene said they believe he perished in the fire.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported that the 12-room hotel had an alarm, which alerted guests, and a sprinkler system, but it failed to stop the fire.

In addition to losing a cultural landmark, several yacht captains bemoaned the loss of the extensive collection of celebrity and fishing photographs as well as the Hemingway memorabilia that decorated the hotel’s walls.

The wooden hotel was a popular and boisterous gathering spot in Alice Town. International travel guides

consistently gave it high ratings for the memorabilia and the chance it gave travelers to meet real sailors and fishermen.

Hemingway stayed at the hotel regularly between 1935 and 1937 during his fishing trips and wrote parts of “To Have and Have Not” there.

Literary experts say the hotel is the main setting for “Island in the Stream,” which was published after Hemingway’s death.

Another captain who frequents the area reported in that several Bahamians working the scene several days later indicated the hotel would be rebuilt.

The fire was the second blow in a month for this small Bahamian community 49 miles east of Ft.

Lauderdale. In mid-December, Chalk’s Ocean

Airways Flight 101 en route to Bimini crashed upon take-off in Miami, killing all 20 passengers and crew aboard.

Aboard the flight was Don Smith, dockmaster at Bimini Big Game Resort. Many of the other passengers were also residents of Bimini, a community of about 1,600 people.

– Lucy Chabot Reed

Bimini’s Compleat Angler burns down

All that remains of The Compleat Angler Hotel in Alice Town on North Bimini is the bow-shaped arch that marked the property’s entrance, above, and a chimney, below. PHOTOS/CAPT. JOHN WAMPLER

A10 February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton USCG NEWS

This update comes from the National Vessel Movement Center’s tech support office.

There has been a recent influx in the amount of users submitting Notice of Arrival/Departures (NOA/Ds) using an existing Notice_ID or GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifier) for separate vessel arrival and/or departure notifications to the Ship Arrival Notification System.

For example, if a user submits an initial arrival electronically with a Notice_ID previously used for a separate vessel, then the incorrect vessel information could be updated in our system.

This could result in a delayed arrival/departure for your vessel, and/or a fine.

The Electronic Notice of Arrival/Departure (e-NOA/D) Business Rules document (located on the NVMC Web site) explains the proper use of the Notice_ID as follows:

Example: 2904c29c-70e8-4c6c-a4b0-b5da61d0a9c3, a 128-bit integer Business Rules: The NOTICE_ID will be assigned when an Initial notice is received through the web service at the NVMC. The web service will return this value to the calling program. This NOTICE_ID must be supplied when submitting an Update notice.

Examples: GOOD Notice_ID: 2904c29c-70e8-

4c6c-a4b0-b5da61d0a9c3 BAD Notice_ID: 3C2D620DF

846446EA08583268AB33ECC or 726576776531305 or CCLGLARR-0434-2005-1004-GL200510 or THSHTOGO2005080501

When filing a NOA/D, the Notice_ID must be a unique 128-bit number that is produced by the Windows Operating System (OS) or by a Windows application to identify a particular component, application, file, database entry, and/or user.

For instance, a Web site may generate a GUID and assign it to a user’s browser to record and track the session. In the case of NOA/Ds, the Notice_ID is assigned to a specific record so any updates or departure notices submitted electronically for that record will automatically be updated in the Ship Arrival Notification System database.

When the unique 128-bit GUID is used incorrectly, the submitter bears the risk of updating the incorrect vessel, which could cause their vessel’s Data Submission History to become inaccurate.

For more information, contact TechSupport@NVMC.USCG.gov or call 304-264-5109.

Use care with e-NOA ID numbers

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A11FEATURE FOLLOW-UP

Two women participating in what’s billed as the “toughest rowing race in the world” are safe after their 24-foot rowboat capsized Jan. 15 in the stormy Atlantic Ocean.

It is believed that some open solar fan vents allowed too much seawater to enter the craft to allow it to right after it was knocked down by a wave.

Rowers Sarah Kessans and Emily Kohl were left clinging to their upturned hull for 16 hours before rescuers could arrive.

The U.S. Coast Guard were able to find them after they activated their Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), which they had secured from the BoatU.S. EPIRB Rental Program.

At 1649 hours Sunday, Jan. 15, a 406 MHz EPIRB activation alert was picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard. The alert, coming from a location some 1,000 miles east of Cuba, was identified as an EPIRB belonging to the BoatU.S. Foundation’s Rental Program.

Following protocol, rescuers contacted the BoatU.S. 24-hour dispatch center, which forwarded the boat and crew details gleaned from the rower’s rental registration form.

With the distressed vessel identified, a full-scale search and rescue operation was launched and the tall ship Stravos S. Niarchos was sent to the racer’s location. After sailing some 120 miles under rough conditions, Stravos S. Niarchos reached Kessans and Kohl, who were cold, tired and disappointed that they wouldn’t complete the race.

The women, both in their early 20s, were profiled in the September issue of The Triton. They were out to become the youngest women’s team to cross the Atlantic in the Woodvale Events Atlantic Rowing Race 2005.

They trained in South Florida before flying to the Canary Islands to begin the 2,000-mile journey to Antigua. They had planned to finish in 50 days.

The EPIRB Rental Program is funded by the voluntary contributions of 630,000 BoatU.S. members.

EPIRBs can be rented from the Foundation for as little as $50 a week.

For more information about the program, call 888-663-7472 or visit www.BoatUS.com/foundation/epirb.

Contact Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com. Information from Boat US supplemented this report.

USCG rescues women rowing the Atlantic when boat flips

Sarah Kessans, top, and Emily Kohl, front, trained for the 2,000-mile race in South Florida. PHOTO/DEAN LAUTERMILCH

A1� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton NEWS BRIEFS

The Beach Company has acquired an 18-acre deepwater industrial parcel in Charleston, S.C., along Shipyard Creek at the end of Pittsburgh Avenue. The property will be converted into a marine service facility to be known as the Charleston Marine Industrial Park. Ownership of the property is held by Shipyard Creek LLC, an affiliate of The Beach Company.

The property will be managed by The City Marina Company and offers more than 700 feet of deepwater frontage with permits in place for a marine terminal. The site is centrally located in the high growth Magnolia Corridor, and will benefit from upcoming planned infrastructure improvements including the new State Ports Authority’s port access road and the associated access improvements to Interstate 26.

“We envision a facility that can accommodate large commercial and recreational craft, from 50 to 150 tons, supported by a cluster of marine businesses that can manufacture and service vessels of this description,” Managing Partner Robbie Freeman said. “Most vessels of this size currently must leave our state for service.”

The City Marina Company has operated the Charleston City Marina since 1994. The City Marina was

recently named National Marina of the Year for 2005 by Marina Dock Age Magazine. The City Marina Company’s other affiliates include The City Boatyard, The Bristol Marina and two Sea Stores in downtown Charleston. The Charleston City Boatyard currently services crafts up to 50 tons, and will remain in service.

For info, visit www.megadock.us or contact K.C. Rennie at (843) 278-4914, kcrennie@megadock.us. Unfinished marina takes boats

Due to high demand, Ocean World Marina in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, has begun operations despite the facilities still being under construction.

Yachts of up to 125 feet have been docking at the marina at half the posted rates. A rate sheet on the marina’s Web site shows transient dockage at $1.60 a foot a day with construction rates of 80 cents a foot a day.

Marina officials say construction was about 80 percent complete in January, despite a scheduled December opening.

The 35-acre complex features 83 wet slips of more than 2,700 feet of dockage accommodating vessels up to 250 feet. The entrance depth to the marina is

16 feet and the basin will maintain a depth of 12 feet throughout. Each slip is scheduled to include TV, R/O potable water, electricity, Internet access, 24-hour security and telephone. Electricity and pumped fuel sales for Phase A of marina are expected to be hooked up in this month. In the meantime, fuel sales are offered via tanker.

For more information, photos, charts and rates, contact Ocean World Marina 809-970-3373 or visit www.oceanworldmarina.com.

Port of New Orleans recovering Before Hurricane Katrina crippled

the Port of New Orleans in August, it received about 40 ships a week.

Five months later, about 20 ships call a week, according to a report in Maritime Executive magazine. Port Director Gary LaGrange said he hopes to get the port back to about 70 percent of its previous volume by the second quarter of 2006.

According to the American Association of Port Authorities, the Port of New Orleans is the fifth largest port in the United States in cargo tonnage handled. It is a major entry point for imported steel, natural rubber and coffee. In 2005, 1,904 ships called the port.

18 acres in South Carolina to become new yard

See NEWS BRIEFS, page A17

A1� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton SHIPYARD NEWS

By Lucy Chabot Reed

When you pull into Bradford Grand Bahama, the potential is all around.

Bradford Marine has a 99-year lease with the Bahamian government for the 48 acres in Freeport on a straight channel. Open now eight years, just a quarter of that is in use.

The yard is accessible by a 40-foot channel and no overhead obstructions. Its 1,200-ton dry dock is kept busy almost continually – 92 boats last year alone – and the 150-ton Travelift picks up the slack. Its 75 employees keep busy in a wood shop, machine shop, prop shop and welding shop servicing all manner of commercial and government boat, fishing boats and megayachts.

The yard has one covered shed of about 60 feet long, though it has a 40-foot vertical clearance. And it has an agreement with Grand Bahama Shipyard next door to haul vessels larger than the 235 feet the dry dock can handle.

In March, a dredging project will

deepen the turning basin from 10 feet to 15, then more pilings and floating docks will increase dockage availability.

And that’s just what’s there. There are big plans for the rest of the land not already in use.

The portion to the south will be raised a bit for new administrative offices and other work areas. The portion to the north will be screened off and dug out for no fewer than six deepwater slips, each completely covered with a workshop, office and storage.

Designed to be the perfect home-away-from-home for European builders in need of a place to conduct service and warranty work, the slips have an asking price of $4 million. On paper.

Nevermind that no one has jumped at the chance to buy one.

“When the time is right, it’ll happen,” Engle said.

In the meantime, Bradford Grand Bahama is moving forward and will dredge, put in the footings and build the slips. Then just use it for dockage for yachts up to 400 feet.

“If we sell one, it’s easy enough to turn it into what we intended,” said Dan Romence, general manager at Bradford Grand Bahama.

On a chilly, blustery day in early January, the crew of the 174-foot M/Y Noble House was working on varnishing projects while dozens of workers managed an extensive exhaust system renovation.

“I was quite happy with them,” Capt. Stephen McDonald of Noble House said after his three-week stay at Bradford Grand Bahama. With a displacement weight of more than 700 tons, Noble House’s options for haul-out in Florida are limited, and McDonald said he wasn’t happy with the time frame offered him from a yard up the Atlantic coast.

He negotiated a good price for a last-minute position in the dry dock and was satisfied with the work and the workers at the yard, he said.

“I was quite happy with the general attitude there,” McDonald said. “I’ve brought about $9 million to Florida in the past 10-12 years so I know a lot about yards. They could actually do the work there. They had a good engine shop and the steel guys were quite good. They guys had a can-do attitude. They’re keen to expand and do more

work.”The yacht, made of high-grade

steel, sat too heavy in the water so in addition to moving the exhaust lines, the waterline needed to be moved as well. Also while hauled, the yacht had a bottom job and had their propellers repitched.

“It was a positive experience for me,” McDonald said. “I definitely will go back.”

Working at the yard entailed a lot less hassle for his non-American crew, he said, and the work was accessible and satisfactory.

The yard has a service agreement with Florida Detroit Diesel, among other companies, so yachts can get the same rates in Grand Bahama as in Ft. Lauderdale.

Bradford Marine has had few options if it wants to be a player in the every growing megayacht market. It has added a brokerage division, The Shipyard Group, and a towing division, which just commissioned a 42-foot fast response tow and salvage vessel, the Mr. C, that will be based at Freeport. While most of the work will be inter-island towing, Mr. C has already been called into service twice to tow vessels back to Ft. Lauderdale, including M/Y Electra, which hit the reef in Lyford Cay.

Btu being far up the New River in Ft. Lauderdale, the yard can’t handle yachts much larger than about 160 feet simply because they cannot get up the river. The place for Ft. Lauderdale’s

Bradford Grand Bahama: full of potential

See BRADFORD, page A15

General Manager Dan Romence oversaw the 18-month construction of its dry dock, seen here with M/Y Noble House. PHOTO/DAVID REED

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A15SHIPYARD NEWS

megayacht growth has to come in the Port Everglades and Dania Cut-Off Canal area, but for political reasons, that’s not on the horizon.

Which is why Engle oversaw acquisition and development of the facility in Grand Bahama.

“It is what it is,” Engle said of his limited prospects of expanding or growing the Ft. Lauderdale yard. “We researched Florida and what made sense to us was going to the Bahamas. The industry is growing but it’s passing us by here in Ft. Lauderdale. If it’s moving, you have to move with it.”

So move they did, about 70 miles east to Freeport, which is exactly what it says it is – a free port. It’s duty and tax-stamp free. Crews can come in on a cruising permit and stay six months, though stays of a year are not hard to get. And the fishing is grand. The crew of Noble House went out on weekends with the dockmaster for wahoo, dolphin and lobster.

The dry dock has a 176-foot blocking area and can handle yachts up to 235 feet and 1,200 tons. It’s booked pretty much all the time, Romence said. The 200-foot Lurssen Northern Star visited last year.

The only other hauling equipment is a 150-ton Travelift, but Romence said there are plans to buy a 500-ton lift to give smaller vessels an option to waiting for the dry dock.

The yard is full service but welcomes subcontractors, too. Ninety percent of its employees are Bahamian and there’s little turnover, Romence said.

“The work comes up to the level

of the supervisor,” he said. “We’re not really doing much re-engineering work here. We’re taking apart stuff that’s broken and fixing it.”

And the yard works closely with the Ft. Lauderdale facility. Take the extension of the Anson Bell. All the sections were prefabricated at the Bradford facility in Ft. Lauderdale, then executed on the dry dock at Grand Bahama.

The 18 months that it took to build the dry dock basically served as training time for the welding and sandblasting departments, which Romence said can now hold their own against just about anyone.

So nevermind that the idea for dockage sheds for worldwide builders hasn’t taken off yet. Perhaps Engle is just ahead of his time. Those days will come.

Contact Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com.

Stafford joins BGBMike Stafford joined the

staff of Bradford Grand Bahama recently as yacht broker, sales and marketing.

A resident of Freeport, Grand Bahama, since 1966, Stafford grew up around boats and has spent his career in various capacities on or near the sea.

One of the pioneers of Grand Bahama’s now-famous shark dives, he’s also managed dive and resort operations around the Bahamas, on Grand Cayman and Bonaire, and in Curacao.

Bradford takes ‘build it and they will come’ approachBRADFORD, from page A14

Operational now more than five years, the dry dock at Bradford Grand Bahama taught its crews about welding and sandblasting. PHOTO/DAVID REED

A1� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton MARINA FEATURE

ad.qxd 9/14/2005 4:53 PM Page 1

By Lisa H. Knapp

Waterfront property often sells at the highest premium of real estate anywhere, especially in Florida, where many working marinas and service yards have been displaced by waterfront residences.

But at least one Florida developer is buying marinas for the purpose of turning them into better marinas.

Seven Kings Holdings, a privately held real estate development management and operations company, has bought eight marinas in South Florida since 1992 and united them

under an umbrella brand called Loggerhead Marinas. It now controls 3,000 slips from Vero Beach to Miami with the intent to buy 20 more Florida marinas in the next five years.

“Few developers have significant holdings in the marina business, so we saw it as an opportunity,” said Ray Graziotto, the president of Seven Kings, which was founded by his partner, JC Solomon II, more than 30 years ago.

“We realized that the marina business is one of the last bastions of non-institutionalized real estate left,” he said.

As a boater and consumer, Graziotto has pulled into numerous facilities to dock and been disappointed with the ambiance, service and amenities. He said he sees the marina business being professionally managed as a collection of assets, versus a business unto itself.

“Everyone wants to sell a marina as something else, not a marina,” he said. “We don’t want to turn a shipyard into a condo. We want to make it a better, more actively run marina.”

And that’s good news for some in South Florida.

“There’s an under-supply and over-demand problem docking boats in South Florida,” said Frank Herhold, executive director of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida. “There’s good money to be made serving family recreational boaters. It’s great when we have new players in our industry that have the vision to cater to customers and help grow Florida’s favorite recreational pursuit.”

Loggerhead’s marina consortium

includes about 2,000 slips and stretches from Vero Beach to South Miami. The company recently acquired a marina in southern Lantana, which is between West Palm Beach and Delray Beach, with most of its 70 slips for 80-foot boats. Large yacht dockage is also available at its facilities in Vero Beach, Hollywood, Aventura, and North Miami Beach. Loggerhead also operates marinas in Riviera Beach, Lantana and Miami that accommodate smaller craft with slips and dry storage.

Seven Kings has reconfigured the marinas into state-of-the-art facilities. Loggerhead employees are uniformed and the marinas have revised handbooks and operating procedures. Captains and crews can expect consistent amenities between

the marinas including virtual offices, crew lounges, gourmet coffee, ship’s stores, pools and exercise facilities.

“This is a nicely set-up marina,” Capt. Paul Hoffman said of Loggerhead’s Palm Beach Garden’s marina, formerly Frenchmen’s Wharf. Hoffman skippers the 70-foot Hatteras Gypsy Rose. “About a year ago, they upgraded the facilities with hardwood fixed docks and a pump-out system throughout the whole marina so that you don’t have to leave your slip.

