11-day charter on CYOA's Sail Pending

Had a ball sailing the USVI and BVI aboard CYOA's Sail Pending - a 2013 FP Lipari 41. This boat has 4 cabins and four heads, generator and AC. It is extremely economical for cruising if you have all cabins filled.

There were 8 of us, and accommodations were a little tight, but it turned out just grand. We had many wonderful evening meals with all 8 of us around the cockpit table.

We had some of the best snorkeling on this trip of any in the last 30 years. The reefs appear to be in a little better condition this year. We snorkeled Cinnamon Bay, Monkey Point, The Baths, Loblolly, The Indians, and Christmas Cove. This was my first time at The Indians, and it's now on the "must-do" list.

The GoPro was awesome, though I must admit it was a little more "wide angle" than I would like. The $1.66 PVC stick I made out of 31-inches of 1/2-inch pipe and two endcaps was just about perfect for getting the GoPro closer to the action when snorkeling. Got this tip on TTOL! It was the largest length that would fit diagonally in our largest suitcase. I should have painted it black - would probably spook the fish less. The image quality of the GoPro Hero3+ is excellent!

Here are a few pics, reduced for quick loading...

Welcome back! Look forward to more stories and pictures.

Nice, sounds like a great trip. Photos look great.

Cheers, RickG

I look forward to more pics. My husband got one for his father's day gift and we plan on taking it to mexico in the fall and VG in the spring.

Did you glue the PVC end caps on? Would leakage in the pipe be a concern. I am thinking with a union, we could extend the length by using two pieces of pipe.

Can you share some detail about the accomodations? We are looking at that boat for next May (with 7.5 people)

Yes, using the purple primer and the clear goo cement.
I think a 4-foot pole might be just about right, but it's too big for my luggage. Longer would probably be cumbersome in the water. A take-down sectional might work, but it would probably leak.
You can buy professionally made GoPro poles, but they cost more than $1.66. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Have fun in Mexico and on VG!

Sure!

Sail Pending has four staterooms, each with a standard sized double bed.
There is a single berth available in the port hull which is accessed through the bed of the forward double. The single berth on the starboard side is owner-equipment and not available for access or use.
Stateroom appointments include:
* large hatch above each bed, small ventilation hatch
* shelf (aft cabins) or storage areas (fwd) at bunk
* two 12V lights in each berth,
* one light in the floor-area,
* A single 120V outlet,
* small closet for hang-up clothes and shelf,
* A fan that can be pointed at the bed or floor area,
* AC vent,
* Head with holding tank, AC vent, toiletries caddy, hatch,

The aft port cabin has a generator under the bed which is very quiet. The steady hum was not a problem for the occupants of this cabin and does provide some "white noise" cover sound for the typical bumps, clangs, and pumps you otherwise hear in the night and say "what was that!?" This generator does reduce the storage space available in that cabin, as there is a large area generally under each bed for storage of seldom-used "stuff."

I found the forward cabins a bit more "livable" than the aft cabins.

As you might expect, the heads are small because there are four of them, but it's a good choice if you have a group of four couple that don't know each other all that well (as in our case). The privacy is nice. The toilet size is "extra small." My biz partner who is 6-foot, 6 inches tall and weighs around 280 lb laughingly exclaimed that he couldn't get both his butt and his junk aligned over the toilet opening at the same time! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> Your smaller sized folk should not have any trouble, and he coped ok.

One has to make some space compromises to get four doubles and four heads in a 39ft-2in boat, but it makes for a very cost-effective arrangement if you fill all the cabins. Boat cost for our low-season 11 day charter with 8 people ran just a little more than $1,000 per person (disclaimer: I get a repeat-customer discount). In general, storage space is a bit more limited vs. larger more expensive 4-cabin cats that are 3-4 feet longer. As they say: More is more. That said, we managed to find space to squirrel away 11 days worth of food, 30 gallons of bottled water, and 10 cases of drinks.

If you want a bit more storage space you might consider Moonshadow (CYOA's Orana 44). However, Moonshadow is currently $1K more a week than Sail Pending. I've chartered Moonshadow twice.

Check out CYOA's website to compare features and costs: http://www.cyoacharters.com/cats.asp