Horizon Yacht Charters would like to address the charter on “Double Expresso” that has been a topic on this forum. Since 1998, Horizon has built a reputation within the industry for offering well maintained yachts and excellent customer service so it is with deep regret that our charter guest was disappointed on this occasion. We complete extensive Technical, shipwright and Rigging checks before each charter and at the end of every charter we debrief the captain. We do this to ensure all items, small and large, are addressed. The Debrief is signed by the Captain at the end of the charter. This charter did the same at end of their charter. Four items were mentioned. Three of had already been addressed on a service call during the charter. At no time during the debrief was it mentioned that the guests were extremely unhappy with their charter experience. We take reviews very seriously as we always strive to exceed our guests expectations and have listed below a more detailed response to each of the issues raised in this post.

Charter fee: On 7th March at 10:01am, client was quoted $5695.00 for their charter. We agreed to reduce this by request by $150 to price match a quote from another charter company. Client was given three free days as seasonal promotion; 10 nights for the price of 7. The price actually paid for the charter was $5545.00 as agreed. Also note that the charter commenced on the 26th not the 25th.

Departure Time; On 9th March at 8:43am we advised our guest by email that boarding time would be 12 noon (also stated in the contract). We do endeavor to board clients board earlier when we can, but do not promise this. The charter guest was also informed that the boat brief and chart brief would take approximately an hour each. The time is variable with each client depending on their needs. Departing at 2:30pm is a very reasonable time.

Yacht cleaning: Double Expresso was cleaned fully a few days prior to the guests arrival. She went out on a marketing photoshoot after that full clean. The photo shoot was done with Horizon staff for a couple hours between Nanny Cay and Pelican Island. After the photo shoot all cushions were stacked and stored to ensure they did not get wet or dirty. Whilst we do a full clean at least by the day before charter, our procedure is to do a final clean, inside and out the day of charter start, per the expected time of our client’s arrival. As the client had relayed their arrival time as 10 a.m. on the 26th in Road Town. We had the interior and external cleaner do their job first thing that morning with the expectation of the guest arriving around 11 a.m. after clearing into the BVI. The boat was clean and ready for boarding at noon.

Changing Cable: On the morning of the charter start we had received a network cable to complete a repair to the auto pilot. We put 2 technicians on this job first thing in the morning to ensure the autopilot was fully functional. They completed the job and were off Double expresso by 11 a.m.

SUP: We provided a fully inflated SUP at the beginning of the charter. It was not leaking air. Horizon had changed to inflatable SUPs a couple years ago. We did a trial year before switching from hard boards to inflatable ones. We found our guest liked them just as much as the hard ones and they were easier to handle and less likely to be damaged or cause damage. We have 10’6” Red Paddle SUPs, certainly not blow up toys as TTOL users ‘henryv’ and ‘warren460’ rightly pointed out in this post. Imported into the BVI they are about $1,500. We still have some hard boards. When the client called to let us know that they were unhappy with the inflatable, we delivered them a hard SUP free of charge to Trellis Bay.

Chart Brief: I am sure that Jalon would have given them a full chart brief if he had known that expectation. Either the request was not made clear to him by the captain or reservations, or the guest took departing the dock as the priority. Our Departure Check form was completed and signed by the Captain. The first item on this confirms that a chart briefing was either done or they did not require one. Whilst chart briefing is extra service provided by Horizon on request, we do believe that at least a cursory one should be done as things have changed a bit. Jalon confirms that he did do such a cursory brief with these clients. Some things the guest ignored completely.
Dinghy Engine: We discovered the dinghy engine was seized during our Mechanical checks a few days prior and had prepared a replacement for this charter. Unfortunately, the exterior cleaner was unaware and put the original, malfunctioning outboard with the yacht. Unfortunate for sure. At Horizon we know that things like this will deflate the customer’s confidence in our yachts. The outboard was switched out in about ½ an hour. There was no departure delay due to this as the guests were still putting provisioning on board the yacht at this point.

Dingy Cowling Cover: No doubt the latch was broken. It must have failed on charter. We changed out the outboard the day of charter start with the client there. See above. Anyone who has ever handled a 15 hp outboard knows that if the cowling cover was not secure, you would know it by picking the outboard up and fitting it to a dinghy. Latch failure reported on their 3rd day of charter.