“They have a one-day reciprocal agreement with any marina they own,” Hoffman said, adding that he has taken advantage of the guaranteed reservation service to have a ready slip available at sister marinas in Hollywood and Aventura, previously known as Harbour Isles and The Waterways, respectively.

Some Loggerhead marinas offer professional dockside repair and maintenance services through an independent company, Nuts and Boats.

“It’s a bonus for us to tell customers we can recommend one contact for everything and that the service writer will be by tomorrow,” said Tom Sheppard, director of marina services for Loggerhead.

“Our relationship is with the marina,” said Tom Dogart, president of Nuts and Boats. “We come out every day regardless of the value of the job.”

Finding marinas to acquire is not easy, and is more art than science, Graziotto said.

“We’re looking every day. We’re trying to figure Florida out first,” he said, adding that the next step is buying marinas in Georgia and farther north.

Contact freelance journalist Lisa H. Knapp at lisa@the-triton.com.

Investors buy Florida marinas, won’t turn into condos

One of Loggerhead’s new marinas in Florida. PHOTO/LISA H. KNAPP

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There are many issues still facing the port’s recovery, the magazine reported, including those involving truck drivers and longshoremen.

Port damage was estimated at $100 million, and LaGrange said that 30 percent of the port no longer exists. Lauderdale adds Wi-Fi

The city of Ft. Lauderdale has added outdoor wireless broadband network hotspots throughout the downtown area.

The WiFi provides free Internet access to laptops or palm pilots outfitted with a wireless modem. The newest hotspots include Stranahan Park, which is adjacent to the Broward County Main Library; along Southwest Second Street from the Broward County Governmental Center through the popular Old Himmarshee area; and along East Las Olas Boulevard from Andrews Avenue to the 10th Avenue.

For technical assistance or questions on how to access the WiFi, call Broward County at 954-831-4000.

Chub Cay unveils Phase 2Developers of Chub Cay Marina &

Resort have unveiled their plans for the second phase of development of the island, which include Conch Point, the private island enclave within the island, and Marina Village, a collection of waterfront townhouses overlooking the island’s harbor.

Conch Point is located on the north side of the marina inlet and will feature 19 full-acre and half-acre sites with custom waterfront home. Most will have the capacity for private docks. About a quarter of the multi-million dollar sites (ranging in value from $1.2 million to $3.5 million) were sold at the Ft. Lauderdale boat show.

Each home site will accommodate a two-story home up to 8,000 square feet with space for a separate 800-square-foot guesthouse.

Marina Village is a collection of 50 townhouses overlooking the island’s marina and harbor. Residents can choose from two-, three- or four-bedroom homes beginning at more than $400,000. Twelve of the 48 available sites were sold at the show.

Construction in both developments is set to begin at the end 2006.

The first phase of the redevelopment of Chub Cay includes an expanded marina with floating concrete docks and a depth of 12 feet to accommodate yachts larger than 200 feet; a 20,000-square-foot two-story clubhouse; 57 Bahamian-style villas; resurfacing of the existing 5,000-foot paved airstrip; and the addition of a helipad.

Chub Cay, a private island, is located at the southernmost tip of the Berry Islands in the Bahamas. Its location at the edge of the Tongue of the Ocean makes it a destination for diving and offshore fishing.

Florida No. 1 boat stateFlorida edged out California in 2004

to become the state with the largest number of registered boats (946,072), according to the latest statistical report from the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA).

California, which previously topped the list, swapped spots with Florida to become the third largest registered boating state, with a total of 894,884 registered vessels. Sandwiched between Florida and California is Michigan, with 944,800 registered boats.

Nationwide, there were nearly 12.8 million registered boats in 2004, suggesting a relatively flat fluctuation (down less than 0.1 percent) from 2003.

The report ranks all 50 states by the number of boats registered. The remaining top 10 states by powerboat registrations in 2004 include (in order): Minnesota (853,448); Texas (616,779); Wisconsin (605,467); New York (519,066); Ohio (414,938); South Carolina (397,458); and Illinois (393,856).

Copies of the study are available upon request to NMMA members for $150; the price for non-members is $300.

To order a copy of the 2004 U.S. Recreational Boat Registration Statistics report, contact NMMA fulfillment coordinator Chris Keil at (312)946-6209; ckeil@nmma.org.

America’s Cup live on TVLive television coverage of the three

2006 Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts will be made available to broadcasters of the 32nd America’s Cup.

The decision to offer an enhanced live broadcast to rights-holders of all of the racing this season brings forward the plans for enhanced live television by one year.

The live feed means a richer on-site experience for visitors to the Port America’s Cup in Valencia as well. With multiple cameras in the air, on the race boats and on the race course, the “Giant Screen” in the Park will feature full coverage all of the racing.

The 2006 racing season opens in Valencia with a match racing regatta - Louis Vuitton Act 10 - from May 11-18. Act 11, a fleet racing regatta, follows immediately from May 19-21.

Racing concludes with the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12, a match racing series featuring a round robin, semi final and final, from June 22-July 3.

Downtown Lauderdale adds free WiFi hotspots

NEWS BRIEFS

NEWS BRIEFS, from page A12

A1� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton

exhibit brokerage boats at the show. “We could have easily used another

six,” Kirtland said.He’s not the only one.“I’ve gotten a lot of phone calls from

boats looking for slips,” said Curtis Stokes, a broker with The Sacks Group. “I was at Show Management this morning and the waiting list for slips is up to 90.”

Stokes and others are making plans to meet with clients who had planned to come to the Ft. Lauderdale show but

couldn’t or didn’t. Hurricane Wilma struck South Florida on Oct. 24, three days before the Ft. Lauderdale show was to have begun. The storm wiped out power and water in most parts of the city, causing many show visitors who had not yet arrived to cancel their trips. The show was postponed one week.

“We’ve not had a big presence in Miami in the past,” Stokes said. “We’re going to put more emphasis on it this year, and we’ll expand their presence in Palm Beach this year, too. It’s going to be a busy show, a lot more than usual.”

Even brokers of the larger yachts that have made the Ft. Lauderdale show such a draw say they expect Miami to be a good selling time for them, too.

“It’s not a show that we’ve ever really been that involved in because of the draft issues, but we’ve got a lot of clients coming in,” said Peter Brown, a broker with Nigel Burgess in Ft. Lauderdale. “It’s a good time to be in Florida in February. We’re not necessarily focusing on what’s in the show, but what’s in the area.”

He rattled off the names of several yachts larger than 160 feet docked in Miami and at Fisher Island that he expects to show clients. And these aren’t just any clients, but his three biggest, who are coming to Miami in mid-February from New York and Australia.

“The savvy thing to do is have the boat docked nearby even if it’s not in the show so we can show it to clients,” Brown said.

The in-water portion of the show, which is owned and produced by Yachting Promotions and the Florida Yacht Brokers Association, has added a 30,000-square-foot floating pavilion to give some large yacht vendors a chance to be close to the market. (The Miami International Boat Show, which is in the Miami Beach Convention Center and in the water at the Marriott, is owned and produced by the National Marine Manufacturers Association.)

Serdanelli will be displaying in that floating pavilion, a company that has never exhibited in Miami before. Linn Products has been asked to rig their exhibit with some audio equipment.

“And we’ve had other vendors, like the Rodriguez Group, asking for equipment for their booths,” said Bryan Day, regional sales manager for Linn Products. “We work with lots of companies at the Ft. Lauderdale show but we’ve never had vendors from the Miami show contact us. I guess they’re trying to make the best of the Miami show in view of the Ft. Lauderdale disappointment.”

Linn has completey upgraded and redesigned its most popular yacht product to date, its Linn Classik Movie, a complete home theater in a box. A portion of Linn’s exhibit was awaiting the Ft. Lauderdale show in crates when Wilma blew through and ruined it. Linn exhibited at Ft. Lauderdale through the booths of other companies such as Serdanelli.

“I guess they want to make a big splash of it in Miami,” Day said.

Rick Thomas of Nautical Structures, which designs, builds and installs davits and cranes for large yachts, said he’s preparing his staff for a big show.

“Miami has always been a good buying show for us,” he said. “We have high expectations, we’re sending a full staff. If there’s any difference [from last year], it’s the pent-up demand from Lauderdale. But there’s no precedence for it. There’s nothing to look at and say here’s what we can expect.”

When he heard that brokers were expecting many important clients, he said “That’s music to my ears. And its great news for our industry.”

And it’s just another day in yacht sales for some.

Philip Purcell, vice president of sales at Westport Yacht Sales in Ft. Lauderdale, said his company had a strong show in Ft. Lauderdale with $30 million in sales and will have a strong show in Miami.

“We have 14 boats in the show, mostly brokerage with one trade,” he said. “We expect it to be a real good show. Miami and Ft. Lauderdale have always been very good for us.”

Allied Richard Bertram will have more than 60 boats, new and used, representing its different lines in the water on Collins Avenue and at the Marriott Marina, as well as in the Convention Center. Bischoff is ready.

“We’re salesmen so we’re always optimistic, but we think we’re going to be swamped.”

Contact Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com.

FROM THE FRONT

Miami may make up for meetings Wilma blew awayMIAMI SHOW, from page A1

Postponed Ft. Lauderdale events rescheduled for the Miami shown Showboats International’s annual

boat show party was canceled in October and has been rescheduled for Feb. 15 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Jet Center in Ft. Lauderdale. WingsWheelsWater is an invitation-only event.

n The International Superyacht Society’s postponed Awards for Design and Leadership have been rescheduled to be given during the Miami International Boat Show.

The annual black-tie awards gala will

be held Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. at the Eden Roc, 4525 Collins Ave. in Miami Beach. The event typically draws more than 400 of the superyacht industry’s most notable personalities, business leaders and owners.

The awards are normally announced at a large gala during the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show, but were postponed last year after Hurricane Wilma disrupted the shows and its guests.

See SHOW CALENDAR, page A19

MIAMI SHOW CALENDARThe Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A19

The awards represent yachts finished in calendar year 2004. The ISS is accepting nominations for yachts completed in calendar year 2005. These yachts will be recognized at the gala during the 2006 Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show, which kicks off on Oct. 26.

Other rescheduled ISS events:Distinguished Crew Awards will

be announced during the gala Feb. 16 at the Eden Roc

Membership Meeting & Breakfast, Friday, Feb. 17, 8-10 a.m., Eden Roc

Board of Directors Meeting, Friday, Feb. 17, 10-noon, Eden Roc

For information and tickets to any of the events, call (954) 525-6625.

n For the fourth year, Regal Marine Industries of Orlando is hosting the Leading with Vision and Values luncheon on Feb. 17. The speaker this year is C. William Pollard, chairman of ServiceMaster Company and author. Pollard uses examples from ServiceMaster to show leaders how to turn the workplace into a vibrant environment for a successful business. The luncheon will be held from noon-1:15 pm at the Miami Beach Convention Center in rooms A204/A205. Tickets are $25.

n Boat Owners Warehouse is sponsoring an event on “On-Board Marine Electrical Systems” Feb. 15 at its store in Hallandale. It will be conducted by American Battery, Hubble Electrical System and Wards Marine Electric and is scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. BOW Hallandale

is at 1720 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd., 954-457-5081. Refreshments and door prizes will be available.

n The Marine Association for

Technology Exchange Standards (MATES) has unveiled a formal strategic plan in conjunction with accepting applications for initial membership. It is hosting an open meeting for the industry on Friday, Feb. 17, from 11-12:30 in Room A202 of the Miami Beach Convention Center.

“The vision of the MATES initiative is to do more business by making it simpler to transact business,” says Thomas Dammrich, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, which has just named MATES the association’s newest official affiliate.

“If you exchange data in any form with any other business in the marine industry, you will want to be at the February meeting in Miami to learn more about this organization and its working plan for 2006.”

Ultimately, through MATES, the marine industry will be able to attain real-time updates regarding a manufacturer’s boat production, listings through dealer management systems, online inventory viewing, consumer quote requests, sales closings and warranty and service follow-up.

To maximize participation, MATES is offering three tiers of membership levels, each paid through annual dues. It is expected a MATES executive director, as well as board of directors, will be named before the Miami meeting in February.

For more information, contact Bernice McArdle at (312)946-6280 or bmcardle@nmma.org.

SHOW CALENDAR, from page A18

ISS’s distinguished crew honors awarded during design gala

A�0 February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton MIAMI SHOW FEATURE

By Lisa H. Knapp

4 a.m.: The alarm clock goes off. Skip Reisert’s eyes pop open and he’s up before he realizes it. Reisert is in charge of event services for Nuts and Boats, one of the busiest dockside marine service companies at the Miami International Boat Show. He is responsible for washing and detailing 250 yachts at the show’s three power boat locations before the gates open in six hours.

He thinks about which of his 65 temporary detailers need a wake-up

call, and keeps moving. “I’m worried all the time,” he said,

recounting a typically frantic boat show day. “Everything has a sense of urgency.”

5 a.m.: Three passenger vans pick up detailers at one of three designated rendezvous points in Miami Beach and shuttle them to the show. A fourth vehicle picks up out-of-town detailers from their hotel in South Beach.

5:20 a.m.: Reisert assembles the troops for a quick pep talk at the show’s

A day in the life:Detailers do much more than chamois hulls on show days

The Nuts and Boats team is vast, and intense. It includes, from left, Skip Reisert, president of Nuts and Boats Event Services; Tom Godart, president of Nuts and Boats; Les Depta, detail technician; Monika Kaczmarczyk, detail technician; and John Granstaff, director of detailing services. There is time for smiles before the show begins. PHOTO/LISA H. KNAPP

See DAY IN THE LIFE, page A21

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A�1MIAMI SHOW FEATURE

service entrance as the crew leaders join their teams and grab their dock boxes stuffed with 80 chamois, 3,000 feet of hose, 40 gallons of all-purpose cleaner and 200 pounds of towels.

5:30 a.m.: It is still dark outside, but the Nuts and Boats employees storm the show and start motoring through the clean-up.

6 a.m.: Thirsty detailers gulp cool water on the hour, every hour, handed out by crew members whose job it is to distribute 300 bottles of cold Zephyr Hills each morning.

7 a.m.: Reisert spot checks teams to make sure plants are watered, booths are vacuumed, and tables and displays are clear and clean for the brokers.

8 a.m.: Reisert checks out a last minute job his crew was assigned at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. They prepped, cleaned and painted the bottoms of six yachts just hours before the show started.

“Some people view us as janitors, but we’re more of a logistics company,” said Tom Godart, president of Nuts and Boats Dockside Marine Services. “We manage people, whatever it takes, to take the burden off the broker or manufacturer so they can focus on selling the boats. Anything time

sensitive, we can execute.”9:30 a.m.: Reisert eyes the sky

and hopes it doesn’t rain. There is nowhere for his crew to go if it rains. He walks the docks, rooting his crew on, reminding them there is only a half hour left.

“We’re under the gun every minute,” Reisert said.

10 a.m.: The Nuts and Boats crew hustles out the service entrance and piles into the shuttles as the front gates open for paying customers.

But the day’s not over yet.The shuttle buses make their way

through busy Ft. Lauderdale to return the hot and sweaty technicians to the rendezvous points and lunch.

1 p.m. Reisert and his assistants regroup and prepare the dock boxes for another day. The hoses must be coiled, the nozzles put back in place. The chamois must be rinsed and dried and the spray bottles refilled.

6 p.m.: Piles of dirty towels are gathered and dropped off at the laundry.

7 p.m.: Reisert checks in with customers such as Rick Kubiak, the regional business manager for Carver Yachts. He is pleased with the service and the pre-stage prep work performed to make their display look brand new again. The night before, Carver had a big party on Collins Avenue with a band, scaffolds, and people trampling all over their boats. “Their work is very thorough,” he says. “They follow-up continually to see if there’s anything else they can help us with.”

“We push through obstacles,” Reisert said. “We make it happen.”

10 p.m.: Towels are picked up from the laundry and the last of the day’s loose ends are tied.

11:30 p.m.: Reisert prepares to repeat today’s actions all over again tomorrow and for the next four days. The weekend clean-ups are harder, given increased show traffic.

Midnight: Reisert thinks about the company-sponsored bar-be-que that his crew will enjoy after the show’s conclusion as the lights go out. Sleep will come quickly. His days are long.

Contact freelance writer Lisa H. Knapp at lisa@the-triton.com.

Days long for dockside services managerDAY IN THE LIFE, from page A20

‘Some people view us as janitors but we’re more of a logistics company.’

— Tom Godart, PresidentNuts and Boats Dockside Marine

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A�� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton FROM THE FRONT

Still, the captains all agreed that their marital status – and the fact that they may have to leave behind not only spouses, but children – comes up in every job interview.

“They always ask about it,” one captain said. “Now that I have two young kids, they say, ‘I’m afraid you’re going to jump ship in two months because you miss them.’ My answer is,

‘If I’m not doing this, I can’t feed them. I understand it’s going to be hard, but this is what I do.’”

Several captains noted that when their children were young, they found jobs that kept them closer to home, or even got off yachts completely.

“When my first child was born, I got off, took the lesser paycheck so I could stay around,” a captain said.

THE BRIDGE, from page A1

Attendees of The Triton’s February Bridge luncheon were, from left, Geroge Hall III of M/Y Silent Wings, Rick Lenardson of M/Y Status Quo, Paul Canavan of M/Y Allegra, Brad Carpenter of M/Y Mustang Sally, and Charles Hudspeth of M/Y Via Kassablanca. PHOTO/LUCY REED

Owner or manager questions marital status in each interview

See THE BRIDGE, page A25

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A�5FROM THE FRONT

“I did that, too, took the lesser paycheck,” another agreed. “But it gets easier as they get older.”

