A Whole Different Caribbean Chartering Experience – Regatta Racing!
Forget about the laid back crewed charter if you love the excitement of competitive racing!
The Boat Show is open for business today. Each evening the crews re-clean and polish their yachts for the next day’s inspections by 
the Charter Brokers. After last night’s Governor’s reception there were some slow moving crews. Not only do they present their yachts in their very best conditions, but they also show off their cocktail skills and prepare an example of their finest on charter hor’doeuvres. Again, if think it is an easy job to own and crew a charter yacht, you need to be with me for the past few days and see the attention to the details on which they focus.
The BIG deal today is a “race day” hosted by ONDECK – a brand new chartering concept. ONDECK has purchased and fitted out a fleet of Beneteau 40.7s regatta racing yachts that can be chartered with a full crew so you can participate in any one of the Caribbean Regattas and actually be part of the excitement as a crew member. They allow for opportunities to develop your racing skills, match racing, and entering any or all of the Caribbean Regatta Series.
ONDECK has up to four fully crewed racing yachts available for a match race on the waters of St. Thomas. Killian is their representative at the Boat Show, so you can imagine I have enjoyed the conversations and the great concept they have created for serious yacht racers when they are not interested in owning their own $2.5 million racing yacht. I overheard Killian speaking with one of the guest “crew” and let them know everyone would be dropping in $10 into the bucket and the winning yacht would split the pot. What a great idea! The competitive juices are starting to boil around the docks.
Two of the crewed racing charters that intrigued me are the International Rolex Regatta in St. Thomas and Antigua Sailing Week Regatta. For 34 years, St. Thomas has been running this annual sailing regatta. It starts Friday March 28, 2008 with three days of very competitive racing. With new rating methods being implemented, the ‘08 St. Thomas regatta promises to be an unforgettable experience. Another major date for the yachtsman’s calendar, Antigua Sailing Week, is now in its 41st year. It is scheduled for April 27 – May 3, 2008. This event which started in 1967 with a handful of local yachts has grown to become one of the World’s premier regattas. More than 1,500 participants including Olympic, America’s Cup and round-the-world sailors in more than 200 boats pit their skills against one another in a sportsmanlike but fierce contest in the blue Caribbean waters around Antigua. Last year one of ONDECK’s chartered yachts took second place. They hope to take the grand price in 2008 and you can be part of the crew!
I took a lunch break with Jason Kumpf from Raffles Tortola. He joined me yesterday and has been meeting the same amazing characters I have, and is blown away by the charter community. Jason has been on Tortola for about seven weeks and is continuing to expand his experience of the Caribbean as he prepares to launch the ultra-luxury resort at Lambert Bay. He is off to Miami today for a few days off. You will be hearing more about Jason over the next few months as we connect him up with our customers who want more information about this project. A busy afternoon is awaiting me as I continue my Caribbean lifestyle detective work. Until next time…