I am looking to charter one of the Brent's cats this year and trying to decide between his Lagoon 38 and Norseman 43. Wondering if anybody can share his/her experience with either one of them, or hopefully both. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Not specific to these two boats, but the models in general. Both have small cockpits, The Norseman 43 you have to climb out of the cockpit. Lagoon 380 has nice size cabins. Norseman sails better. For a better comparison search for these models on Yachtworld.com and you will find more photos that will represent the boats better than any charter company does. Bottom line, neither are perfect boats and you will be fine for a week.

Unreg,
We've booked the Lom Dee Lagoon 380 for 10 days in May from Brent. Never sailed a cat before so we have a captain for the duration. We had 3 couples scheduled but as of now down to 2. From what I've heard its enough space for 3 couples for 10 days, we'll see come May!

We have chartered Brent's Athena " Timeless Passage" twice. He now has a Leopard 42 and we are booked with it in March. With our experience with Brent, you won't go wrong with any of his boats.

Thank you guys! After reading reviews on this and other forums, I am pretty sure I will be happy with either of Brent's boats. But since I cannot charter both of them I have to make a choice. And I think I am leaning more towards Norseman 43. It seems to be more spacious(obviously) and we don't need 4 cabins (we are probably only 2 couples). So I would rather have "owners version" in Norseman.

Rented two oceans last February , great boat for two couples. Brent was great to deal with,boat was super clean and any problems were quickly dealt with. Would rent from him anytime.

Thank you, it is a great recommendation. Do you recall by any chance if this boat has GPS/chartploter at the helm?

And that's important why?

It's all easy line of sight.

We spent most of November on "Two Oceans" the Norseman 43 and had a blast! There were 7 of us and never once thought we needed a bigger boat. There is a GPS/Chartplotter at the helm but I never used it and am not sure he has the data card for it. Brent is one of the nicest boat guys I have ever met, from start to finish, never had any problems with the boat or Brent. Here are just a few of our pictures.

http://s1243.photobucket.com/user/1mykro/slideshow/BVI%202013

It's fun to look at <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> I like to time trips and estimated speed, just something else to do. I could be wrong but heard Brent disables chart plotters and auto pilots, so the charter guest has to pay attention.

The auto pilot was available but Brent requested that we do not use it. I really didn't miss it, I rarely use one so it is no big deal.

We were on our way to Cooper and had to tack due to a drone sailboat, no body on deck, we yelled still got nobody's attention. About 5 minutes later they jibed and followed us in. We had a small friendly discussion at the Beach Club.

As any kind of tools autopilot has it's place. One can use a hammer to build a house , somebody else to kill a person. It is not a hammer's fault
I agree that autopilot is probably not necessary in BVI, but still can be useful in certain situations: for example when you raising sails with a short crew, rather than have some inexperienced person try to steer the boat into the wind. As far as a plotter is concerned: even if it is line of vision navigation you still need a chart, and a plotter is a nice electronic version of a chart at your fingertips.

Re: charterplotter and autopilot...

I can play a round of golf with just a putter and 5 iron, but prefer to have other clubs in the bag. Makes the experience more enjoyable.

and the golf GPS, love it

I always putt with my Garmin GPS, or a pool cue. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/pirate.gif" alt="" />

Been absent from the board for a bit but wanted to add my 2 cents..
Brent is running a great little operation out of Manuel Reef. If you can find a better value in the Caribbean let me know! Great guy, easy and fast check in/ check out, etc, etc, etc... pm me for more info.

As for the chart plotter, they should be mandatory on every single bareboat. I can't imagine handing over a boat to someone who is new to the area without one. Autopilot = auto trouble for the complacient and I would want it disabled on any boat that I leased out also.

Cheers -

Strongly disagree with you, cruzan1, about the chart plotter.

A chart plotter is an aid to navigation, not a substitute for navigation.

Whilst I totally agree that they are a great, handy piece of kit, since the introduction of chart plotters aboard charter yachts, I have seen more damage done and more pain than ever took place with navigational systems that were previously well used - things like the Mark One Eyeball.

Our own dinghy dock in St Vincent is shown about 10 yards inland. We've had a boat hard and fast on Mopion sandbank because the skipper was at the chart table staring at the chart plotter rather than opening his eyes to steer through the gap (sure, it wouldn't have happened if it had been a helm-mounted plotter, but that's not my point).

I'm not suggesting that everyone has to be a Joshua Slocum and sail across oceans with a sextant and a stop watch (which I did). But the more modern electronic navigational equipment I've seen introduced over more than 3 decades in the charter business, the more complacent I've seen charterers become (often unwittingly) about basic navigation and the more accidents have occurred as a result - over-reliance on the machinery and, as above, ignoring the most important piece of navigation gear aboard, your own eyes.

Like I say, I agree that a chart plotter is a great piece of kit that can make life a lot easier. But folks need to know that it ain't the be-all and end-all ... :-)

Seth,

I never suggested that a chart plotter be used as a substitute for navigation. It is an aid, and one that can be of great value. I would also suggest that the influx of inexperinced mariners running into trouble could probably be pointed more towards the blanket marketing campaigns of the industry. Heart beat, credit card, heres the boat your good to go, be back in a week. These same companies have no problem sending people off the dock with nothing more than a blurry photocopied chart and cruising guide that does a better job advertising who's got what for dinner than it does explaining the various anchorages/harbors.
Thus my logic that having a device (at the helm) that provides real time reference could be a valuable addition to those Mark One Eyeballs.

No offense, I get what your saying. Any fool can fly a plane on autopilot, its the landing thats tricky! The real question is, why is the fool sitting in the pilot seat to begin with?

I sail with my eyeballs, but love the convenience of autopilot and toying with my chartplotter and radar. Even though I own my boat, a charter boat without would be a deal breaker.

+1