The Virgin Islands Crewed Yacht Shows

The LateSail staff has just returned from the USVI and BVI Charter Yacht Shows and they were once again a huge success. This is the annual event where the crewed yacht industry invites the brokers down to St Thomas in the USVI and Tortola in the BVI to get a glimpse of what the clients experience on board.

What’s a crewed yacht? Fully Crewed charter is perfect if you want the ultimate luxury sailing vacation. You have at least a 2 person crew waiting on you and doing all the work.  All your meals and drinks are included and it’s an open bar.  Many of the chefs have extensive culinary training and you’ll submit a preference sheet prior to arrival so they know what to stock the boat with. They’ll bring you anywhere you want to go and you typically decide the itinerary based on suggestions from the crew and what you want to see.

Candice Clough the crewed specialist from the Boston office and Dan Lockyer, the CEO and crewed specialist from the London office were in attendance this year. They had a chance to meet  the Captains & Crews and view the yachts that set the standard for excellence in the charter industry!

Every yacht wants to be the BEST and this is their opportunity show their best side and win. Awards are given out for  Culinary contest winners for bet Appetizer, Entrée, Dessert. It’s easy to think you’ve been transported to a 5 start restaurant when you step aboard, so just in case you forgot for a second you were in the Caribbean, they gave out an award of  “Best use of Mount Gay Rum!”

So they took a business trip to BVI, was it really work? The USVI show had over 30 yachts to tour and the BVI show has over 80 years this year, so it kept Dan and Candice pretty busy. On top of that they use the trip to BVI as an opportunity to visit the bareboat fleets and take note of changes and improvements around Tortola, so they’re always giving clients up to date travel advice.

The boat shows hare hosted in conjunction with the Charter Yacht Brokers Association (CYBA). CYBA INTERNATIONAL is a prestigious industry association of charter brokers founded over 25 years and both Dan and Candice are very proud to be active members

CYBA members are required to meet extensive requirements to qualify for membership, subscribe to CYBA’s strict code of ethics, and inspect yachts and interview crews regularly

This years winning yachts at the show were :

CULINARY CONTEST SPONSORED BY MOUNT GAY RUM

Appetizer/Salad

1ST – Chef Nadin on NANA

2ND – Chef Jennifer on CRAZY HORSE

Entree

1ST – Chef Christine on MAI’TAI

2ND – Chef Claire on KATLO

Dessert

1ST (TIE)- Chef David on LADY KATLO

1ST (TIE) – Chef Angie on SECRET OASIS

2ND – Chef Angela on CARIBBEAN DREAM

Best use of Mount Gay Rum

Best Overall Dish

SOL BEST IN SHOW

Sol Best Monohull

1ST – Greg & Vanessa Langridge on BLUE PASSION

Sol Best Motor Yacht

1ST – Chris & Magie Baxter and crew on WATERSHED II

Sol Best Multihull under 57′

1ST – Tamas Hamor Sara Hajdu on PEARL

Sol Best Multihull over 57′

1ST – Donald & Audrey Harper on ALETHEIA

2ND (TIE)- Rod & Kerry dos Santos on PAS DE DEUX

Sol Best in Show

CYBA Save the Blue Award

CYBA Champion of the Sea Award

Charlotte McDevitt (Executive Director GREEN VI)