Welcome to the Exciting Field of Boat Brokering!

April 17, 2013. Home.



I don't know what it is with boat brokers, but at least from a buyer's perspective, they have to be the least dependable group of people I have ever tried to give huge sums of money too. Maybe it's because they technically don't take any commission from buyers, and only get paid by the sellers. But surely they need buyers to buy the boats the sellers are selling, don't they?

I first met a boat broker a couple of years ago in Vancouver, when I went to look at a Lagoon 380 there (which is still for sale two years later – that's some excellent brokerage work). That broker (who worked for a company that rhymed with Fraser Yacht Sales) couldn't have been less interested in showing me the boat. He knew next to nothing about the make and model, and essentially stood there while I worked my way through the boat and back. I wasn't terribly interested in that boat, but asked him to send me as spec sheet for new boats, so I could get an idea of the costs, options, etc. He assured me he would within 24 hours.

Two years later, I'm still waiting for that spec sheet.

Anyway, I thought maybe that was just a typical lame ass left coast approach to boat sales, and I wrote it off as such (although I swore never to buy a boat from that particular brokerage). Unfortunately, that impression has been constantly reinforced over the last couple of weeks with our new attempts to buy a boat.

Here's what my experience has been like so far. For the past several weeks, I have been a pretty hardcore peruser of "yachtworld.com", which, for those who don't know, is the boating world equivalent of porn sites for perverts. In fact, whenever I get looking at a boat I clearly can't afford, we call it "looking at boat porn."

Anyway, I had a good idea of what I was after (boat wise, not porn wise), so I went on to the website of the company that was listing the boat I was most interested in and filled out their "request more info" form. The next day a very pleasant and knowledgeable broker (whose works for a large brokerage, that will remain anonymous, other than to say their name is The Multihull Company) called me, and we went through, in great detail, exactly what I was after. I also told him there was already a boat I was interested in, which happened to be listed with his company. He assured me he would go right to work finding boats that fit my needs, and also asked if I could send him a copy of the listing I was interested in. Sounds great, thought I. Immediately after hanging up with him, I sent him the listing. I figured he could just shout down the hall to the listing broker, they could set me up to see the boat, I'd love it, buy it, and bam, big, easy split commission for both of them.

Two weeks later, I've never heard back from Boat Broker #2.

Not an option

So about a week after that original call, I saw another boat that looked good. Starting to realize I wasn't likely to hear back from broker #2, I called the selling broker for this new boat (let's pretend he works with the Florida Yacht Group) . Unfortunately, it had just been sold. He then went on to spend about ½ an hour telling me about another boat that would be perfect, though, and was even nicer than the one I was interested. Punch line to that story – too bad I hadn't called a few days ago, because it had just been sold too. But….he was about to get the listing for another equally nice boat. He expected to know that night, and would call me back the next day.

A week later, I've never heard a word back from Captain J*** (that is really what he calls himself in his ads.).

So, by now, I'm starting to realize that if I want to buy a boat, I can't really depend much on the people who take huge commissions for doing next to nothing, as far as I can tell. I keep haunting the internet daily (usually several times per day - my eyes are starting to hurt), and have come up with a couple more potentials. Two days ago, I finally got smart, and emailed the broker of the first boat I was interested in (yet another fine representative of TMC). He emailed me back right away, and said he would call me the next day. Never heard from him.

So yesterday, I emailed another broker who had an interesting listing. He emailed me back and said he'd call me this morning. Guess what. Never heard from him either (company pseudonym – Annapolis Yacht Sails).

So this morning, I finally decided to get aggressive, and called the broker of the first boat, that started this whole thing, long distance B.C. to Florida, at my own expense. "Oh yeah," he says. "I meant to call you, but got busy." No kidding. Must have been a crisis day at the Multihull Company. Not surprisingly, he had never heard of me from the original broker I talked to, who works for the same flippin' company. Anyway, to his credit, he does seem to know what he is talking about, and he has been quick back and forth on the email since. It actually looks like we might have a viewing arranged.

Ain't gonna happen

Given all this, you can imagine my surprise when I received a call from Alina Lauriero at Just Catamarans today. I had emailed her yesterday as well, and she had told me she would call me back today. Technically she was a couple of hours later calling than she said she would be, but this is the first broker I have encountered so far who actually called me on the day they said they would.

