Yacht Management?

[dave907]

Hello:

I often bareboat charter in the BVI's. While there last year, I shared a taxi with a couple who mentioned they had just arrived by plane and were meeting their boat. I assumed they meant their "charter boat," but it turned out they were meeting their own boat that had been delivered to them by their yacht manager.

They explained that they hire a service to keep their boat (in Trinidad I think?) and then deliver it to where they want to cruise.

Can anyone point me in the direction of such a service? The wife and I would love to make cruising the Caribbean each Winter a part of our life, but the business I run doesn't allow me to leave for months at a time. The thought of having the boat delivered to Tortola, or Nassau for the season is very appealing.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dave Stephens

[Palarran]

Dave,
Typically in a situation that you have described, the owner is very wealthy and the boat is much more expensive than nearly anyone on this forum owns.

If you literally don't want to do anything except fly in to use a boat that has been brought to where you want it and prepared for your use, it's going to cost a lot. I mean, forget about the million or two you spend for the boat, it's going to be $50k to $100k for the management and expenses per year.

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by dave907

I shared a taxi with a couple..........

Originally Posted by Palarran

Dave,
Typically in a situation that you have described, the owner is very wealthy and the boat is much more expensive than nearly anyone on this forum owns.

You'd expect a couple like that to hire a private car, or at least not feel the need to share a cab.

Maybe the truth is in the middle. Maybe the arrangement is more Yacht Delivery and less Yacht Management.

It's also tough to determine how frequently they actually do this.

[DHLyman]

You hire a delivery captain, he or she brings along a crew, they deliver your boat any where you want. You pay the captain $300 to $500 a day, plus travel, boat expenses underway, maybe something for the crew's transportation.

SailOPO.com is a crew network whose members are looking for opportunities to sail other people boats. The crews come for free. The captain is paid. Check out their website. Hank Schmitt can recommend professional skippers.
By the way, what kind of boat are you talking about? Sail or Power? Age? Length?

[callistov42]

We have kept our boat in the Caribbean for 25+ years. You can leave it at a marina and hire a "yacht management" company or person to check on it, coordinate repairs while you are gone and have it clean when you arrive. Delivering it around the Caribbean isn't that big a deal, there are delivery guys all over. A lot of them do delivery work for the big charter companies and are experienced and reasonably priced. The boat doesn't have to go back to Trinidad (or where ever) after every trip. We leave Callisto somewhere for a season or two before moving her (these days we haul her in the summers after Irma). It took me six weeks to get from Houston to St Martin. I sure can't do that every time we want to go sailing in the Caribbean!

[Fore and Aft]

Shrew one off my wealthiest customers would think nothing about sharing a taxi. It’s what made him so rich, being incredibly tight fisted with his money. Sometimes to the point you wonder if it’s worth doing.
I think if you go around a lot of marinas you will find plenty of people maintaining and moving yachts that are not theirs. I used to see it a lot with race boat owners, even if they lived in the same place as their yacht.
Cheers

[dave907]

Originally Posted by callistov42

We have kept our boat in the Caribbean for 25+ years. You can leave it at a marina and hire a "yacht management" company or person to check on it, coordinate repairs while you are gone and have it clean when you arrive. Delivering it around the Caribbean isn't that big a deal, there are delivery guys all over. A lot of them do delivery work for the big charter companies and are experienced and reasonably priced. The boat doesn't have to go back to Trinidad (or where ever) after every trip. We leave Callisto somewhere for a season or two before moving her (these days we haul her in the summers after Irma). It took me six weeks to get from Houston to St Martin. I sure can't do that every time we want to go sailing in the Caribbean!

Thanks very much for this.

Dave

[dave907]

Originally Posted by DHLyman

You hire a delivery captain, he or she brings along a crew, they deliver your boat any where you want. You pay the captain $300 to $500 a day, plus travel, boat expenses underway, maybe something for the crew's transportation.

SailOPO.com is a crew network whose members are looking for opportunities to sail other people boats. The crews come for free. The captain is paid. Check out their website. Hank Schmitt can recommend professional skippers.
By the way, what kind of boat are you talking about? Sail or Power? Age? Length?

Thanks!

The boat would be either a Selene or a Nordhavn in the 45-60 foot range. Current boat is a 39 footer kept in FL, but we're looking to upgrade now that the kid has graduated.

Dave

[a64pilot]

I’ve often seen larger boats with full time crew, if not too large then just a Capt.
It’s not uncommon at all for the wealthy to fly into wherever in a Private Jet to meet the boat. Of course these people don’t operate the boat, clean it up or even cook for themselves either.
Sometimes the helicopter picks them up at the airport and flies them to the boat.
It depends on where you fall into the financial side, enough money and you can have anything you want.
Not trying to be sarcastic but I’ve seen and talked to many crew that the owners weren’t present at the time and they were repositioning the boat from the Med to the Caribbean or vice versa or from Tampa to the Keys etc.
A largeish boat will take a full time person to keep everything operating and clean etc. If you leave a big complex boat in a Marina for months, you’ll be lucky if you don’t come back to a maintenance nightmare to begin your vacation, if you don’t have a full time person keeping everything ship shape.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by dave907

Thanks!

The boat would be either a Selene or a Nordhavn in the 45-60 foot range. Current boat is a 39 footer kept in FL, but we're looking to upgrade now that the kid has graduated.

Dave

That's awesome Dave. I'm totally infatuated with the new Selene 60. It hits every single check box I have for my next boat.

https://www.seleneoceanyachts.com/ya...60-expedition/

[dave907]

Originally Posted by Palarran

That's awesome Dave. I'm totally infatuated with the new Selene 60. It hits every single check box I have for my next boat.

https://www.seleneoceanyachts.com/ya...60-expedition/

Beautiful rig.

We won't be buying new. I'd love a Nordhavn 62 in the 2005-2008 range. Really like the aft cabin design. It looks like what we used to call a "bar buster" in Ak.

Thanks again.

Dave