agrimsrud said:
I have chartered with CYOA in CA the past three years. I have also chartered (once) from Sunsail on Tortola before that.
I have not chartered from Island Yachts out of Red Hook but most of what I mention below should apply to them as well.
Advantages:
1. For me - cheaper air travel
2. Avoid the ferry hassle and can control my schedule to make my flight with little fear that the ferries are going to blow up, sink, or be delayed (ok... the first two are an exaggeration but the latter is not) and leave me with too little time to catch my flight. Which results in stress that I would just be happy not to have on vacation.
3. Better/cheaper provisioning
4. Better boat (better equipped) for slightly cheaper than the same sized boat from Sunsail (or similar)
5. In my opinion the boats are better maintained and cared for
Disadvantages:
1. CYOA has no chase boat. I don't know about IYC. I have not needed anything that would require a service call but boats are boats and it could certainly be an issue.
2. As someone has already mentioned - you need an extra day or day and a half if your intent is to be sailing in the BVI in order to get in/out of the USVI. Solution to that is to enjoy the US side - it's really pretty nice.
3. More limited boat availability. CYOA has been adding Cats and seem to be decreasing mono hulls which is probably a reflection of the market. From what I can see, CYOA has more dock/mooring space. I'm not going to pretend to know anything about their business, but I"m still going to venture a guess that if there were greater demand there would me more boat options - they seem to understand capitalism.
That's my experience. As they say... your mileage might vary depending on what you value.
Anders,
Thanks for your support.
A couple things that I would add.
1. Chase boats, due to the distance and work permit issues for us in the BVI's we have long standing agreements with several contractors throughout the BVI's to handle these issues. We stock a huge inventory of parts that can be sent to the BVI's by ferry and have a standing relationship with vendors in the BVI's for parts as well. Also due to the added cost for us and our business model we are a very proactive company maintenance wise. We prefer to stay in front of maintenance issues. Our entire fleet was out for New Years and we didn't do a single chase call. Sure boats break but we do our best to minimize that. In either case we can handle a chase or service call in an efficient manner when the need arises.
2. Travel time, as I have said time and time again you are going to spend this time one way or the other. I would rather be on a boat than a ferry. St John is one of the most spectacular places on this planet and way more fun than two cabs and a ferry. As for the last night returning, we have a Pizza Boat at Christmas Cove, you have Heidi' and Dinghy's at water island and there are several places on St John that you can stay and return the next morning.
3.Inventory, yes we have added a lot of new cats with more to come. Mono hulls are a problem that the entire industry is having. We have retired several monos in the last year and a half and we are having a difficult time selling new ones. This is not by design as there is still demand for these boats on the charter side. People simply aren't buying many monos. A large portion of our owners are buying boats to eventually retire on. Most people want a cat for that in the current market. This might sound crazy but it's easier to find a buyer for a $800,000 cat than it is for $300,000 mono.
PS Thanks to all of our clients for your support.
Jay