Not only that, but she proved to be extremely knowledgeable, engaging and pleasant on the phone. To top it all off, my jaw nearly hit the floor when she actually went so far as to say she wouldn't recommend the boat I had enquired about, and went on to make other extremely appropriate recommendations, some of which weren't even represented by her company.

The whole thing was a bit Twilight Zonish – a broker who actually sounded like she was interested in helping me find the right boat, at the right price. I was even more impressed when I realized that Just Catamarans is the company where the infamous Bumfuzzles (www.bumfuzzle.com) started out, and they still employ Kent, who Pat and Ali joked about taking on their trip with them, given how much he helped them when they were starting out. Anyway, things are looking up, at least from a broker perspective. Still haven't found the perfect boat yet, but there are a few possibilities out there, so our fingers are crossed.

Anyway, if anyone is looking for a job where a little get up and go could make them the most successful person on the planet, I suggest looking into becoming a boat broker.

Confession

April 10, 2013. Home.

It's time for a confession. The charter vacation in the BVIs was more than just a getaway for us. It was also a "trial run". In fact, it was the last of several charter trip/trial runs with our family on a catamaran, meant to see if we could spend an extended period of time together on a boat, and do some serious travelling.

Now, I'm fully aware that 10 days in the BVIs does not equate to spending months on end with a family of five living and travelling in a space roughly equivalent to a small studio apartment. And it could well be argued that it is not much of a trial run for a plan like that. But it has to be a better facsimile than sitting at home, thinking about it and reading about it on the internet (which we have also done a lot of).

In fact, we've been thinking of an extended family cruise for the better part of 7 years now. Over and over again, we have come up with and discarded various plans: sell everything and go now, wait until the kids are all in college then cruise as a retired couple, cruise a few months every year and work in between, or take a sabbatical and do a trip with the whole family.

Finally, after years of discussions, making, and discarding plans, we have finally decided to pull the ripcord, and go for it. So what has changed? Why have we finally decided to go now instead of more waiting and more planning?

Well, we've realized there is no perfect time to go on an extended trip like this. We definitely want to do it as a family, so waiting until the kids leave home is not an option. Also, we are currently fortunate to have our health, and our extended families are healthy and stable. As I see at work every day, things can change in an instant, and plans for future dreams don't always work out.



Another big factor is my current ability to take a leave from work. As it turns out, there are currently lots of doctors in my area interested in taking over my practice. This has not always been the case. In fact, historically, it has been extremely difficult to find locums, especially in a smaller town. So there is a window of opportunity.

Finally, our kids are at the perfect ages to do this now. Alexander is 13 going on 14 – if we wait much longer, he will be a full-on teenager, and while he is a pretty easy going guy, we are aware of important it is to kids to be around their peers as they get older. Christopher is full of adventure and life, and keen to try something different for a while. And Katie, while she has some concerns about missing her friends, is solid, confident, and outgoing. We have no doubt she can handle the change. As for Sara and I – maybe it's selfish, but we want some real time with our kids, uninterrupted by Youtube, play dates, swim practices, committee meetings, on-call shifts and all the other million distractions that creep into our lives. We want the opportunity to connect, explore, learn and see more of the world with our family.



So, what's the plan? We've come up with a scheme that we feel we can swing socially, financially, and career wise. We are going to take a year's sabbatical, and buy a boat with a plan to resell when we are done. We've talked a lot about where we might go – Europe and the Mediterranean, the West Coast of the US and Mexico, or the East Coast and the Caribbean.

While it is tempting to go to Europe, buy a boat in the Med and eventually cross the Atlantic to the Caribbean, the logistics of a boat purchase overseas, getting it set up to cruise, and transporting the whole family just seems too overwhelming.

Instead, we are going to look for a boat on the East Coast of the US. This should allow us to start there, spend some time exploring places like Washington D.C. and New York, then, when hurricane season dies down, work our way south. We are keeping our minds open as to where we will eventually get, since many a sailing trip has been destroyed by too rigid an itinerary. We will probably have to make a choice between the Western Carribean and the Eastern Carribean, as well as lots of little choices in between. We have lots of ideas and dreams, but we will have to see how it all plays out.