One captain started in the industry when he was 18 and soon discovered it would be his career.

He didn’t discount a family life, he said. Instead, when trouble arose in his relationship, he and his partner (who worked with him on the same boat) sought counseling.

When he discovered that he behaved as the captain at home as well, they stopped working together and found separate jobs. Their relationship is still alive.

“I still like to go [to sea],” he said. “That’s why I’m doing this. Otherwise I’d be selling them.”

So what are some tips?n Call home frequently. The calls

don’t have to last long, but they must be made each day.

“It’s one of those things that evolves,” one captain said. “Once I’m out there, I’m focused. You have to stop yourself and make that phone call home.”

One captain admitted that the daily phone call to his wife lasted about a minute, while conversations with his

child lasted upward of 15 minutes.n If you are on a boat that lets you go

home at night, go home. “It takes a while to get to that point

where you can go home and turn it off,” one captain said.

“I’m finally starting to be OK with that now,” another said.

“When you have a wife and kids, you have to be able to do it.”n Don’t expect regularly scheduled

time off, but when the boat’s got down time, take time off.

These captains agreed that they had as much time off as they needed, as long as their being gone didn’t interfere with the program of the boat.

At the end of the day, these seamen agreed that yacht captains can have relationships, marriage and children if they choose, but it didn’t depend on the owner they worked for or the program they ran.

“It can work, depending on the woman you marry,” one captain said as the others agreed.

“All I know,” another noted, “is that my dog is always the happiest when I come home.”

Contact Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com.

THE BRIDGE, from page A24

To make it work, don’t forget to phone home, take time off

A�� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton FROM THE FRONT

yacht captain marry people at sea?” The answer, as it is with most things yacht-related, is “it depends.”

The rules about what legal actions can take place aboard a boat are governed by the country of the flag the boat flies. Since boats are considered little floating pieces of the flag country, they are governed by the laws of that land, regardless of where they roam.

The United Kingdom does not allow weddings on passenger ships, according to Nick Gladwell of Regs4Yachts, an England-based company that specializes in sorting

through regulations. “It’s the fairy tale sort of thing,

isn’t it, to have a captain marry you on a yacht,” Gladwell said. “Bit it’s not

binding in most cases.”

Bermuda and the Cayman Islands allow weddings. In fact, Bermuda-flagged Princess Cruises has created quite a business for itself by marketing and selling its wedding-at-sea packages.

The United States does not grant the authority and at one point actually expressly forbid it. [Research

indicated that 32 CFR 700.716 forbade commanding officers of the U.S. Navy from performing a marriage ceremony

Flag state govern the boat and rules about marriageMARRY ME, from page A1

See MARRY ME, page A27

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A��FROM THE FRONT

on his ship or aircraft, but a current search of the CFRs failed to reveal this rule.]

Beyond the policy of the flag state, it’s the captain who actually may be asked to do the ceremony, so his or her nationality and certification come into play.

Despite the storied belief that marriages were only valid for the length of the cruise, some captains may be able to marry people on board, but it has nothing to do with the fact that they are a captain.

Under these conditions, the engineer, stew, chef or deckhand could serve the same role.

While the licensure acknowledging a captain’s status does not expressly grant the right to perform marriages, other certifications do.

For example, in the United States, people such as judges and notary publics can perform weddings. A

captain who takes the initiative to become a notary public can perform a wedding.

Each state has its own notary registration process, but in Florida, a citizen can become a notary after a three-hour course, some paperwork and about $100.

Once a notary, a captain can marry people in the state of Florida. If the yacht is U.S. flagged and registered in Florida, that makes the ship a little bit of Florida, theoretically giving the captain the authority to marry people aboard that ship no matter where she roams, including docked in Port Everglades, under way to the Bahamas or berthed in St. Barths.

There are paperwork requirements, of course, but there is no indication that the wedding would not be legal, as long as the captain/notary filed the marriage license with the proper state authorities in a timely way, Gladwell said.

Then there are all manner of interpretations and mixtures of flags

and captain nationalities. For example, if a U.S. captain (with a

CEC equivalent, of course) in command of a U.K.-flagged vessel also happened to be a Florida notary public, he or she could marry people within the territorial waters of Florida, perhaps on a cruise around Key West.

However, if the betrothed happened to be the boss’ daughter who wanted to get married on a cruise around Nantucket, the captain would need to be a notary licensed by Massachusetts.

Captains licensed by Bermuda appear to be the only mariners with the authority to perform weddings expressly in their maritime licenses, which may be why Princess Cruise moved their boats to Bermuda before launching its seagoing wedding program in 1998.

Once married, the normal honoring of international licenses would apply, making the marriage legal around the world and not just for the length of the voyage.

So in some circumstances, a captain can marry people at sea, presuming the captain happens to be of the state and country in which a couple wish to marry, is properly licensed to perform marriages, all the paperwork is processed properly and all the stars are perfectly aligned.

But that’s nothing for a yacht captain used to reading the stars.

Contact Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com.

MARRY ME, from page A26

Beyond flag state, it’s the captain that matters at the altar

Each state has its own notary registration process, but in Florida, a citizen can become a notary after a three-hour course, completing some paperwork and paying about $100.

A�� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton

Capt. George Llop has been appointed managing partner of the U.S. office of the Bluewater Alliance, the group of agencies headed by Francesco Luise that services the Mediterranean.

The office will supply logistical support to megayachts traveling the U.S. and Caribbean including parts, equipment, VAT services and crew services. It will also offer assistance with reservations and itineraries for yachts heading to Europe. Management companies and charter fleets can use the office to wire funds and check up on changes to charter regulations.

The office in Lauderdale Marine Center will host an official opening in March but it is open for business.

Contact Llop at his office, Yachting Unlimited, at 954-525-5258, or by cell at 786-443-5567, www.yachting-unlimited.com, www.bluewateralliance.com.

Admiral signs M/Y PlatinumAdmiral Maritime Electronics

announced that the operators of one of the world’s largest yachts, the 525-foot motoryacht Platinum, have bought the Norwegian Admiral Electronic Navigation Software.

With the first sea trials imminent, Admiral was selected as a complimentary installation because of the ease with which Admiral can be used to record maneuvering data. Plotting past track at one-second intervals, measuring turning radius and recording this information graphically, Admiral can export the screen view to a Word document as a JPEG. Measuring and recording acceleration and deceleration information to the same level of accuracy can also be achieved.

“Normally it is extremely difficult to achieve accurate and easily recorded results during builder’s trials,” said Admiral owner David Morton. “By using Admiral it is really quite simple.”

Platinum joins a growing number of other megayachts who carry Admiral software, including Northern Star, Aviva II, Stanley, Vanquish and Lionheart. They have all come to value the Admiral automatic route finder, weather forecast overlay and tidal stream vectors to assist them with passage planning.

Built by Blomm and Voss and Lurssen jointly, Platinum is owned by the Crown Prince of Dubai. For more information about Admiral, visit www.admiralchart.no.

New crew house in AustraliaCrew Pacific in Cairns, Australia,

has opened what may be the first yacht crew house in the country.

The company also moved to new offices and training facilities. View photos of the crew house at www.crewpacific.com.au.

Priscilla closes, Denise opensDenise Baker, a former broker

with Priscilla Yacht Management in Ft. Lauderdale, has opened her own company, Denise Baker Charter Management. Priscilla Yacht Management closed at the end of 2005, leaving Baker with several yachts already under management, including the motoryachts All My Girls, Baroness III, Evy’s Angel III, Miss Quail, Sea Tabby and Hooked Up.

For more information, call 954-895-2594 or denisebaker@bellsouth.net.

Burger hires GMBurger Boat Company has hired

Bill Bitner as vice president and general manager. Bitner worked previously at Allied Signal-Honeywell’s aerospace division and, most recently, from Rolls-Royce Aerospace where he served as vice president and general manager for the past five years.

Bitner will strive to gain efficiencies and make ongoing refinements to processes using constant training and strong communication techniques with the Burger staff, according to a release from the company.

Knight & Carver hires managerMartin Muñiz has joined Knight &

Carver YachtCenter as the company’s production manager. He brings more than 25 years of experience in project management and engineering within the marine industry.

In his role, which began late last year, Muñiz supervises the company’s project leaders, supervisors, department leaders and division managers. In addition, he is responsible

for implementing Knight & Carver’s processes for estimating, planning and managing large-scale projects. Knight & Carver specializes in the refit and repair of large vessels, including private yachts ranging from 40 feet to more than 300 feet as well as a wide range of excursion and commercial fishing vessels.

Before joining Knight & Carver, Muñiz served as program manager with Todd Pacific Shipyard in Seattle, Wash., where he managed several large-ship contracts, including the U.S. Coast Guard Polar Class ice-breaker program. In addition, Muñiz is a Navy veteran and former U.S. Merchant Marine officer.

Muñiz earned his bachelor’s

Bluewater Alliance opens first U.S. office in Lauderdale

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Muñiz

See BIZ BRIEFS, page A29

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A�9

degree in ocean engineering/marine engineering from State University of New York-Maritime. He also holds a Master’s degree in engineering from Webster University in St. Louis, MO.

New service, warrenty office opensAzimut-Benetti has opened a new

service and warranty base on State Road 84 in Ft. Lauderdale. Managed jointly by Federico Ferrante for Azimut

and Bill Leonard for Benetti, the office is in charge of the management and technical support of the Azimut dealer network of Canada, the United States, South America and Caribbean, as well as the management

and technical support of the whole Benetti fleet while in the area.

On the Azimut side, the office is also in charge of the warranty and technical support on site for all yachts in the territory. It carries a $1 million inventory of spare parts for warranty and retail.

On the Benetti side, the office will serve as the U.S. contact for owners, captains and crew, liaising with the builder’s project management department in Viareggio.

For more information, contact the office at 954-727-0584 or the principals at fferrante@azimutyachts.net or bleonard@service.benettiyachts.it.

Seascape monthly packagesSeascape Marine Builders offers

refit services for yachts at its facility on the Fraser River 45 minutes from Vancouver and now offers mobile monthly maintenance packages. The yard will assign mechanics, engineers and/or specialists in fiberglass, electronics or woodworking to perform fast repairs on vessels where and when needed.

Seascape works closely with Seaforth Marine Group, which offers complete yacht design and marketing services.

For more information, contact Seascape at 604-466-7068 or visit www.seascapebuilders.com.

Lebanon offers IYT coursesNorth West Sailing Education

in Beirut, Lebanon, held its first Yachtmaster Offshore Course in December. Chris Taylor, vice president of operations and IYT examiner, administered final exams.

North West Sailing Education, directed by Mahmoud Akil, offers IYT’s recreational cruising level courses as well as certified M.C.A. courses.

For more information, visit www.northwest-sailing.com, or e-mail akilmahmoud@hotmail.com, or IYT at www.yachtmaster.com.

Nautor’s opens charter officeNautor’s Swan, the 40-year-old

Finnish builder of sailboats, has opened a new charter office at the company’s U.S. headquarters at Newport Shipyard in Newport, R.I.

Running the office as charter manager is Carolyn Cox Titus, a 24-year veteran of the charter industry.

The full line of Swans will be available for charter, from classic Sparkman & Stephens designs up to Swan superyachts. The yachts range in size from 48 to 112 feet and come crewed and provisioned. Other yachts, both motor and sail, are available worldwide from 50 to 350 feet.

For more information, call 401-619-0968, www.nautorswan-usa.com, or charters@nautorswan-usa.com.

Wright hires DPA/CSOWright Maritime Group has

hired Capt. Stephan Mort as vice president of operations and designated person ashore/chief security officer of subsidiary Vessel Safety Management. Following his 20-year career with the U.S. Coast Guard, Capt. Mort was most recently vice president of maritime operations with International Registries, the administrator for the Marshall Islands flag registry. There he was responsible for all facets of maritime operations for the registry’s 1,150 ships, including liaison with port state control officers, company DPA/CSOs, ship superintendents, and nautical inspectors worldwide.

Erik Schifflebian will assume the position of executive vice president.

Contact Capt. Mort at ism@wrightmaritime.com.

Chub hires GM In preparation of its re-opening

this spring, Chub Cay Marina & Resort has hired Derick Murray as general manager for. Murray has more than 15 years experience in the hospitality industry, most recently as hotel manager for the past 10 years at Walker’s Cay Resort in the Bahamas. Prior to that, Murray spent eight years as a supervisor at the Bahamas Reservation Service.

“Derick is a highly skilled manager who brings with him an intimate knowledge of the Bahamas and a keen understanding of operating a first-class resort,” said Walt McCrory, president and CEO of Chub Cay Club Associates, Ltd. “His vast experience in hospitality management will help set Chub Cay apart from every other private island resort and provide our residents and

guests with unparalleled service.”Chub Cay, the legendary private

island, is located at the southernmost tip of the Berry Islands in the Bahamas. Its location at the edge of the Tongue of the Ocean makes it a premier destination for diving, offering some of the most unspoiled coral reefs in the Bahamas. Its spectacular offshore fishing lures the world’s best sport fishermen and women in search of billfish, wahoo, dolphin and tuna, to name a few, plus miles of pristine flats close to shore for catching permit and the elusive bonefish.

For information, www.chubcay.com.

Merrill-Stevens adds BenettiMerrill-Stevens Dry Dock Co.

has been appointed as the preferred service provider in the United States for Benetti. The Miami yard will send service technicians and managers from its Miami shipyard to Italy for training and to familiarize themselves with Benetti yachts and systems.

Founded as Merrill & Son in the Florida Territories in 1866 by Capt. James Gilman Merrill in Jacksonville, Merrill-Stevens is Florida’s oldest continuously operating company.

Leonard

BIZ BRIEFS, from page A28

Azimut-Benetti opens new service, warranty office in Lauderdale to handle worldwide fleet

BUSINESS BRIEFS

GettingUnderWayT E C H N I C A L N E W S F O R C A P TA I N S & C R E W S

GettingUnderWayT E C H N I C A L N E W S F O R C A P TA I N S & C R E W S

Pages A32-39 February 2006www.the-triton.com

By Rick Thomas

Snap. Ping. Pop. We’ve all heard these disconcerting sounds at one time or another while using the davit.

But when should we be alarmed by the noise a working wire-rope makes? The simple answer is “always.”

The wire rope component of the davit system is the weakest link. Properly sized, the wire rope should provide plenty of safety margin for the hoisting performance designed into the davit system. A minimum factor of safety should be at least 4:1, and 5:1 or better on a classed piece of equipment.

But this issue of safety factor is only really relevant at the time a replacement wire is being sourced. During the life of the davit, the wire-rope should be considered a wear-replacement item requiring

constant inspection and periodic replacement. Each snap, ping and pop is effectively reducing the cable’s factor of safety.

The wire rope is, in itself, a working machine. Its ultimate strength is derived by the individual wires working together in twisted strands that make up the cable. A 6-by-36 wire rope is actually 216 individual wires working together in six bundles of 36 wires. As the wire turns around the winch-drum or rides over the davit’s sheave (pulley), the wires are being pulled, stretched and, depending on the design of the winch, often flattened. Over time, this action deteriorates the wire-rope. The individual snaps, pings and pops you hear are individual pieces of wire breaking. Each wire-break begins to lessen the working strength of the wire-rope and will, over time, lead to ultimate failure.

Perhaps the most insidious culprit in wire-rope

See WEAKEST LINK, page A33

How is your davit? Inspect its wire rope to see

Each snap, ping and pop reduced the cable’s factor of safety. PHOTO COURTESY OF A TRITON READER

By Capt. David Hare

After M/V Thunder’s summer cruise of the Canadian Maritimes, it became apparent that to enhance our ability with zero visibility navigation a serious look at thermal imaging was in order.

Our first pass led to several vendors, some of whom seemed to be out-of-the-garage, backyard operations. What I have found over the years is that there are individuals dancing on the periphery of the yachting industry who will box up a technology, call it “marinized,” artificially create a high price, sell several dozen or a couple of hundred units – then disappear. This leaves the captain and owner searching for someone to fix the box, which often becomes yet another boat anchor or a float test device.

My research of thermal imaging brought me to

a military, homeland security provider of one of the world’s finest thermal cameras. EMX is located in Melbourne, Fla. In business since 1989, it is a Raytheon (now L3) Original Equipment Manufacturer, getting its start in covert electronics for law enforcement.

Today EMX has a very serious, worldwide footprint in military installations including Pearl Harbor, Guantanamo Bay, and Korea. Additionally, Oakridge Nuclear Facility, the Alaskan Pipeline, and the NASA launch facility, along with a host of search and rescue ships and helicopters, all use EMX’s thermal imaging equipment.

These were the serious, no-nonsense guys I wanted to work with to, as the U.S. military says, “Own the Night.”

It is important to point out that conventional night-vision equipment magnifies ambient

See THERMAL, page A36

THERMAL IMAGING

This thermal image of two men on a boat was taken at about midnight from a distance of a third of a mile. That dark spot near the face on the left? That’s his beer. PHOTO/CAPT. DAVID HARE

Hot technology lets you see in the dark

FROM THE TECH FRONTThe Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A33

Prices for low-sulfur gasoil expressed in US$ per cubic meter (1,000 litres) as of Jan. 20, 2005.

