Caribbean Charter

[Rex Delay]

Just returned from a Caribbean Charter with Horizon Yacht Charters. Booked a one way, downwind casual cruise for 10 days on a Beneteau 515. When we arrived in St. Vincent, the boat was not there but was not due for a couple of days, no problem. The day before the charter I again checked on the boat, on the way, no problem. The morning the charter was to begin, checked again but no boat in marina? When they opened I checked in to find out what the situation was. As the boat was being brought to us from Genada to St. Vincent the previous evening, the forestay chainplate failed and the mast came down on the delivery skipper! Fortunately he was not seriously injured. OK, I have a crew of 6 expecting a unique experience and now we have no boat!

Without a second's hesitation, Horizon St. Vincent offered us a Lagoon 44 Cat with every toy they could round up and a skipper to boot! Horizon Grenada offered to send a replacement boat ASAP but the crew were very happy with the instant replacement and we quickly adjusted to the new boat. With a late start on the first day but with a local skipper to introduce us to Cat sailing and provide much local knowledge and colour, we set off. It soon became clear that the new boat was not ready for service and had serious electrical issues.

Horizon Grenada immediately dispatched a Fountaine Pajot Helia 44 to rendezvous with us to finish the trip. This boat was the definition of decadent!! Ice maker, Margarita maker, air conditioning etc!!! What started out as a sailing cruise for some very experienced mono sailors with a couple of newbies became a luxury trip with lots of grins and giggles. Horizon went out of their way to make us happy. They lost their shorts on this charter but showed they were way more interested in customer satisfaction than anything else!!

In the end, we had a great trip and I highly recommend Horizon. Every sailors worst nightmare is the mast coming down and should it have happened 24 hrs. later, the cockpit and deck would have been crowded with 6 persons and very likely someone would have been seriously injured. All is well that ends well!


In the end

[leboyd]

Sounds like a great trip. We’re chartering with Horizons in the BVIs in Oct.