Air Conditioning: As ’maytrix’ rightly points out we always ensure that all the AC units are fully functional and running prior to guests boarding. This was the case here. The air conditioning discharge valves are under the sink and are clearly labelled as such. These are the valve the guest closed thinking they were for the holding tank. The briefer, Jalon, is our most experienced briefer who has been with us for many years. He knows the boats inside and out. He explicitly remembers briefing on the location of the Holding tank discharge valves and demonstrated their use by closing and re-opening the valve. These valves are particularly important on this yacht as they have a locking sleeve which prevents inadvertent operation. The Technical Manual onboard also has a section dedicated to their use and has a photo showing their location and appearance. Not sure if AC was running whilst the guest left hatches open, but of course if so the AC would not work very well this way. With open hatches the evaporator would freeze and limit air circulation. The client used 49 gallons during the charter. The generator uses an average of 1/3 of a gallon per hour. The propulsion motors use less than ½ a gallon per hour as max RPMs/2200.

MOD Calls: At Horizon Yacht Charters we maintain 24/7 support for our guests through the Manager on Duty cell phone. We never ignore this when it rings. We give our guests 24 hour service both on the Manager on Duty phone as well as the Director of Operations personal cell in case there is a problem with MOD communication or if a guest does not feel satisfied with a response. We are there to help with the simple reminders of yacht operation, weather updates, arrange service, etc, and of course in a real emergency. Many other charter companies do not offer this level of service. Post Irma, the whole BVI has struggled with occasional network blackouts. Our coverage is nearly 100%, but repairs and improvements are still needed, but out of our control. Our MOD cell phone shows no missed calls, text messages, nor voice mails from the dates and times this customer tried to call us. We were in contact with the client at least 5 times during their charter.

Anchor Lights: Whilst this is unfortunate that the mast light went out. We discussed the problem with the client and let him know that anchor lights are not necessary whilst on a mooring ball. International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea state that the mast head light is only for use while on anchor, not on a mooring buoy. We suggested that when on a mooring or anytime at night it was better to use a light at sea level to illuminate the boat as the most predictable collision would be a dinghy at night. The cockpit light was used as a suggestion. The guest agreed that this was satisfactory.

Freezer: The freezer was working on departure, Indeed we have an AC and refrigeration specialist, who had installed an air vent so the compressor would work more efficiently before this charter. A door switch on this unit had become dislodged during charter. This switch controls the circulation fan. With that switch not operating the air would not properly circulate. The technician who tried to repair reported that the freezer would not freeze without the circulation fan, but would cool as a fridge. In addition to the freezer, there is a front loading fridge, and a cockpit fridge on this yacht – both were working correctly. Over 200 litres of capacity in addition to the 61 litre freezer that gave issues. It is disappointing that the freezer stopped during the charter, but the other two refrigeration units were fully operational.

Lazy Jack lines: Were new in the spring of this year. Repaired whilst customers were at the Baths the same day they reported the failure.

VHF: The VHF was tested not only during the pre-charter technical checks, but also demonstrated to the guests during the boat briefing the day they boarded the yacht on the 26th. Guest called the Manager on Duty at 11:09am on 30th July. Within 10 minutes we had resolved this issue. There are two VHF stations aboard; one at the helm, and one at the Nav Desk. The mic at the Nav Desk was working. We had the client move the Nav VHF to the client preferred helm station.

Leaking Hatch: We leaked tested the hatches on the 10th of August. No leaks were present. I can only assume that the offending hatch was not ‘dogged down’ sufficiently.

Windlass Remote: The anchor on an Open 40 is deployed from under the bridge deck. It is important to keep an eye on the anchor chain and windlass when you are deploying or retrieving the anchor and chain. The yacht in question cam with a remote control at the helm as part of the yacht manufacture’s package. We disconnect this helm remote for charter use as it’s use could cause problems. It was disconnected not broken. This was explained to the client during his boat brief the first day.

Under Water Lights: I am sorry that these were not functional at the time of this charter. We have subsequently repaired a wiring fault on one and ordered a replacement second unit that needs replacing.
Salon Table: The factory installed latches were prone to failure and upgraded them with much more substantial stainless steel barrel bolts when the yacht joined our fleet. After this review came to light they were inspected and found to be fully functional.