Region Duty-free*/dutypaidU.S.EastCoast

Ft.Lauderdale 406/436Savannah,Ga. 420/NANewport,R.I. 436/NA

CaribbeanSt.Thomas,USVI 507/NATrinidad 430/NAAntigua 550/NA

NorthAtlanticBermuda(IrelandIsland) 454/NABermuda(St.George’s) 493/NACapeVerde 427/NAAzores 433/NACanaryIslands 430/NA

MediterraneanGibraltar 406/NABarcelona,Spain 599/1,008PalmadeMallorca,Spain 476/1,012Antibes,France 437/1,202SanRemo,Italy 550/1,178Naples,Italy 552/1,220Venice,Italy 552/1,250Corfu,Greece 480/1,015Piraeus,Greece 458/992Istanbul,Turkey 418/NAMalta 394/NATunis,Tunisia 403/NA

OceaniaAuckland,NewZealand 420/NASydney,Australia 412/NAFiji 492/NA

*When available according to customs.

Today’s fuel pricesPrices for low-sulfur gasoil expressed in US$ per cubic meter (1,000 liters) as of Jan. 16.

Region Duty-free*/dutypaidU.S.EastCoast

Ft.Lauderdale 503/539Savannah,Ga. 541/NANewport,R.I. 520/NA

CaribbeanSt.Thomas,USVI 728/NASt.Maarten 655/NAAntigua 671/NA

NorthAtlanticBermuda(IrelandIsland) NA/NABermuda(St.George’s) 678/NACapeVerde 597/NAAzores 515/NACanaryIslands 530/NA

MediterraneanGibraltar 512/NABarcelona,Spain 572/1,100PalmadeMallorca,Spain NA/1,062Antibes,France 576/1,290SanRemo,Italy 676/1,387Naples,Italy 668/1,298Venice,Italy 679/1,345Corfu,Greece 630/1,182Piraeus,Greece 570/1,122Istanbul,Turkey 550/NAMalta 507/NATunis,Tunisia 522/NA

OceaniaAuckland,NewZealand 568/NASydney,Australia 576/NAFiji 550/NA

*When available according to customs.

One year ago

failure is within the compression fitting that terminates the wire-rope cable assembly. This compression fitting, often called a Nico-press fitting, is rarely inspected or considered when evaluating the overall health of a davit. Yet it is the most essential component of the wire-rope assembly’s integrity.

Often, the compression fitting is found inset into the stainless steel or brass cable-weight, a common practice of most yacht-davit manufacturers. And often, the fitting will be covered with a section of heat-shrink tubing to protect the davit’s operators from being stuck with a sharp cable-end that can protrude from the compression fitting.

Unfortunately, all of these efforts to protect the user from this swaged fitting also act to conceal this fitting from easy view. Thus, it is rare that the fitting is ever inspected.

Over time, water will follow the cable into this fitting and begin to corrode the wire from within the compression fitting. Careful inspection will allow you to see the corrosion before it results in cable failure.

Too often, though, it is a forensic inspection – made in an attempt to determine why the cable failed and dropped the tender – that shows that the cable corroded within the Nico-press fitting.

I am often asked how frequently the cable should be inspected and replaced on a davit system. There isn’t a single response that is suitable for all davit systems. If the davit is of an older design still using a drum-type winch system, I would recommend annual replacement. The flattening of the cable and the tight turns around the winch drum dramatically shortens the lifespan of the wire rope.

If you have a davit that is fit with a hydraulic linear winch system, you will enjoy a much longer cable life, perhaps as much as two to three years. The reason for the longer service life is that the wire rope never lays on itself, is always supported by the machined groove of the sheave with a proper D:d ratio, and is always left in a tension condition.

If you are working with a davit that is built to class, Lloyd’s will likely want to see annual replacement, and proper records of both maintenance and cable replacement must be kept. Frequent cable replacement is simply a very inexpensive insurance policy, ultimately preventing a very expensive and dangerous cable failure.

Rick Thomas is vice president of sales and operations with Tampa Bay-based Nautical Structures. Contact him at 888-541-6664 or rthomas@nautical-structures.com.

WEAKEST LINK, from page A32

Compression fitting often obscured

A34 February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton REFIT FEATURE

Though she wasn’t one of the main boats on display during Vintage Weekend at Ocean Reef a few months ago, M/Y Carry-On lives up to her respectable lineage.

Built in 1974 as a 72-foot houseboat, the classic Burger was stretched to 80 feet in 1996 at Roscioli Yachting Center in Ft. Lauderdale to add a cockpit, flybridge and mast.

In spring 2004 under the yacht’s third owner, a six-week yard period for new paint turned into a five-month major refit that included a new floor in the pilothouse and galley by Teak Decking Systems and the finesse of Patty Sehi who stripped and refinished the salon and master cabin interior.

The engine room still carries the yacht’s original twin Detroit Diesels (which were overhauled), and a new watermaker, electrical panel and more. The yacht’s galley was cleared and all the cabinets were sprayed in their positions with Imron paint.

“They sealed everything and put in a vent and turned the galley into a paint shed,” Capt. Craig Jones said.

This past summer’s “storage” back at Roscioli gave the yacht and Jones time to finish up some final enhancements such as a new lower console and new overhead electronics panel in the pilothouse to get the yacht back on the water. She winters at Ocean Reef.

– Lucy Chabot Reed

Carry-On gets refit to do just that

Carry-On, a h o u s e b o a t built in 1974, received a new cockpit, flybridge and mast in 1996 and a nearly half-year refit in 2004 that included a new floor in the bridge.

PHOTO/DAVID REED

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A35FROM THE TECH FRONT

1-800-242-3344Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA

www.boatblindsintl.com

“Since 1990, The Original Boat Blinds and Shades Manufacturer”

WOOD BOAT BLINDS: Color assortment includes teak, cherry, mahogany, and maple matches. Custom colors. Satin or gloss.SHEER HORIZONTAL SHADES: Patented 2” headrail system. Wire retention allows for offset installations and prevents sway.CELLULAR SHADES: Compact 7/8” bright aluminum rails for tight installations. Moving rail and continuous cord lift systems.

By Bonny Johnson

They are the jewels of the high seas. But for all their glitz and glamour on the outside, some yachts are just a plain old mess on the inside. The culprit? Poor maintenance of leather interiors.

Just as you wash and wax a car to protect the paint finish, you need to clean and condition leather, too. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to bathe leather in oil to keep it attractive and protected, but this is exactly what many crew members do. They wipe down the yacht’s interior with large amounts of oil or a poor conditioner, believing they are strengthening the leather’s seal when in reality they are breaking it down.

When the leather’s seal has been broken, it’s the beginning of the end for the interior. The evidence is always there in the form of a greasy film on the leather, around the dash, in the wheelhouse, on the headliners and on the side panels. This film is oil and it migrates in and out of the leather’s surface, changing the leather’s pH balance, which is normally about 4.5.

Once the pH has been altered, the finish begins breaking down. This greasy interior will attract more sunlight and pollutants, causing additional damage. By trying to help the leather, bathing it in oil really contributes to its demise and brings a premature end to a yacht’s interior.

So how do you keep a vessel’s leather interior looking pristine? Find a good conditioner. A good conditioner is the best way to protect the integrity and maintain the beauty of a yacht’s leather interior.

The first step in finding a conditioner that’s right for your interior is figuring out what kind of leather you have. There are two types: finished and unfinished. If the leather is finished, it

will have a small layer of paint sealing it. When you apply a finish to leather it modifies the surface color, gloss and the final appearance of the material. It also provides a protection to the surface from water, wear and abrasions.

On finished leather, use a finished leather conditioner with wax protectants. These protectants correct the pH balance and pull humectants (moisture) out of the air to hydrate the leather. Never use an oil-based conditioner.

Leather without a sealant is referred to as unfinished leather. Unfinished leather is recognizable by how easily it is scratched and the dark color it turns when it gets wet. There are several kinds of unfinished leather including aniline, semi-aniline and nubuck. All of these types require an unfinished conditioner and should be cleaned once a month. Once again, you need to use a conditioner with wax protectants for aniline leather.

After you have finished conditioning the leather and it has dried, it should have a matte finish. Conditioned leather should never look or feel greasy.

It is important to clean and condition finished leather once a month to maintain its protection. By taking the time to clean, condition and protect the leather, you will enhance the look and life of it, and make it more stain resistant.

If you follow these steps and use a good conditioner, you should only have to deep clean your interior every six months.

Having a beautiful leather interior is an attainable goal for any vessel. Whether your interior is finished or unfinished leather, a few simple steps will keep it looking great. In addition to using a good conditioner, it is important to care for your interior on a regular basis. Don’t sit anything wet

or dirty on leather. Clean spills with a damp cloth and pat them dry. Avoid oil, harsh soaps and human sweat from contacting the leather. And make sure you always cover or shade leather from direct sunlight.

With proper maintenance and a non-oil-based conditioner that contains wax protectants, your leather

interior should provide you with many pleasant voyages for years to come.

Bonny Johnson is a freelance writer who works with Kibbie Fulton, owner of Leather Solutions. Contact her through editorial@the-triton.com. Contact Fulton at 1-888-713-6466 or visit www.leathersolutions.net on the Web.

Keeping leather nice begins, ends with maintenance

A36 February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton FROM THE TECH FRONT

light to give the green view. This is not in any way thermal imaging. Thermal imaging does not require light. You can use this equipment in a pitch black cave and see perfectly.

Everything gives off heat. Humans and all living things emit their own heat. Inanimate objects such as boats, navigational buoys and even weapons absorb light energy throughout the day and emit that energy as heat.

Thermal imaging cameras use this heat in the 7-14 micron range to “see” someone or something. This technology uses thermal signatures or the difference in the heat temperatures of objects down to as little as 0.01 of a degree. This heat signature is then changed into an electronic signal at 320 x 240 pixels for the image to be seen on a yacht’s computer monitor. As thermal energy waves penetrate through environmental conditions quite well, an image can be seen through snow, smoke, dust, haze, fog and rain.

On most yachts today we have an Elbex (or other manufacturer) switcher for our security cameras that allow crew to punch a button and choose a particular security or engine room camera to watch – or set up a scan of all the cameras. The digital signal

from EMX’s MidWatch-75XR Marine Thermal Imager simply plugs into the back of the Elbex switcher via an RS170 video connector, so scanning with the thermal camera is effortless and can be incorporated into an existing system with minimal cost or major wiring. A

small box incorporating a joystick to pan the camera was the only addition to the bridge of M/V Thunder, a 70-foot Delta expedition yacht. That kept the installation neat, tidy and ‘non-gadgetry.’ The entire installation

See THERMAL, page A37

THERMAL, from page A32

Snow, smoke, dust won’t impair sight

EMX’s imaging system does not add cumbersome equipment because it interfaces with existing panels and displays. PHOTO COURTESY OF CAPT. DAVID HARE

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A37FROM THE TECH FRONT

on Thunder took only four hours to complete.

The concerns of Thunder’s owner were three-fold: 1. Security at anchor, in port and while underway; 2. Man-overboard situation; and 3. Navigation.

With a thermal camera we can see an approaching person, car, aircraft or boat from more than 2 miles away. A human is clearly detectable at 1 mile. Radar assists in telling the crew that we have an incoming “something.” Thermal imaging can show us quickly how many are on the deck of that vessel, whether the vessel is wood, metal or fiberglass, and any weapons they may be holding (all depending on the heat emitted). With that information we can ascertain if they are friendly or of a nefarious intent.

In a man-overboard situation at night, nothing can assist like thermal imaging. To be able to locate a floating person in pure blackness is extraordinarily difficult. With thermal imaging they stand out even better than in daylight as there is no glare from the sun.

Using thermal imaging to navigate

at night is somewhere between unreal and unbelievable for the first couple of hours. We found floating logs to be easily recognizable on the monitor. Ground clutter makes it tough to locate navigation buoys and to pick out small fiberglass boats with radar alone. For example, going up the ICW at night, the unlighted markers just leap out at you on the Thermal Image Monitor.

Furuno and Raymarine have a seamless integration with EMX’s equipment that provides a slew-to-que functionality. That feature uses the radar’s track ball to click on an object on the radar screen, and then a signal pans the thermal camera to that object for viewing on the thermal monitor. You know in a second what is really going on with that unknown blip because you can actually see the vessel and her crew as clear as day.

It is beyond awesome to use this technology!

With the camera’s 360-degree continuous Azimuth rotation and 45 degree tilt, I can scan the sky and see birds flying well over a mile away, even at night. While docked at Sunrise Harbor Marina in Ft. Lauderdale one night, I looked out at Hugh Taylor Birch

State Park and noticed a large iguana walking along the breakwall more than half a mile away. He was as clear as day … at 2 a.m. on a moonless night.

This equipment has the potential for making our industry one heck of a lot safer, not only from a security standpoint but as a serious navigation aid as well.

A lot of high-tech equipment is scary for folks to master. Not so with EMX’s thermal system. Any crew member can handle this gear with a few minutes’

tutorial.For more information, visit www.

emx-inc.com or call EMX at 321-751-0111. Since the U.S. Navy, NASA, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard Search & Rescue all rely on this equipment for our security; it makes sense to put their military-grade components on our yachts, too.

Now we, too, can own the night.

Contact Capt. David Hare through editorial@the-triton.com.

THERMAL, from page A36

Chris Canter, left, is vice president of sales and completed the installation of EXM’s camera on Thunder with Chuck Stagg, a technician and installer for the Melbourne, Fla.-based company. PHOTO/CAPT. DAVID HARE

Man overboard at night?This might save his life

A38 February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton TECHNOLOGY BRIEFS

Ft. Lauderdale-based Lauderdale Propeller has signed an exclusive agreement with Platzer Marine Propulsion for distribution, service and authorized repairs of Hung Shen propellers in Florida and throughout the Caribbean for propellers up to 50 inches in diameter.

Formed in 1975, Hung Shen Propeller Company is based in Kaoshiung, Taiwan. It manufactures fixed pitch and controllable pitch

propellers to 16 feet tailored for pleasure craft, workboat, and military patrol boats. The product line consists of the New Vanguard propellers series (NVP), the new Silent Propeller (SP) series, or custom-ordered propellers.

The Vanguard series propellers feature four- or five-bladed designs in bronze or nibral alloys with flat-pressure faces, constant pitch, and skewed blades. This style of propeller provides customers a cost-effective

option while optimizing efficiencies with EARs (expanded blade area ratios)

The Silent Propeller series, available in four- or five-bladed designs, are NC machined to deliver the ultimate in precise manufacturing tolerances meeting ISO 484 class S specifications. The propellers are then finished with dynamic balancing and a thorough inspection. The Silent propellers feature a proprietary cambered foil section, variable pitch distribution and skewed blade tips. This style provides increased performance, smoothness, low noise/vibration (induced by cavitation) and maximum efficiency to improve fuel management.

Lauderdale Propeller will concentrate on requirements for megayachts, high performance sportfisherermen, as well as the displacement and semi-displacement yacht and commercial boat markets for new or replacement propellers.

For more information, contact Lauderdale Propeller at 1-800-329-7767 or through sales@lauderdaleprop.com.

Dometic adds custom lights

Dometic Marine has added a family of interior light systems, including spot lights, light bars and ceiling lights in 12-volt and 230-volt models.

The systems’ 230/12-volt high-performance converters are designed to work reliably even if devices with both voltages are operated at the same time.

Dometic lighting systems complement its international offerings for recreational vehicle, commercial vehicle and pleasure boat markets. The Dometic Marine product range now includes ventilators, air conditioners, inverters, coolers, refrigerators, cookers, ovens, lights, dishwashers and sinks, as well as sanitation systems.

EchoPilot products at West Marine

Electronics manufacturer EchoPilot announced in January that its forward-looking sonar (FLS) products are now available from West Marine.

The first EchoPilot FLS model was launched in 1992 and there are now thousands in use worldwide. The FLS displays a two-dimensional profile of the sea bed beneath and ahead of the vessel on a high resolution and daylight viewable LCD matrix. Digital depth

and shallow alarm setting are also displayed. The West Marine catalog and online store feature EchoPilot’s Gold, Silver and Bronze FLS units, and the EchoPilot Wreckfinder.

For info, visit www.echopilot.com.

Glendinning signs new distributorTo expand Pacific Northwest

coverage, Glendinning Marine Products has signed Seattle-based Fisheries Supply as its newest distributor.

Glendinning offers automatic engine synchronizers, Complete Control electronic transmission and throttle controls, and Glendinning Cablemasters and Hosemasters, which retract and store dockside water hoses and shorepower cables automatically.

Glendinning also offers high-quality engine and throttle control cables, and mechanical drive adapters and flexible cables for synchronizers and other tachometer applications.

In business since 1928, Fisheries Supply handles more than 500 lines of marine supplies. For more information, visit www.fisheriessupply.com or e-mail jrothermel@fisheriessupply.com.

SkyMate launches tracking system

Marine satellite communications systems provider SkyMate has introduced a low-cost system for fleet operation managers that displays up-to-the-minute vessel tracking, weather conditions and communications on a single computer screen.

Nobeltec’s Fleet Manager, powered by SkyMate, automatically downloads the latest positions of tracked vessels directly into Nobeltec’s Admiral navigation program. Current positions can be viewed at a glance, or the recent track of one or all tracked vessels can be displayed. Plus, with one click, e-mail can be sent directly to any vessel in the fleet.

“Fleet Manager reduces the cost, risk and anxiety associated with vessel tracking, weather routing and communicating with a large number of assets on the water, locally or around the globe,” said President John Tandler.

SkyMate systems are available from a network of 135 authorized dealers in the US, Canada and the Caribbean. For more information, visit www.skymate.com or call 703-636-4220.

Lauderdale Propeller signsexclusive Hung Shen deal

Both the Vanguard and the Silent Propeller series – made by the Hung Shen Propeller Company of Taiwan – are available in four- or five-bladed designs.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAUDERDALE PROPELLER

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A39PLANNED MAINTENANCE SYSTEMS

BMR-8516 The Triton LO6 • 4.92 X 8

At Bahia Mar’s full-service marina, pumps are fast, prices are competitive and slip access

is deep and easy. ValvTect® premium fuel and bulk rates available.

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BMR-8516 The Triton LO7 9/19/05 1:20 PM Page 1

By John Vergo

Planned maintenance is probably one of the most important aspects of owning or operating a yacht of any size yet, oddly enough, it is the one area that is not enforced, except, of course, in ISM-compliant yachts.

A yacht of any size is, in effect, one big machine in that a whole lot of smaller things go into making this floating work of art function safely at all times. If any one of these items goes wrong, such as an air conditioning circulating pump, a tender engine or even a blackwater pump, it seriously will disrupt an expensive charter or owner’s trip. If safety equipment is not checked and drills carried out on a regular basis then, well, things can and do go seriously wrong.

An effective planned maintenance program is fairly easy to put together yet surprisingly there are not that many yachts that have one. Unless an engineer has a military or commercial background, it is unlikely he or she will know how to compile a decent one.

Granted, certain sea schools emphasize that having a planned maintenance system (PMS) is important, but they don’t seem to tell their students how to construct one. There are several software programs on the market but in my experience they are all too complicated and consequently they seem to get forgotten or used incorrectly.

Shop-bought software usually only informs when a particular service has to be carried out but not how. Couple this with lost manuals and you have an engineer scrambling for what type of oil or grease to use in a particular system.

The perfect PMS is easy to use and will carry on from engineer to engineer. In essence, it will be a complete history of the vessel since conception.

Simply creating a defects log for the engineering side and the deck would go a long way to helping smooth out problems. A log that informs what is wrong with a certain system and what was done to fix it would be adequate. Add concise instructions on how to service a particular piece of equipment (including photos), and a simple calendar noting when it next should be looked at and you have a good PMS.

Generally, engineers stay on a yacht a relatively short amount of time compared with captains or chefs. They often are on a mission to gain sea time on a particular size and to improve licenses, then they want a larger boat with more money and their own cabin. One cannot blame them. Most take pride in their work but there are a few who would rather pick up the Yellow Pages than try a repair themselves.

These will be whittled out in time.It is very common that things have

to be fixed in a hurry or guests need tending to, but taking an hour a day to inspect or functionally check a system or item of equipment goes a long way to making a vessel work more efficiently and lessens the chances of something going terribly wrong.

It is the skipper’s responsibility to check up on the engineer and mate as to how they are looking after his command. The engineer should check all mechanical systems on a regular basis, and the mate should carry out all the checks on the safety equipment and ensure that all is well on deck.

I have been creating servicing schedules based on a Royal Naval aircraft system for some time and I instill on the captain that he must take half an hour a week to meet officers, look at their books and find out what went wrong that week, what they did to fix it and what major items of equipment require servicing so he can organize down time and expenditures. Once done, he can then devote his time to running the rest of the yacht and to keeping the boss happy.

In the end, the person who owns the yacht has to foot the bill for bad maintenance and lost charters. This downtime and expense can be limited with a planned maintenance system.

John Vergo spent 18 years in the megayacht industry, including two years as fleet manager for Camper & Nicholsons. He now runs SuperYacht Support, which creates custom planned maintenance systems for yachts. Contact him at 954-661-3749 or visit www.superyachtsupport.com.

Planned maintenance:how to get in the game

CRUISING GROUNDSA40 February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton

A full accounting and tax service available to expatriates, comprising the following:

• All accounting work and payroll tax filings for U.S. corporations.

• Corporation and personal income tax returns.

• Due diligence work relating to business purchases.

• Advise on international tax issues.• Non-resident aliens working in the USA.• Foreign bank accounts.

This information was provided by A1JLT Yacht Agency Croatia.

Last year, the government stopped looking at the type of registry the yacht had and gave some clearer guidelines.

The Croatian Ministry has decided to protect nautical tourism in Croatia from underground economy and so-called ‘’black charter’’ by forbidding commercial activity to foreign yachts.

Consequently, there have been maritime law changes concerning the arrival and stay of foreign yachts.

Please note the conditions given by Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development under which a foreign yacht can embark and disembark passengers in Croatia:

1) crew and the passengers who have sailed into Croatia from abroad can be disembarked in Croatia;

2) crew and the passengers embarked in Croatia must leave Croatia after their cruise, and disembark abroad; and

3) crew and the passengers embarked in Croatia can disembark there as well, but they have to visit a place abroad during their cruise.

As soon as a foreign yacht sails into Croatian waters, the captain must use the shortest way to enter the closest port open to international traffic for the purpose of clearing the Immigration Office Control and obtaining a vignette from a Harbor Master’s Office or from a branch office.

For yachts coming from the north, the nearest ports to clear in are Porec or Rovinj. Those from the South can clear in at Cavtat or Dubrovnik.

As for the number of passengers who can be embarked and disembarked in Croatia, the conditions are as follows:

A pleasure yacht can embark or disembark passengers to double its capacity from the one stated in the Certificate of Registry. If the owner is on board, capacity increases by 30 percent. For example, if registered capacity is 12, double is 24. Thirty percent of 12 (the registered capacity) is four, so when the owner is on board, you can embark 28 passengers.

These passengers must be put on the list, which has to be submitted upon arrival in Croatia. Those on the list can embark and disembark as many times as they want, anywhere in Croatia. However, if you want to embark more passengers than double capacity allows, passengers must be embarked abroad and disembarked in any Croatian port. The yacht must go abroad every time it wants to embark new guests.

Please note that the two options cannot be combined. You choose either one or the other.

For more information, contact A1JLT in Croatia at +385.98.233.518, by e-mail at a1jlt@a1jlt.com or visit www.a1jlt.hr.

Croatia changes some laws for visiting foreign yachts

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A42 February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton WRITE TO BE HEARD

In response to your article of January 2006 [page B1], “Don’t burn your bridges when leaving jobs” it could be interpreted as a very biased, one-sided opinion.

In order for the employee/employer relationship to end amicably and to continue thereafter, it is not only up to how the employee handles the transition from one job to another, but from firsthand experience, it is also largely influenced by the employer, in this case the captain.

The article expresses points with which employees should refer when resigning from a job, which are, theoretically, very good guidelines, e.g. resign tactfully, talk to the captain and give sufficient notice.

But what happens when an employer burns that bridge for you? Consider a long-term, loyal and hard-working employee who conducts, meets and excels these criteria but concludes with an unethical response, an unrepresentative and unfair reference, or similar unjust treatment? Nothing. A bitter taste in the mouth most certainly, and feeling cheated out of what was fairly deserved.

But we have to move on and swallow our pride. Surely there are guidelines on how employers should conduct themselves; they are the manager after all.

To quote the article, “When it’s time to move on, it’s important to be professional and not burn bridges.” In this case and probably many more, going “by the book” as such hasn’t done the employee any favors. And that

brings us to ask, “Where do we stand and what can we as crew do?” After all, it is our future and reputation at risk. Again, nothing.

Nobody ever questions the captain. Crew is akin to a piece of flotsam at the mercy of the sea, having no control or power over its destiny. We are at the mercy of the system. There is no consequence for a captain acting unprofessionally, is there? But ultimately, at the end of the day, it is not the employer who needs to nurture any bridges, is it?

This is certainly not advocating unprofessional behavior when leaving a job, but surely, it is not only the employee’s responsibility to act professionally. This is a relationship after all, and a relationship involves two people, and that involves the captain, too.

It is certainly disheartening when incidences like these happen, but hopefully this applies to the minority of un-professionals in the industry, both crew and captains, and not the majority.

J.S.Freelance stewardess

Don’t burn bridges when leaving a job?Some captains don’t make it easy to do

‘This is certainly not advocating unprofessional behavior when leaving a job, but surely, it is not only the employee’s responsibility to act professionally. This is a relationship after all, and a relationship involves two people, and that involves the captain, too. ‘

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 A43

PublisherDavid Reed, david@the-triton.com

EditorLucy Chabot Reed, lucy@the-triton.com

Business Manager/CirculationPeg Soffen, peg@the-triton.com

Administrative AssistantSamantha Smith, sam@the-triton.com

Graphic DesignerChristine Abbott, sales@the-triton.com

Abbott Designs

DistributionRoss Adler, zakad68@aol.com

National Distribution Solutions

Contributing EditorLawrence Hollyfield

ContributorsSharon Bahmer, Carol Bareuther, Lachlan Benson,

Mark A. Cline, John Freeman, Capt. Erik H. Goodwin, Don Grimme, Capt. David Hare, Jack Horkheimer, Bonny Johnson, Chef Mary Beth Lawton Johnson,

Lisa H. Knapp, Mac McEachern, Donna Mergenhagen, Steve Pica, Rossmare Intl., Jim Ruch, James Schot,

Pat Teodosio, Rick Thomas, John Vergo, Maya White, Capt. John Wampler

Vol. 2, No. 11. The Triton is a free, monthly newspaper owned by Triton Publishing Group Inc. Copyright 2005 Triton Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.

Contact us at:Mailing address: 757 S.E. 17th St., #1119

Visit us at: 2301A S. Andrews Ave.Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316

(954) 525-0029; FAX (954) 525-9676www.the-triton.com

WRITE TO BE HEARD

If you’re a captain and you’re looking for a marina or some other yacht service anywhere in the world, there are a million service directories out there.

Get ready for a million and one. But this will be the one done right.

The Triton is preparing to launch www.TheCaptainsMate.com. The Web site, designed to give captains and crew listings of yards and marinas, will be an online regional resource. Online is the key.

The idea for the online guide was born from the fact that if you’re on a boat and you need to find a dock somewhere at a location outside your most familiar zones, you’ll probably open a print directory that is stale, something a year old. You’ll turn up a marina whose phone number has changed or another that has closed.

With the extensive listings on www.thecaptainsmate.com, you’ll be able to search for a marina in Boston, for example, and find the major and minor players, even if can’t remember the business name exactly. Users will be able to include search parameters, so if the vessel is 140 feet, it will narrow results to marinas that can accommodate yachts of that length.

This information will not be limited to yards and marinas, but will include businesses that want to be involved with the yachting industry.

The site will be advertiser- and list-supported (essentially a white pages and a yellow pages combined), so there will be no fees for users.

The Web site will have a print brother: Over the next three years, The Triton will launch regional print guides that will be pared-down versions of the site intended for use over a few months and then discarded.

As we launch the first editions of this this directory in the coming months, let us know what works and what needs help so we can make The Captain’s Mate a successful online and print resource for the yachting community. Visit www.thecaptainsmate.com to be contacted for testing or for premier listings.

I have started working at Walt Disney World at Epcot, crewing on a boat from Epcot to the other resort hotels and to MGM.

It pays less than the new, New York state minimum wage, but I have never met a more enthusiastic group of people. I met about 15 other boat captains and they all seem to very much enjoy what they are doing.

One of the fascinating aspects of Disney World is that they do not discriminate against anyone. They hire people over 70, the handicapped in wheelchairs, and everyone else. There are costumes for folks with 60-inch

waists. The two gals who gave my original

orientation – one legally blind – started with the firm at 18 while in school and are still at it, having raised their families. Their presentation was breathtakingly articulate and astonishingly positive.

Who needs a 70-year-old yacht captain? Disney does. Old captains never die; they just start loving cheese.

Capt. Bill Harris

An excuse to visit Bimini SandsI have just returned from a 17-

day contract skippering a 64 Grand Alaskan in the Bahamas.

Of interesting note: The cost of diesel was between $3.46 at Bimini, $3.56 at Staniel Cay and $3.10 at Hurricane Hole.

No diesel was available at Bimini Big Game Club and, according to Robbie, they have not had diesel now for over a month. The other marina on North Bimini that pumps diesel is Bimini Blue Water. Their pumps are inoperable.

Fret not. Here is your opportunity to pull into Bimini Sands on South Bimini to fuel up. It has been open for 10 years, and this was the first time for me. Water was 10 cents a gallon instead of 45 at Big Game, and dockage was $1.10 a foot. Electricity is flat rated at $10 a day. It’s a really nice full-service facility.

Also of note: Dredging operations are currently in effect for the channel into Bimini. Remember the day signals: diamonds good, balls bad.

And lobster season is still open, and they are plentiful.

Also, we have lost a long-time good friend at Bimini Big Game Club. Don, the dockmaster for as long as I can remember, was one of the passengers on the ill-fated Chalk’s aircraft that went down in Miami. [See story in January issue of The Triton, page A6.] I know that he was fast-tracked to heaven because Don was one of the nicest guys I have ever met.

Go in peace Don, and save some heavenly bonefishing for me.

Capt. John Wampler

Coming soon: a helpful mate

AnAlysis

DaviD ReeD

Who needs 70-year-old captains? Disney does

You have a ‘write’ to be heard. Send us your thoughts on anything

that bothers you. Write to us at editorial@

the-triton.com

W hen a crew member dies, it’s like a member of a family dies.

Whether that crew member was like a favorite uncle, a lover or a pain-in-the-neck little brother, the death hurts. Owners may be ready for their trip the next day but the crew are left to pick up the pieces, say good-bye to their friend and colleague, handle their grief, and get back to work.

Not an easy task.The yachting industry has lost more than a few

well-known crew members in the past few months. Hearing the news – either immediately or even months later – can take its toll on the crew left behind. And grieving can take many forms, from denial and anger to grief and sorrow.

“The big thing to remember is that everyone processes grief differently,” says Sheryl Grimme, a mental health counselor and co-owner of GHR Training Solutions in Coral Springs, Fla., Her partner, Don Grimme, writes a regular management column for The Triton.

A grieving crew member might feel depressed or sad, anxious or nervous, confused, lethargic, irritable or even angry.

“In general, [crews can] expect an increase in hypersensitivity, such as unusually strong or puzzling reactions to little things,” Grimme said.

The recognizable stages of grief are:1. Shock. Feelings here include numbness, confusion

and disorientation. This is what people feel upon first hearing the news of a co-worker’s death.

2. Anger. This can come from not understanding why the accident or circumstances had to occur (outward emotion) to feeling some responsibility or guilt at not having been able to stop or prevent the accident or circumstance (inward emotion). People in this stage can also express depression, sadness and fear.

3. Rejection. This stage includes denial, especially the denial of the emotional impact that the loss of this person has on your own life.

4. Acceptance. Most will accept the death, feel the sadness and mourn. Some will accept the fact negatively as “hopeless acceptance” or resignation.

5. Hope. Once the person’s death is accepted, most will move on with their own lives, carrying memories

with them.“Most people go through those stages, but not

necessarily in that order,” Grimme said. “Depending on how close they were [to the person who died], it can take a year or more to go through the process.”

Grimme was hesitant to say how quickly people can move through the stages because supervisors might grow impatient with crew who need more time than others.

“Everyone grieves differently,” she said. “There are some who will never get over it because what it brings up for them is their own mortality.”

For those crew members, outside help in the form of a support group or grief counseling might be necessary. While she advised against an untrained person attempting to provide such counseling, Grimme did say that most captains or senior officers should be able to do the most important thing: be patient and listen.

Most people just need to talk about the person who died, remember them, grieve together and let go, she said. If that’s the situation, a captain or first officer might invite everyone to sit down together and open the conversation by simply asking how everyone is handling the news of the death.

“Ask what it’s been like for them,” Grimme said. “It’s better to bring it out in the open. Just respect what these people are going through. A death brings up a lot of stuff that they might not have had to deal with before.”

Then simply saying that it’s OK to be sad and to miss that person may be all that most people need to move on.

“Once you give them permission, it passes quicker,” Grimme said. “So give them permission to have their feelings.”

Contact Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com.

EarningYourStripesCAREER NEWS FOR CAPTAINS & CREWS

Crew needs time to get over a colleague’s deathBy Lucy Chabot Reed

The Triton February 2006

Free ClassifiedsCheck them out,

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All the stars were in line for Ami Williams’ new business model the day a charter client told her of a failed charter.

“They had taken this yacht before and remembered the chief stew,” said Williams, owner of the Ft. Lauderdale crew placement agency Crew Unlimited. “Well, that was three years before and the chief stew had moved on. They wanted that chief stew.”

This high-profile yacht books for several hundred thousand dollars a week, so the chance of losing this booking was an expensive option. The other option – and the genesis of Williams’ new business – was to find that chief stew and get her onboard.

This month, Crew Unlimited launches CU Yacht Charters, a charter booking agency that links Crew Unlimited’s large crew database with its yacht database. Doing so will enable any charter client to find a certain chef, captain or other

crew member that made their previous trip so memorable.“We know that crew are what owners come back for,”

Williams said. More than two years in the design stage, CU Yacht

Charters’ new Web site was under testing in late January and expected to launch in early February. (CU Yacht Charters is one of the sponsors of the Feb. 8 Galapagos night and open house on Animal House.)

Williams, long-time owner of Crew Unlimited, said the new division should increase her company’s market presence and give it more contact with captains, crew and owners.

“We could eventually go into management from here, though we’re not thinking about that now,” she said. “Our immediate goal it to book charters and be a central agent.”

The database is available to other charter agencies for a small fee, Williams said. – Lucy Chabot Reed

Yacht chefs Jim Ruch and Kenneth Johnson have created Guild Multimedia, a new business that incorporates food, video, demonstration, education and entertainment.

Central to Guild Multimedia is a new high-performance chef table. It sports a 23-inch cinema display and Bose stereo sound system for slideshows and music to accompany cooking demos.