Invertor: Tested after charter and proved to be working. No faults found.

Ownership: This yacht is a privately owned vessel contrary to belief stated by this guest. This is a moot point as we care for each yacht in the same regard for charter maintenance. When we owned the yacht, which we did, we took as good care of it as we would for an owner. We both charter and sell yachts. It is in our best interest to maintain them at the highest standard for both reasons. It does not make sense to put boats out on charter if it is going to hurt your reputation and therefore loose future customers.

At this point I would like to address a couple of points that were not mention in the post.

This charter captain noted on the first day of charter that he was aware that he had to be moored by 5:30 and no sailing at night. Yet, on the penultimate day of their charter they returned to Horizon Yacht Charters with no communication at 7:30 pm. As people at the shoreside restaurant saw this they called a Horizon Manager about it. Jalon went to catch the client’s lines and assist them on to the dock. The client reportedly was pleased to have assistance as it was tricky, and his crew had not put the fenders in the correct position. He then expressed surprise to find Horizon staff there after hours. Obviously if an accident had happened this would have serious consequences for all. If the yacht had sustained damaged and had to be repaired; The client would be responsible for the costs. The next charter guest would not be able to use Double Expresso for their holiday. Horizon would have looked bad for not being able to honour the next charter. Insurance premiums would go up. The owner would have a damaged yacht and lost needed revenue.

National Park Mooring Ball: The captain acknowledges overnighting on one with little regard for the rules. For your information, The charter client is liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00 USD), or to imprisonment for a term of 1 year, or to both such fine and imprisonment for using a Nation Park Mooring for overnight use. This law is highlighted in the HYC “Skipper’s Hand Book” on each one of our yachts. The wording of the law seems extreme and I doubt that anyone would be imprisoned nor taken to full fine, but we would be remiss not to tell our clients the letter of the law.

Out of bounds: It is interesting that the client maintained that he did not get a chart briefing. Chart briefings high light the good spots as well as no go zones. Eustacia Sound is one of those no go zones for our yachts due to insurance reasons. (Explore Eustacia with your dinghy please) There are two independent GPS chartplotters fitted to Double Expresso. Both were laying out continuous track lines of where the boat had gone during the charter. Interestingly enough, one tracking line was deleted. Evidently to hide the fact that Double Expresso had gone into Eustacia Sound. Our guess is that the client did not realize that the other GPS was independent. The other GPS, tracking not deleted, clearly shows the transiting East of Saba Rock and around through into Eustacia sound. This is also covered in the Departure Check Out form that the client signed. They also underlined this particular no-go-zone on that form.

Ceiling falling down: This was not mentioned at debrief nor reported whilst on charter. Our shipwright refitted it the port forward ceiling during his charter checks. Unfortunately the shipwright is now on holiday so I am unaware of the specific problem here. He just reports on his daily work sheet “refit ceiling panel”. The panel is secured by industrial type Velcro so that it can be removed easily to access wiring etc
In summary, since Irma in September 2017, the Horizon Staff have delivered nothing short of a miracle and worked diligently combining the rebuild effort with regular charter operations. Double Expresso has been out on 13 charters this season and up until this one charter we have met and exceeded our guests’ expectations.

We do appreciate the opportunity to address our clients concerns. Whilst the above may well come off as defensive, it was done with great care to the truth and speaking with every staff member involved. It took time to make sure this reply was honest and that was the only reason for any delay in rebuttal. It is regrettable that the clients chose not to deal with these complaints whilst they were here and with their charter company directly. Our team thought throughout the charter that the client was satisfied with the remedies provided. At the very least, we would have thought that if a client was unhappy with their charter they would have said so at the end, during debrief. Especially if they were this unhappy. When things don’t go well on charter we do our level best to remedy them during charter. As someone who spoke with the client during his charter there is a disconnect between the person I spoke to and the person that wrote this condemnation. I am sincere when I say that I am glad that they have come down to the BVI to support the country during a challenging time and enjoy our islands and water. They have chartered in the BVI 4 times, each time with a different charter company. As they love the BVI, I do hope they find a charter company they love equally. We would of course welcome them back to Horizon in the hope of an opportunity to give them a flawless charter the next time they visit.

Sincerely,
The Horizon Yacht Charters Team