Under the hood, a 5 kw Wells ceramic two-burner cook top and a 4-inch-thick x 24-inch round custom James Boos cutting block (64 pounds and built by the met at Kraft Marine) complete the work area. Lincoln Centurion commercial stainless cookware is featured exclusively. The chefs and their table are available for cooking classes and catering

entertainment. Ruch and Johnson have also opened

a studio in Ft. Lauderdale in January where they produce high-resolution videos of recipes, cooking demos and cooking DVDs. Ruch launched his first cooking DVD last fall: Volume 1 in the One Pan Wonder series.

He plans to create a database of video recipes that can be downloaded

from digital distributors such as iTunes Music Store.

Johnson’s work is geared toward a more television- and broadcast-oriented medium.

For more information on making videos, visit www.onepanwonder.com or www.chefken.com.

– Lucy Chabot Reed

Charter booking agency links crew, yachts

Chefs uniteto offer videocooking tips

Yacht chefs JimRuch (left) andKenJohnsonseekchefs interestedin producingf o o d - r e l a t e dDVD and videofortheWeb.PHOTO COURTESY OF

GUILD MULTIMEDIA

B� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The TritonLICENSING AGENCY NEWS

By Lucy Chabot Reed

Chief examiners from the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency were in Ft. Lauderdale in January, giving oral exams to about a half dozen students and auditing the area’s two main schools.

In a sit-down with The Triton at the end of their trip, Paul Fairbrother and Capt. D.L. Pereira said they see plenty of growth and professionalism in the U.S. maritime training system, including the industry’s desire to want to hire people already qualified before stepping foot on a yacht. That increased standard is causing an increase in participation in the STCW-95 certification and other entry-level courses, he noted.

Fairbrother has taken over as head of the MCA’s Code Vessel Safety Branch, a position long held by Claude Hamilton.

Hamilton has taken a leave from the agency to recuperate from hip surgery, said Fairbrother, previously the MCA’s deputy chief examiner and an examiner of engineers.

One of his first tasks will be rewriting Marine Guidance Note (MGN) 156, which includes details on certificates of competency for engineers on commercial and private yachts and training vessels.

“We’re taking out the parts that don’t make sense and rewriting the whole legislation,” Fairbrother said. This summer and fall, the syllabuses for engineers were expanded and revised to let crew members know what topics will be taught and tested, he said.

“We’ve always engaged the industry, listening to that their needs are,” he said. “We now understand their needs far more, and they understand a bit better our need to monitor safety.”

One example is the changes the MCA made recently to the requirements for a second engineer’s

credentials. On the commercial, merchant side, crew entering that position need to complete three months of coursework. But about 2-and-a-half years ago, the MCA loosened its standard for second engineers to give crew members stepping into that position the opportunity to learn on the job.

Now, the training can come in one-week intervals.

“Our system recognizes what people have done before and doesn’t make them do something twice,” he said. “We’re here to help them get certified, not get them decertified.”

Fairbrother emphasized the point that any mariner can obtain an MCA license, as long as they pass the physical. (Color blindness doesn’t rule out engineers, although captains still must be able to decipher green from red, he said.)

About 25,000 mariners hold MCA licenses, including merchant navy, and are serviced by a staff of 40 MCA employees.

The MCA’s Large Yacht Code is the world’s only such set of written standards specifically applicable to megayachts. Fairbrother is meeting with Spain this month and Pereira is meeting with folks in France to discuss recognizing their certifications.

Contact Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com.

MCA examiners laudU.S. professionalism

Change at the topChiefExecutiveStephen

BlighwasscheduledtoresignattheendofJanuary.HispostwillbetemporarilyfilledbyJohnAstburyuntilanewchiefexecutiveisfound.

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 B�

Answers to puzzles on page B20

Calm

Stormy

THE AFTERLIFE: LIFE AFTER YACHTING

By Lisa H. Knapp

Mike Perkins says he never took a job for money. The yachting jobs he chose interested him, contributing to a 17-year career at sea.

“I would have done it all for nothing,” said Perkins, a megayacht captain from 1970-87.

Perkins is a veteran of 23 trans-Atlantic crossings and four Pacific. He called his first 10 years running yachts “great,” but then he began thinking what he might do when he eventually left his last boat, M/Y Daphne Girl.

“Back then, the most a skipper might make was $80,000 a year,” he said.

While salaries have changed a lot in the 20 years since he got out, Perkins noted that the process of coming ashore hasn’t changed much.

“You’ve got to marshal your resources while making it [money] and

sock it away.” When he retired, he bought a bar. “It was the only thing I was qualified

to do,” he quipped, noting that he had sat on the other side of the bar long enough. He ran Player’s Pub in Kendall, west of Miami, for almost three years. Kendall was actually a strategically chosen location.

“If I’d have opened a bar on 17th Street, everyone would have been freeloading,” he laughed.

In 2000, he joined Quantum Marine Engineering as its vice president of business development. He gets

stabilizers to market, tests models, and travels extensively. It’s a job he says he enjoys, and it meshes with his personality.

“It’s not very structured,” he said. “We’re just a group of guys who work real hard at what we do.”

Big business has a different attitude than yachting, where you’re master of your own domain, he said.

“The market is cluttered with consultants and project managers,” he said. “The industry is so competitive now. It’s difficult to find a job that’s equivalent on a comparative level as a

captain.”Networking has been productive for

Perkins. Most of his customers today used to sail with him in the 1970s and 80s as deckhands or delivery crew.

“Frankly, it’s astonishing that they’re still alive.”

His has two bits of advice for crew members considering leaving yachts: Be prepared for a shock in every way, especially in pay, and “focus on what you do best.”

Contact freelance writer Lisa H. Knapp at lisa@the-triton.com.

Network and net worth: Make friends, save money

Perkins

B� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The TritonIN THE GALLEY

Yacht chefs might just want to attend Chocotober in Jakarta, Indonesia. That is, if you love chocolate and want to do more with it.

At last year’s show, a model strutted down the aisle in a beautiful, tawny-brown cape with brilliant golden dragons embellishing the lapels, looking sexy and – I am sure, for some attendees – delicious.

Beneath the coat she wore a lacy

bustier, intricately designed. The skirt was a lighter shade of the brown cape, imparting the dazzling effect that she was enrobed in haute couture.

Then, to the stunned amazement of the crowd, she hopped on a motorcycle that was as flashy as her outfit, complete with a light tan leather-looking seat, flashy handlebars and enough chrome to make even the most hard-core biker envious.

It was all made of chocolate. No joke. There were also bras, Barbie dolls, sculpture look-alikes of people, castles and globes all made of chocolate. This was the Tulip Chocolate Expo in Jakarta, featuring chocolate that rivaled Europe’s best. It was amazing, to say the least.

For 2007, this event will again be held in Jakarta in October, this time called Chocotober and featuring Indonesian chocolate, which we really have overlooked in years past. Indonesia’s chocolate industry is second to none and is gaining notoriety every year with such innovative and modern approaches to using the confection. Go to www.asiacuisine.com and look for links for next year’s festivities.

The event has gotten so much notice that the French are actually setting up shops in Indonesia to garner their full share of the market. For chocolate from the region, contact Elvira Koto at elvi@nirwanalestari.com for EasiMelt products.

Just think; we were excited about renting the plain chocolate fountains just this past year! Chocolate has come full circle today, each time re-inventing the wheel and the ideas of how to make the best use of it.

Chocolate is more than a consuming edible passion for some. The works of art derived from a simple object is getting more outlandish and inspirational every year. For me, working with chocolate is working with a blank canvas. You never know what you might invent or the works of art you can create. You are only limited by

your imagination.This year and in the years to come

we will see chocolate paired with fresh herbs, cheese and vegetables, such as chocolate and goat cheese or chocolate and lavender as well as chocolate and rosemary or ginger. The chefs truly inspired by using their imaginations are using chocolate in more savory applications than in the previous sweet applications.

There are many types of chocolate available but to make it easier on the wallet and on trying to figure out the best chocolate to use, I am limiting this column to couveture.

As the name implies, couveture means covering, and it is the only chocolate I use for my decorations, enrobing and centerpieces as well as desserts and sauces. Use a top-quality couveture that has 50 percent or better cocoa solids in it.

A fine premium Swiss couveture is reliable and good for all needs when making cakes, mousses, sauces and cream products. It tempers well, sets up easily and you should look for a glossy appearance, no blooming or discoloration (which suggests that the cocoa butter solids has diminished) and it should have a rich taste in your mouth that melts easily without a shortening aftertaste.

It comes in bittersweet, dark, ruby, garnet, semi-sweet and white with different variations of cocoa butter content. The higher the cocoa solids, the better it is. The bitter chocolate is the best to use as you do not have to adjust the recipe for sugar as you do when using semi-sweet couveture. A good quality Swiss couveture will have a bitter, non-acidic flavor.

Temperature control is keyIt is extremely important when

working with chocolate to pay attention to the temperature. Invest in a good candy/chocolate thermometer. Begin by chipping or chopping the couveture chocolate or use the pistoles, small round portions of chocolate available from reputable suppliers such as Qzina. Slowly melt it in a double boiler (pan set over a pan of simmering, not boiling water) and the temperature of the dark, or semi-sweet chocolate when it is melting should be around 105-120 F. Do not exceed 120 degrees F.

White chocolate’s melting point for tempering is 100-113 F. If you heat it too fast, the chocolate can burn or scorch the bottom of the pan and you have to start over.

Melting chocolate should take 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the temperature of the simmering water.

Chocolate truly has becomeEighth Wonder of the World

See WAVES, page B9

Culinary Waves

Mary Beth Lawton Johnson

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 B�

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B� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The TritonIN THE GALLEY: RECIPE

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FREIGHT

All of these products I obtained from Albert Uster imports but Qzina Foods in Pompano Beach, Fla., has some absolutely wonderful chocolate products to work with. These are tedious to make, but well worth the effort. Certainly, a work of art.

Music Boxes12 oz. Espirit Des Alpes

Brocade 55 % Dark Couveture

Cubes or Espirit Des Alpes Velvet 47

% Dark Couveture Cubes3 pc. Bombasei Mikado

Transfer Sheets or sheets of choice. I used the musical notes theme.

Temper chocolate over a heat source using a direct warming method. Don’t exceed chocolate tempering temperatures of 88 degrees F.

Spread tempered chocolate onto a 12-by-16 transfer sheet with printed side facing up. Let it set.

Cut desired number of 3-by-3 squares for number of desserts needed. One square of transfer sheet should produce 20 squares of chocolate, plus you will have 2 squares left over for emergency repairs if needed. Each chocolate box requires 6 squares.

Once cut into squares, glue the boxes together using any leftover melted, tempered chocolate. (If you have a lot of chocolate left over, use another transfer sheet for designs.)

Glue the top on and hold in place with a prop such as a toothpick. (I have my top at an angle.)

Pipe chocolate mousse inside.

Chocolate Mousse

5 oz Zurimix Dark Chocolate Mousse Base

5 oz water5 oz heavy cream

Combine the mousse base with the water and mix on

high in an electric mixer for five minutes.

Using another mixer, whip the cream until soft peaks form.

Fold the cream into the mousse base and place in a piping bag.

Pipe into boxes.

Pulled Sugar BowsIf you have never worked

with hot sugar, be very careful as this will definitely burn you.

35 oz. Venuance Pearls Yellow Color

4 oz. water

Combine both ingredients and boil to 340 degrees F. Watch your candy thermometer carefully.

Pour onto a silpat mat and when able to touch it, pull into a long ribbon that you will wrap around the sides of the box.

Now pull the bows and glue to long ribbon on the box using a method of heat such as a lighter or burner intended to work with sugar.

Repeat this process for each box and drizzle with purchased caramel sauce or make your own if desired.

Chocolate Music Box with Pulled Sugar Bows and Chocolate Mousse and Caramel Sauce

Alotofworkcanproduceaworkofart.PHOTO COURTESY OF MARY BETH LAWSON JOHNSON

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 B�IN THE GALLEY

Stir often to prevent it from burning and to keep the fats and solids from separating, which could end in a bloom (a grey or white appearance) on the finished product.

Don’t let the water boil, and don’t let the water get into the chocolate. If water gets into the chocolate, it will seize. If this happens, start over, but the chocolate can be used for other purposes such as baking.

Basically, the idea of tempering chocolate is learning a technique by which pure chocolate is stabilized through a carefully controlled melting and cooling processes.

This allows the cocoa butter molecules to solidify and for the chocolate to harden properly.

This involves bringing it to a melting point, reducing the temperature, then bringing it back up to a specific holding point. This aligns the cocoa butter content and its molecules so that it can be used in an infinite array of finished products such as my chocolate box.

Other ways to use the chocolate are for decorations such as a transfer sheet application, candy and for molding and dipping.

There are a lot of possibilities. I recommend any of these methods to temper:

* Direct seeding method: This method requires you to add more chocolate – about a quarter of the amount you started with – to the already-melted chocolate. This brings the temperature down.

Now you must bring the temperature back up to a holding point. You should have tempered chocolate after this point. This is the easiest way to temper chocolate.

* Tabling method: This method is harder than it looks on the Food Network. This involves pouring the melted chocolate on a marble slab and using two flat scrapers to move the chocolate back and forth to cool it. This takes practice so I don’t suggest it for a first timer.

* Cold-water bath method: With this method, you run the risk of getting water in the chocolate. To temper chocolate under this method, set the pan of melted chocolate over a pan of ice water. Stir until the chocolate starts to solidify, then reheat to the appropriate temperature.

Some chefs use the microwave, but I don’t suggest this as it could alter the taste of the chocolate. I find that the heat is too unstable. Microwaves can burn the center while the outside is only melted. Only if using tiny amounts is it considered safe.

Once you have tempered chocolate, pour a little out onto an acetate sheet, (basically a transfer sheet for chocolate, also available from Qzina). Let it harden.

Does it snap cleanly? Does it have a shiny appearance? Does it have an even appearance? If so, you have just tempered chocolate.

The temperature guidelines for tempering are:

White Chocolate: Initial melting temperature: 100-113F; cooling temperature: 76-79 F; reheating and holding temperature: 86-88 F.

Dark, Semi-Sweet, Milk Chocolate: Initial melting temperature: 105-120 F; cooling temperature: 74-78 F; reheating and holding temperature: 88-90 F.

Where to buy

Qzina Foods in South Florida offers an extensive line of the finest chocolates available as well as decorative pieces if you are short on time to make them. The catalog

includes even sugar-free chocolate as well as instant mousses, transfer sheets, and cake products that rival any on the market (954-590-4000, www.qzina.com). My contact’s name is Jodi. Qzina also offers a chocolate school as well, so be sure to call for dates.

I suggest contacting Albert Uster in Gaithersburg, Md., and getting a catalog of products that offer

the ingredients found in my recipe, or go to www.auiswiss.com.

L’Academie de Cuisine is located in Gaithersburg and offers an eight-month pastry arts program. Go to www.lacademie.com. Also, Des Alpes University, also in Gaithersburg, offers chocolate classes. Contact them at info@auiswiss.com or by calling 1-800-231-8154.

Ewald Notter is perhaps the most well-known sugar and chocolate artist in the world. He stopped competing but he is known for basically putting sugar and chocolate on the map. His school in Orlando, Fla., features some of the world’s finest chefs who teach

either a one-day or week-long class. You can also find him there when not on the road doing lectures, judging competitions and seminars. Go to www.notterschool.com for dates and times.

If you know of other schools we should include in another article, let me know. And if you have any great chocolate recipes, I’d love to see them.

Mary Beth Lawton Johnson is a certified executive pastry chef and Chef de Cuisine. A professional yacht chef since

1991, she has been chef aboard M/Y Rebecca since 1999. Visit her Web site at www.themegayachtchef.com or contact her through editorial@the-triton.com.

WAVES, from page B6

There are several ways to temper chocolateEvents for 2006

WorldPastryForumisbeingheldJuly2-6attheJ.W.MarriotDessertRidgeandSpa.E-mailinfo@worldpastryforum.comformoreinformation.

Somechefsusethemicrowavetotemperchocolate,butIdon’tsuggestthisasitcouldalterthetasteofthechocolate.Ifindthattheheatistoounstable.Microwavescanburnthecenterwhiletheoutsideisonlymelted.Onlyifusingtinyamountsisitconsideredsafe.

B10 February 2006 www.the-triton.com The TritonFITNESS

Last month we spoke of making a plan for our new body. We will use visualization and breathing. We will

not only work at looking better externally, but feeling better emotionally. We’ll work the mind, body and soul.

Make sure to stretch before starting a workout. By doing this properly, you will begin to heat the

core of the body and this will help prevent pulled muscles. When you are warmed up, go into the first set of jumping jacks.

I have been working with clients using 1-pound hand-wrapped weights to do jumping jacks. This not only enhances the work we are doing with the inflatable ball and dumbbells, it gives us another opportunity to do a completely different workout.

After your set of jumping jacks, start your workout with dumbbell curls. Do them for about 2 minutes and go directly to 1 minute of jumping jacks. Go back to the hand weights and do hammer curls.

While doing resistance exercises with weights, concentrate on keeping the muscle contracted. If you do, you’ll see more results faster.

After hammer curls, go to jumping jacks. Concentrate on your rhythm. Don’t go too fast and push yourself for the minute. And concentrate on keeping your upper body contracted to realize the maximum efficiency from this exercise.

To stay contracted you must think about where the muscle is. This is where visualization comes in handy. Visualize every muscle you are using. Create a picture in your mind of your upper body and start to contract your chest, shoulders, arms and back, all while doing the jumping jacks.

You’ll know you are doing it if you realize you cannot talk or daydream while you are exercising.

People in yachting do serious things like go across the ocean in a piece of equipment. You spend a lot of time on it to keep it in prime operating condition.

I will stress this a great deal this year: We must do the same for ourselves. Allow yourself 30 minutes a day to keep your physical and mental well-being in the best possible condition.

Pat Teodosio has been in the fitness industry for 30 years and owned Southport Gym in Ft. Lauderdale for 13 years. He now owns Go Figure, a 30-minute workout studio on 17th Street. Contact him through editorial@the-triton.com.

Treat your body with30 minutes’ play a day

When doing your weight work, concentrate on keeping the musclecontractedtogetmaximumbenefit. PHOTO COURTESY OF PAT TEODOSIO

Go FiGure

Pat teodosio

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 B11NUTRITION

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The sensuousness of the sun, sand and sea creates the mood for love 365 days a year in the Caribbean. But like many areas of the world, Feb. 14

– Valentine’s Day – is an extra special occasion, and an opportunity to pull out the sea moss along with a few other culinary cupids of the Caribbean just for good measure.

Sea moss, or Irish Moss, is a marine plant that

grows in profusion along the shorelines of islands in the southern Caribbean. The plant is fan shaped, with finger-like prongs. It becomes translucent when first harvested, and creamy white when mixed with evaporated milk, vanilla and sugar into an invigorating drink. Island men covet this brew as their own special form of Viagra.

From the sea, too, come other aphrodisiacs such as sea eggs and oysters. Sea eggs are the roe of the white sea urchin, which is found in the relatively shallow waters that surround the islands. Entering through this spiny shell offers the enticing reward of a mound of soft, slightly salty tasting eggs. Sea eggs found on Caribbean restaurant menus are often cooked and flavored with other ingredients, but their virile powers are best when sucked down raw right from their shell.

The same raw recipe stands true for the aphrodisiac powers of oysters. Global food historians say Casanova ate 50 raw oysters every morning in the bathtub with the lady he fancied. Island men often do Casanova one better, for the mangrove-tree oyster of the Caribbean is a scant two inches long. It takes a great many to satisfy one appetite and spark another.

Caribbean islanders lead a spicy life, thanks to the trinity of celery, onion and garlic. This mixture is what gives most soups, stews and entrees their exotic, erotic taste. Long celery stalks, by virtue of their shape, elicit thoughts of love. But islanders will tell you that it’s celery seed that is even more vitalizing, especially when crushed and added to a flavorful dish.

Onions take their passionate potency from their pungent fire. An old West Indian wives’ tale warns (or wishes) that men who make a paste of onion juice and honey and apply it repeatedly to an unwilling member may wind up having that recalcitrant fellow standing at attention for days.

Garlic’s aphrodisiacal effect is rooted in its power to produce a wonderful

feeling of well-being after a meal. The tomato is also found in many Creole Caribbean dishes. Its red, heart shape has earned it the name “love apple.”

Some of the Caribbean’s Garden of Eden fruits speak of love from their obvious, almost embarrassing resemblance to those two anatomical founts of joy. Bananas and plantains mimic the male member. Avocados, once cut in half, look like the gentler sex. Cocoa pods are also female in their appearance. Long ago in the Mexican Caribbean, the Aztec chief Montezuma is said to have consumed more than 50 cups a day of a cocoa drink made from crushed cocoa, chili peppers and snow. Perhaps it was the caffeine buzz that hotly aroused him for the village women folk.

The bark of a tree called Bois Bandé is a mighty aphrodisiac, especially when placed in a bottle of rum and left to infuse for a couple of weeks. The nutmeg, too – a special spice in sea moss – holds cupid powers of its own. A half-nut quantity makes “men stand up like a stallion,” says the lyrics to an old calypso tune. Nutmeg is also supposedly a “legal hallucinogenic” and in high doses can completely wipe out any more ardent desires.

Do any of these foods really work? I’ll never tell when it comes to sea moss. But the power of suggestion is a strong aphrodisiac itself. So is a willing partner and a romantic locale like a deserted tropical beach.

Carol Bareuther, a registered dietitian, lives in St. Thomas and is a regular contributor to The Triton. Contact her through editorial@the-triton.com.

You are what you eat on Valentine’s Day

Take iT in

CaroL Bareuther

BROKER NEWS/PERSONAL FINANCEB1� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton

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Many yacht captains and crew have put large sums of money into real estate investments. Today, we hear from many “knowledgeable sources”

that the real estate bubble has the potential to burst.

You may be fine if real estate is part of your long-term financial plan. However, most likely you did not go over your

short- and long-term financial plan with a mortgage broker or banker. Even though financial objectives affect the type of mortgage you should have, most brokers and bankers don’t go over how your loan will affect your taxes, overall finances or your retirement plan.

It can get confusing with all the loan programs available. What have you been sold? A 1 percent, interest-only, adjustable rate mortgage? A 15-, 30- or 40-year fixed-rate? Don’t hold the wrong mortgage for the market.

Paying full term on a 30-year mortgage without selling or refinancing is almost unheard of. The average homeowner moves or refinances every three to seven years. You may want to look at other loans, such as a 7-year ARM or interest-only loans. Rates on a 7-year ARM are fixed for the first seven years, then go adjustable. This is the same for 1-, 3- and 5-year ARMs.

If you are disciplined and have a financial plan, another option is to have an interest-only mortgage and pay the principal toward a tax-deferred investment. With this option, you are in control of your money and have access to emergency funds without refinancing and cashing-out.

Top causes for foreclosures are medical- or job-related. It is not pretty when trying to cash-out if you have been unemployed for some time and your credit is damaged. Banks won’t help unless you have a lot of equity.

Just as you would plot out your trip to a new port-of-call, get all your facts together and map out your financial course. See how your mortgage will affect your financial plan. It will make those rough seas more tolerable.

A former captain, Mark A. Cline is a financial adviser and mortgage broker, and is national marketing director for Capital Choice, a financial services firm with offices in Ft. Lauderdale. Contact him at (954) 761-3983 or mark.cline@capitalchoice.net.

The rightmortgageis a must

2005 was another record year for Merle Wood & Associates. Sales for December consisted of two new construction projects, a 200-foot Feadship and the 183-foot Benetti Lady Sheila.

The firm’s brokerage sales included the 110-foot Broward Believer, 108-foot Mangusta Lady Sheila, 108-foot Westship Lady Evangeline, 88-foot Leopard SKS and 78-foot Leopard Xana. Merle Wood also signed as the central agent for the 118-foot Christensen Bri-Ann.

IYC’s Elliott, Vickery honored

International Yacht Collection’s Mark Elliott capped off another successful year with the sale of his central M/Y Inspiration, a 1996 156-foot Broward. Inspiration will remain in the IYC charter fleet and is available in the Caribbean this winter.

IYC had a record year in sales and charter for 2005 as well as adding offices in Monaco and Palm Beach. Capt. Elliott was named sales broker of the year and Kim Vickery was named top charter broker.

Kevin Bonnie, director of the European office, wrapped up 2005 with the sales of Rova D, a 100-foot (31m) Falcon; Nimbus N, an 88-foot (27m) Leopard; M/Y Paradise Found, an 82-foot (25m) Sunseeker; and S/Y Sitka, a 70-foot (21m) Garcia sloop.

Anderson working the Atlantic

This fall, Wright Maritime company head A.J. Anderson delivered the 72m Feadship Utopia DV back to Holland for her year-end service call at the builder’s facility in Holland.

Capt. Anderson then returned to Italy to sail the new 62m Feadship Rasselas on her maiden trans-Atlantic

to represent Feadship at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show. Under Wright Shipping operations, Utopia is back in the Caribbean active with the charter trade and will be returning to the Mediterranean for next summer season.

Lady Joy added to client list

WMG subsidiary Owner’s Maritime Office, a Marshall Islands offshore company, has added the 145-foot Heesen M/Y Lady Joy to its client list for funds administration and payroll.

2005 a success for Merle Wood

Elliott Vickery

yaChTinG CapiTal

Mark a. Cline

PHOTOGRAPHY The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 B13

Visit our Service Center and Showroom230 SW 27th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315

Phone: 954.764.6192 Fax: 954.764.7259Caribbean Service Center: Rob Marine, St. Maarten

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Visit us on the web at

Welcome aboard, photography enthusiasts. From my discussion of lenses in the previous article, many of you may have been left wondering

what is meant when digital camera advertising describes the lens to be “35mm equivalent” to a zoom range, such as 38mm to 114mm. A brief explanation will provide me a good side way into an important factor of

digital camera quality.The 35mm format has been with us

a long time. We all recognize a 35mm camera to be one that uses 35mm film, which provides negatives of 24mm x 36mm in size. The size of the film, along with the speed of the film (i.e. 100, 200, 400 ISO, etc.) had much to do with the quality of the prints that were possible.

Like wide angle? Seek 28mm

We also knew that a 35mm camera with a 28mm lens (or less) would give us wide-angle scene capability, a 50mm lens would be equivalent to our eyes, and a 100mm or longer would enter us into the narrow telephoto lenses that bring distant subjects closer. Lenses were designed for this specific format. Advertising for the new consumer digital camera is (still) based on this equivalent familiarity.

The important aspect to keep in mind is that a 35mm or 38mm lens, unfortunately, is not a very wide angle and therefore less useful for tight quarters or expansive panorama photographs.

There are a few point-and-shoot cameras offering a wider angle of view of 28mm. If this feature is as important to you as it is for me, look for it. The only other option is to buy a digital SLR camera that allows interchangeable lenses. Then, if you are willing to pay an expensive price tag, you can go even wider.

Telephoto easier to find

It is much easier in the digital world to go telephoto than it is to go wide angle. This is due to the size of the capturing device, what has replaced film. It goes by either the acronym CCD or CMOS chip.

With only a few exceptions, all digital cameras – point-and-shoot as well as SLRs – have chips smaller in size than a film negative. The reason is because smaller chips are less expensive to manufacture. The only

advantages to you is the affordable pricing and greater telephoto capability.

I could go into the latter lens capability, but I am going to ask you to take my word for it. Discussing the details on this enters into a more involved explanation of optics, but if it interests you, let me know.

Pixel size, pixel number

Talking about chip size will be more helpful. This is related to resolution and the quality of the prints you can expect. The chip size has a direct relationship to the resolution, whether it is 2 or 8 megapixels (with a few SLR digitals offering more pixels).

Another way you see this size described is maximum 1600x1200 or 3500x2300 pixels. If you divide those numbers by 300 dpi (the “dots per inch” for quality prints), you will get what print size is optimum for the camera’s resolution. In our example, that would be approximately 5 by 4-inch or 12 by 8-inch prints, respectively. It is easily apparent why more megapixels are more desirable.

Simply more megapixels on a chip is not the only factor in the final quality of a print. The size of the pixel is equally important. Completely opposite of film where the smaller the grain, the sharper the photographic print, larger pixels generate less noise and better results. Therefore, if you make a chip the same size as a negative, that’s even better.

Higher quality, higher prices

These two factors are just pieces of the puzzle in getting good photographic results.

The quality of the lens (and size again is in the equation) makes an important difference. Of course, more pixels, larger pixels, better lenses translate into higher prices.

From the start, I could simply have told you to buy a camera with more pixels and a better lens. Or better still, buy a more expensive digital camera. Instead, in the simplest way I can, I’ve provided information that will either give you better insight on the digital camera you own, or help you with a new camera purchase to best suit your needs. This is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

That’s it for now: Permission to come ashore.

James Schot has been a professional photographer for 27 years and owns Schot Designer Photography. Feel free to contact him at james@bestschot.com with photographic questions or queries for future columns.

Lenses, millimeters and pixels — oh, my!

Photo ExPosé

James schot

B�0 February 2006 www.the-triton.com The TritonPUZZLES

Calm

Try these new puzzles based on numbers. There is only one rule for these new number puzzles: Every row, every column and every 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 only once.

Don’t worry, you don’t need arithmetic. Nothing has to add up to anything else. All you need is reasoning and logic. (Answers, page B5)

Start with the Calm puzzle above. Then try your luck in the Stormy seas at right.

Tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com. Good luck.

Stormy

Answers to all puzzles on B5

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 B�1MANAGEMENT TRAINING

Attitude is the way we think, feel and act. And it is the way we react to the world around us. It determines the quality and effectiveness of our

thinking, emotions and behavior, and the positive or negative consequences of that behavior.

Attitude is based upon our expectations and perceptions, our definition of “reality.”

You will see three basic attitudes in the working world.

1. Spectators with neutral attitudes. They watch life happen and observe others. They play it safe and avoid risks. Spectators are afraid of change. They often are tired or detached. Their defining word is “maybe.” Typical phrases: “I doubt it,” “I might,” “I don’t know” and “I don’t want to.”

2. Critics with negative attitudes. They comment on life and complain. They critique after the fact, imposing their “expertise” and finding fault in others. Critics are annoyed about change. They often appear frustrated or pessimistic. Their defining word is “No!” Typical phrases: “I can’t,” “I won’t,” “No way” and “You made me.”

3. Players with positive attitudes. They actively participate in life and embrace opportunities. They take risks and are willing to make mistakes. Players enjoy learning and change. They usually are confident and optimistic. Their defining word is “Yes!” Typical phrases: “I can,” “I will,” “I’m sure” and “I choose to.”

Most of us have some of each type and attitude in us. Often, though, one general attitude predominates.

A study of success factors by Telemetrics International found one significant difference between high and low achievers was not education or intelligence but attitude.

We can’t control everything that happens to us, but we can control how we react. Recall a challenge you faced in your interactions with others (whether on your current job, in a previous job or in your personal life).

Describe (in writing) the situation, the people involved, what was challenging and how you handled it.

What were your actions? Your thoughts? Your feelings? What statements did you use? In what tone of voice? What was your body language and facial expression?

Look at what you’ve written. Were you a spectator, critic or player?

The good news is that a negative or neutral attitude can be changed. One way to do this – and perhaps the most powerful way – is by listening to the way you talk to yourself and turning negative statements to positive ones.

By the time we’re 17, we’ve taken in - and recorded - 150,000 pieces of negative data: “You can’t,” “You shouldn’t,” “You’ll only fail,” “Don’t try,” “Who are you to...?” If you fill your mind with negative thoughts, you will have a negative attitude.

But these negative thoughts can be transformed into positive thoughts, attitudes and actions.

Monitor self-talk. Catch yourself using negative phrases and replace them. If you sometimes say “I’m a failure,” use “I’ve not yet succeeded.” If you say “I messed up,” try instead “I was confident enough to try.”

There are four steps to changing your self-talk:

1. Recognize it. Pay attention to your internal dialogue, especially when you feel disappointed or frustrated. What are you saying to yourself? It’s probably negative, and untrue or unfair. Very likely, it’s unduly harsh.

2. Stop it. You don’t deserve the kind of negative judgments you may have been making on yourself.

3. Restate it. It’s very important to reframe negative statements into positive – and more accurate – ones. For example, change: “I’ll never ...” to “That was disappointing. Oh well, better next time.”

4. Reward yourself. Acknowledge that you caught negative statements and turned them around.

As with learning any skill, practice until it becomes a habit. Reframing one or two negative thoughts isn’t going to help that much. Remember, you’re challenging a lifetime of heavily negative programming. More tips:

1. Stay in the present tense. Where do you spend most of your mental life? Ruminating about the past? Worrying about the future? Planning is effective, but worrying is totally unproductive. Stay focused on what you’re thinking, feeling and doing at this time.

2. Talk to yourself in a calm, compassionate manner. Instead of yelling at yourself, try “It’s OK, [your nickname], just relax.”

3. Talk yourself out of unreasonable expectations and fearful thoughts. How reasonable, realistic or likely are the events you’re projecting? If they’re not reasonable, tell yourself to “stop” and reframe your expectations to more likely (and less alarming) ones.

4. Surround yourself with positive people. It is hard to remain positive around nay-sayers and critics. Separate yourself from relationships that suck your energy, self-confidence and self-worth. Reach out to those who give you positive strokes and shared values.

Don Grimme is co-founder of GHR Training Solutions in Coral Springs, Fla. He specializes in helping managers reduce turnover and attract excellent job candidates. Contact him at dgrimme@comcast.net.

The attitude-behavior link

ManaGer’s TiMe

don GriMMe

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ABS APPROVED

Book publishers often send us books to review. We can’t review them all so we’re giving them away. If one of these books can help you, e-mail Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com. We have one of each book; first come, first served.

“Sip to Shore” includes tips on drinks and hors d’oeuvres

Capt. Jan Robinson has written a book of cocktail recipes that go over well with charter guests. “Sip to Shore: Caribbean Cocktails & Hors d’oeuvres” (first printed in 1986 and now in its eighth printing, $12.95) features no fewer than 100 cocktails and 100 appetizers garnered from the chefs and captains of Caribbean charter yachts. This would be a great book for a new

cook/stew. It includes some tips on stocking a bar and chilling glasses.

“Bridge Procedures” focuses on yachts over 80 feet in length

“Bridge Procedures: A Guide for Watchkeepers of Large Yachts under Sail or Power” by Frances and Michael Howorth (2005, Adlard Coles Nautical, 30 pounds) is a rewrite of the International Chamber of Shipping’s “Bridge Procedures Guide” specifically for yachts over 80 feet (24m).

Part of the Reeds Professional Yacht Handbooks series, it incorporates the 1995 amendments to STCW, the ISM Code and modern electronic navigation and charting systems.

It includes more than 20 pages of forms to use as a guide in creating safe bridge procedures.

By Donna Mergenhagen

“The Closers” by Michael Connelly (Warner Books, $7.99) is scheduled for paperback release in February. Detective Harry Bosch has chosen to leave retirement and return to the Los Angeles police force with the blessings of a new chief of police.

Two things motivated his change of heart: pairing with his former partner Kiz Rider and membership in a special task force LAPD has labeled “open-unsolved.” The open-unsolved file is a thick one. There are 8,000 unsolved murders since 1960.

Connolly opens “The Closers” with the chief welcoming Bosch back from three years as a private investigator and urging him to heed the forgotten voices of the 8,000 murder victims. “Ripples move out through time and people” is the chief ’s farewell. The analogy of water ripples will be repeated as the story unfolds.

The new squad has divided the cases by time blocks. The hope is that new technology to analyze retained evidence will produce leads. There is a “cold hit” on tissue from a gun used in a 1988 murder that ties the weapon to an ex-con.

During the 17 years since the murder, items have disappeared from the evidence box. Bosch’s review of the murder book – the bound files of the case – reveal shortcomings in the original investigation and questions about the impact the social climate in L.A. may have played. (1988 was the year prior to the riots sparked by Rodney King’s arrest.)

When the parents of a 16-year-old girl reported her missing from the

house one morning, the responding officers assumed she was a runaway. After her body was found days later, suicide appeared to be the cause of death. Only when the autopsy report raised questions was the case investigated as a murder. As Bosch investigates, the murder book from the case provides a window into the mores and culture of the city in 1988.

An old nemesis of Bosch is revealed as a central character in the murder book. Still on the force, but recently passed over for promotion, the nemesis shadows Bosch and complicates his efforts. The ripples from the girl’s death have already destroyed at least two lives – her parents. As the new investigation moves forward, the ripples nudge lives inside and outside of the police department.

Many authors and a few television series have used the cold case premise for a mystery story. None have done it with the dimension of Connolly. He weaves the issues of race, police ethics, and sentencing subtly into the plot lines while maintaining two levels of suspense: the 1988 murder and the current ripple effects of the investigation.

For those unfamiliar with Michael Connolly, “The Closers” is a good first read. It lacks the plot continuation of some of his books and the few repeat characters are fully developed in the context of the story. With “The Closers,” Connolly has set the stage for a new Bosch series built around open-unsolved cases.

Donna Mergenhagen owns Well Read, a used book store in Ft. Lauderdale. Contact her at 954-467-8878.

Connolly puts his unique spin on ‘Cold Case’ phenomena

Looking for reading material?The Triton offers books, reviews

B�� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The TritonIN THE STARS

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By Jack Horkheimer

This Valentine’s Day night will be special because you can give your sweetheart not only the traditional Valentine’s Day star but also the most beautiful planet at its best for the year plus believe it or not two planets which have a super close meeting on Valentine’s Day night.

On Tuesday, Feb. 14, just after sunset, face due west. If you have a clear, flat horizon, you’ll see a bright pink light that is the first planet out from the sun, the tiny pink planet, 3,000-mile-wide Mercury. For Valentine’s week and the week after, it is at its best for viewing for the entire year.

And coincidentally, it will be joined on Valentine’s Day evening by the seventh planet, 32,000-mile-wide Uranus, in a super close meeting only 1/2 a degree apart, which means they’ll be only one full Moon width away from each other. Although you’ll be able to see Mercury with the naked eye, you’ll really need a pair of binoculars to see Uranus beside it.

Additionally if you look toward the east after it gets dark you’ll see a yellowish light, 75,000-mile-wide Saturn, which is still at its best for the entire year and begs you to show it to your sweetheart with a small telescope.

Then, to top it off and make your cosmic valentine super special, look due south between 8 and 9 p.m. and you’ll see the star I call the Valentine’s Day star. It’s very bright and very red and, in fact, is the brightest red star we can see with the naked eye.

Coincidentally, it reaches its highest point above the horizon every Valentine’s Day night between 8 and 9 p.m. It marks the shoulder star of Orion the Hunter and its name is Betelgeuse.

If you’ve ever wanted to give your loved one a really big valentine, this is about as big as it gets. If we compare Betelgeuse with our own star – our 865,000-mile-wide Sun – Betelgeuse is so humongous we could fit more than 160 million of our Suns inside it.

And that’s when Betelgeuse is at its smallest size because Betelgeuse changes its size regularly like a gigantic, slowly pulsating heart, one that beats once every six years. When Betelgeuse is fully contracted at its smallest size, it is about 500 times the width of our Sun. When it expands to its biggest, it is almost 900 times as wide.

If we could place Betelgeuse where our Sun is, Betelgeuse at its smallest would reach out past the orbits of Mercury, Venus and Earth all the way

to Mars. When it is at its largest, it would stretch all the way to Jupiter.

So watch this month for Mercury at its best parked right next to Uranus, the exquisite ringed planet Saturn, and Betelgeuse, a giant red star slowly beating like a heavenly heart for your sweetheart. Is this a romantic cosmos or what?

Follow moon for red stars

On Feb. 5 and 6, a first-quarter Moon will visit a red planet and a red star. On Feb. 5, face southwest and an exquisite Moon will be parked right above bright red Mars. To its left you’ll see Aldebaran, the bright red star that marks the eye of Taurus the Bull.

On Feb. 6, the Moon will be parked right above it. See if you can detect any differences in their reddish colors because while Mars is a 4,000-mile-wide planet only 100 million miles away, Aldebaran is a 29 million-mile-wide star, 400 trillion miles away. In fact we could fit 397 trillion Mars inside Aldebaran.

They may look the same but what a difference.

Venus’ February splendor

Also in mid-February, Venus is absolutely spectacular and will be at its very best for the entire year. The Old Farmer’s Almanac describes this February appearance as “a morning star of great splendor” and Sky and Telescope magazine describes Venus as “a veritable lantern” in the sky.

About two hours before sunrise facing east-southeast, the absolute brightest thing you’ll see in the sky will be our closest neighbor after the Moon, 8,000-mile-wide Venus. Often called the twin sister of our Earth because it is almost the same size, it is much brighter than our Earth because its cloud cover acts like a giant mirror and reflects much more sunlight than our Earth.

You can see Venus all the way up to and through sunrise. If you follow Venus carefully the weeks of Feb. 13 and Feb. 20, you will be able to see it after sunrise if you know exactly where to look.

In fact, Venus is the only planet that we can ever see in the daytime because it is so outrageously bright.

On Feb. 17, it reaches its greatest brilliancy for 2006. Its official astronomical brightness is labeled 4.6 magnitude, which means it is about 18 1/2 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. (Sirius marks the eye of Orion’s dog.)

When Venus makes a brilliant morning appearance like this and

is rather low in the sky, it frequently sparks reports of UFOs because it is so outrageously bright. It is said that a naval commander once ordered his ship to fire upon it and that a railroad engineer brought his train to a screeching halt because he thought he saw the headlight of an oncoming train.

Although Venus has been called “the morning star” for hundreds of years, it has another name, “the evening star.” You may recall that last month, Venus was the evening star, bright but close to the western horizon just after sunset. Then during the second week of January, it disappeared from evening skies as it slipped between our Earth and the Sun. It reappeared very low in morning skies at the end of January.

Through a pair of binoculars or a small telescope, Venus will look like a thin crescent. As the month goes by and it slowly moves farther away from Earth, more of its surface will become illuminated and it will appear to grow in shape like a waxing crescent Moon, although because it is going away from us it will get steadily smaller from night to night.

Here comes a ... syzygy?

Prepare for a super-size syzygy on Feb. 27. Syzygy is a word astronomers use whenever three celestial bodies are in a nearly straight line, such as the Sun, Moon and Earth during a solar or lunar eclipse.

Actually, our Earth experiences syzygy twice a month with the new Moon and full Moon.

At the time of full Moon the Moon is opposite our Earth from the Sun and at new Moon on the same side of the Earth as the Sun.

But this syzygy will be super-sized Feb. 27 because our Moon will also be at extreme perigee, which means the Moon will be at its very closest to Earth for the entire year.

We usually say that our Moon is about 240,000 miles from Earth. It can, however, be as far away as 252,000 miles. On Feb. 27, it will be at its very closest only 217,000 miles away.

Of course, you won’t even notice it because we can’t see a new moon as it is between the Earth and the Sun. Still, some areas may experience much higher and lower tides than usual.

Jack Horkheimer is executive director of the Miami Museum of Science. This is the script for his weekly television show co-produced by the museum and WPBT Channel 2 in Miami. It is seen on public television stations around the world. For more information about stars, visit www.jackstargazer.com.

Make Valentine’s Day cosmic with gift of stars and planets

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 B��IN THE STARS

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 17) – Happy Birthday. Kabbalistic astrology teaches that yours is a sign of redemption through shared abundance. Someone

demands your personal attention this month, and you have no choice but to ease the line. Aquarius loves to share truth and light for humanity; your deliverance comes with a name and a face; sometimes that’s even harder to love.

PISCES (Feb. 18-March 19) – The Pisces new moon Feb. 27 activates the Sun and Uranus, which are also in your sign. Don’t dwindle this exciting aspect on fanciful pipe dreams when you can have the real thing. Powers of magnetic attraction and electrical creation are at an all-time high

ARIES (March 20-April 19) – Finances should be better this month as Mars has been clicking ahead in your money sector for a while now. Consolidate opportunities, finalize gains and enjoy this well-deserved prosperity. After the 17th, Mars shifts into the realm of ideas, and events move into hyperspeed. People ask more and more of you, and it seems you are pulled in every direction.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) – Finally, the valve has released some pressure, but you feel like an overdone pot roast by now. Feel the burn as your tightly wound core begins to unwind. Stay on the leeside and take it easy; need I say more? You are on the receiving end of bountiful praise now, too. Accept gifts others want to give, which may include an extra special Valentine’s surprise.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) – You will be as busy as your planetary ruler Mercury is this month, Gemini. Like its namesake quicksilver, Mercury blasts through a multitude of encounters now. Do not bet the store on ill-conceived plans made on the 1st; it’s nothing but flotsam. An exotic adventure beckons the 14th. Go for it; just be sure to stick around for the 28th – the best day of the month for you.

CANCER (June 21-July 21) – Jupiter has been opening up your fifth house of play and creativity lately, which is right up your alley. Seek and find that inner child. Have you met him or her in a dream lately? Plan an outing for the two of you on the 9th. The invisible world is brimming with messages for your soul now. You need only stop, look and listen.

LEO (July 22-Aug. 22) The Full Moon

on the 12th is in your sign. Full Moon represents a time to harvest the fruits of a project. Confidently collect your due.

Don’t let jealous remarks lessen your joy. Bask in the glow of victory; circumstances develop later in the month that leave you feeling as though you have been cast adrift.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) – Your work situation gets a much-needed boost as Jupiter waves a friendly flag to Neptune. Act quickly, though, because Mercury, your ruling planet, is rushing ahead at a dizzying pace. Pay attention to detail, which is your forte. An infusion of inspiration arrives by months’ end.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 21) – How is it going with that New Year’s health resolution? You know, working out and eating healthy food. The planets completely support you now in making changes. You need only supply the initiative. Best day for an about-face is first quarter moon, on the 5th.

SCORPIO (Oct. 22-Nov. 21) – How does it feel on top of the world? Continue traipsing on your merry way, but look both ways at the crossroad. Keep the jackline in view, and practice you inner smile, because things look even more favorable the second half of the month. Look sharp on the 23rd when you connect with a VIP.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) – What did your secret Santa bring? He or she is still in your court. Dolphins and starfish are working overtime for you. The best thing to do is step out of the way and let them help. They get underway on the 8th. By the 19th you are looking like the privileged vessel.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) – Venus,

the celestial goddess of love and the good life has been aground since mid-December, but she springs to your corner when she moves into direct motion on the 3rd.

Look for her shining brightly in the morning sky. This Venus emerges with spice and verve, but how you handle her is up to you.

Maya White is a professional astrologer living in South Florida. With 25 years experience, she is one of only 86 people in the world certified in Astro-Carto-Graphy, a specialized branch of astrology that addresses issues relating to location and travel. Contact her at 954-920-2373 or through www.whitestarasrtology.com.

Aquarian redemption will come when you share your blessings

Looking Up

Maya white

B�� February 2006 www.the-triton.com The Triton

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Through April 30 Wired to Win: Surviving the Tour de France, IMAX, Ft. Lauderdale, 401 S.W. Second St., 954-467-6637 or 954-463-IMAX (4629). Fly between the jagged peaks of the French Pyrenees into the lives of internationally ranked professional cyclists in one of the most grueling athletic competitions in the world – the 21-day Tour de France. Various dates and times.

Feb. 1 The Triton’s monthly networking session, the Latitude Adjustment Hour at Todd Michaels Floral Company, in the Southport Shopping Center, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Join us for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

Feb. 2-4 Seatec, the 4th Exhibition of Technologies and Subcontracting for Boat and Ship Builders, Marina di Carrara, Italy. More than 400 exhibitors registered to exhibit, mostly from Europe, +39 0585 787963, www.sea-tec.it, m.musumeci@carrarafiere.com

Feb. 8 The Triton Bridge luncheon, Ft. Lauderdale, noon. This is our monthly captains’ roundtable where we discuss the issues and trends of the industry. RSVP to Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com or 954-525-0029. Space is limited to eight.

Feb. 15 On-Board Marine Electrical Systems, BOW Hallandale, 6:15 p.m. This seminar, the first of several free seminars planned by Boat Owner’s Warehouse, will be conducted by

American Battery, Hubble Electrical System and Wards Marine Electric. At BOW, 1720 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd. 954-457-5081. Refreshments and door prizes available.

Feb. 18-20 43rd Coconut Grove Arts Festival, one of the nation’s premier outdoor fine arts festivals. It attracts more than 150,000 people and 330 international artists and craftsmen. Tickets $5, to benefit the Coconut Grove Arts & Historical Association’s Building Fund. 305-447-0401, www.coconutgroveartsfest.com

Feb. 23-28 Mardi Gras, New Orleans. One of the world’s most famous celebrations for this holiday of excess before the limits of Lent. In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the normally two-week celebration has been shortened this year to six days. 800-672-6124, www.mardigras.com

Feb. 24-26 Savannah International Boat Show, Savannah International Trade & Convention Center and in-water on the Savannah River. www.savannahinternationalboatshow.com

March 1 First annual Triton broker luncheon, Ft. Lauderdale, noon. It’s time for sales brokers to have their say in a Bridge-style roundtable discussion of issues and trends. RSVP to Editor Lucy Reed at lucy@the-triton.com or 954-525-0029. Space is limited to eight.

EVENT OF MONTH

Feb. 16-20 18th annual Yacht and Brokerage ShowMiami

This is the in-water portion of the Miami International Boat Show and held in the Intracoastal Waterway from the Fontainebleau Hotel at 41st Street to the Wyndham Resort at 51st Street.

More than 550 yachts are expected ranging from 30 to 160 feet. There is a new, air-conditioned floating pavilion with 30,000 square feet of space for an array of accessories and services from electronic manufacturers, yacht builders, designers, financial institutions and

others. The show is free and open

to the public, 10 to 7 each day. See complete story on page A1.

www.showmanagement.com.

Tour de France, IMAX style

See CALENDAR, page B27

The Triton www.the-triton.com February 2006 B��CALENDAR OF EVENTS

408 S.E. 17 StreetFort Lauderdale, Fl. 33316

954-522-2739

2 Dean Ave. #6, Newport, R.I. 02840

401-849-52271-800-Get-Crew (438-2739)

Crew@crewfinders.com | www.crewfinders.com

March 1 The Triton’s Connection is back with an update on the crew health care plan issues that have been in flux since last fall. Networking and discussion from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Then stay and join us for our monthly Latitude Adjustment Hour, The Triton’s regular social held the first Wednesday of every month. It all takes place this month at Camille’s Cafe in the new Harbor Shops, just off 17th Street in Ft. Lauderdale. Call 954-525-0029 for more information.

March 1 Major League Baseball’s spring training begins in Florida. Baltimore Orioles at Ft. Lauderdale Stadium, 954-776-1921; Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, 561-775-1818; New York Mets at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, 772-871-2115; Los Angeles Dodgers in Holman Stadium, Dodgertown, Vero Beach, 772-569-6858. www.springtrainingonline.com

March 8 The Triton Bridge luncheon, Ft. Lauderdale, noon. This is our monthly captains’ roundtable where we discuss the issues and trends of the industry. RSVP to Editor Lucy Reed at lucy@the-triton.com or 954-525-0029. March 14 Save this date for a first-

hand update on USCG regulations as well as new rules and regulations from the Department of Homeland Security. Scheduled to be held during Seatrade in Miami Beach. Contact The Triton at 954-525-0029 for more information as the event draws near.

March 15-16 International Superyacht Symposium, Miami Beach Convention Center. Held in conjuction with the 22nd annual SeaTrade Cruise Shipping Convention. www.superyachtmiami.com, 609-452-2800

March 23-26 21st annual Palm Beach Boat Show, Palm Beach. Tickets are $10. www.showmanagement.com

March 29-April 2 Second annual Honda Grand Prix, St. Petersburg. Second race in the 2006 IndyCar Series. Med-style dockage for 50 megayachts. $15,000 entry includes VIP tickets to the Indy race, pit passes, parties and more. www.gpstpete.com

April 4 Step Up to Leadership, a Dale Carnegie management training course for captains and senior officers sponsored by The Triton, Ft. Lauderdale, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., $350. Spaceis limited. 954-771-8477.

Triton takes brokers to lunch 3/1CALENDAR, from page B26