So there you are. It feels good to finally come clean, and let you know what we're up to.

You are invited to follow along for the ride, and we will try and keep you posted as plans evolve. I've already got the work situation pretty much figured out for the year. The next step – find a boat!

Final impressions of the BVIs

Now that we're back home, I thought I'd write a bit about some of our general impressions of sailing in the BVIs, in case anyone stumbles across this blog in preparation for their own trip. I know before we went, we did a few internet searches for ideas, thoughts, and advice, given that it was a long way and a big expense. So, for what it's worth, here are my two cents on a few relevant topics.



The Charter Company:

Prior to our trip, I spent a fair bit of time researching the various charter companies on their websites and thevarious sailing forums. We ended up going with Conch Charters, despite the fact that there was some negative opinion about them on some of the sailing forums. On closer inspection, it appeared that the negative opinions all came from one unhappy customer, and the criticisms didn't really seem – more like an unreasonable person with lots of time on his hands venting (or a competitor taking a cheap swipe? You can't really tell on the internet). Anyway, we went with Conch for several reasons. Mainly, they were significantly less expensive than the "first tier" companies (the Moorings and Sunsail). We knew this would mean we would get an older boat that had seen more use, and this certainly turned out to be true. However, given that we have chartered on older boats lots of times, and were comfortable fixing minor issues that came up, we were happy with this trade off. The service we experienced with Conch was very professional, and everything they promised, they delivered fully up to our expectations. Their charter base is a bit worn relative to the high end companies, but again, the people were pleasant, efficient, and responsive, so there is really nothing to complain about.

Would it have been nice to charter a newer, fancier boat? Definitely. Would it have been worth the money? Maybe not. In the end, we got to snorkel the same water, relax on the same beaches and eat in the same restaurants as those in the fanciest boats, and we were comfortable and well taken care of the whole time. Would we charter with Conch again? Probably, although if we were to go back to the BVI, it would be tempting to go with a different company in order to get on a different boat, just to experience a different manufacturer and a different sailing set up.

In the end, if we went back, I wouldn't stress as much about which charter company and what boat as we did prior to this trip. All the companies and boats we saw seemed professionally maintained, and well run. I think they are so busy, they can't afford to do things poorly. Any differences are minor shades of grey, but like everything else in life, you get what you pay for, so if you want a premium experience, pony up the dough and go with one of the top end companies. If you are just as comfortable with a slightly more used boat, you can save a few bucks on the charter, and buy more Painkillers at the beach bar. Either way, you can reasonably expect the company to take good care of you, and make sure you have a great experience.



The Boat:

Catywampus was a 2007 Leopard 43 catamaran, and based on the worn spots where the decals had previously been, we could tell that she originally was a Moorings boat. She was well maintained, but also had some signs of being heavily used, and I suspect she has had a busy charter life. She was more than adequate for our needs, and we were definitely comfortable on her. She sailed better than I thought she would, and we managed to keep up well with a 50 foot Voyage catamaran when we sailed across to Anegada. The sailing controls were not the most convenient, and we definitely needed at least two capable people on deck to handle lines, halyards, etc. whenever we were sailing. The anchor and chain were pretty worn, but the anchoring set up worked pretty well. The interior was comfortable and clean, but a gain, a bit worn around the edges. Overall, I'd say this is a good boat for chartering for a week or two. If I wanted to live on board a boat, I don't think I'd go with an older Leopard. I haven't been on any of the newer ones, but the Lagoons we have chartered previously have more liveable space, storage, etc., for long term use.



The BVIs:

The Islands themselves are an amazing place to charter, and deliver well on the promise of clear, clean, warm water, lots of sun, and easy sailing and navigation. It is really the perfect place to charter for someone without a lot of experience, as it is remarkably easy, with no significant tides or currents to worry about, and pretty consistent wind. The infrastructure for the sailing and tourist crowd is well established, and it is pretty hard to get yourself in significant trouble, and almost impossible to be very far from help if you do.

The downside of all this ease and convenience is that it is pretty busy, and the popular mooring spots were crowded during the spring break timeframe of our trip. We expected this, though, and set out early on the days we moved to new digs, usually arriving before noon. By doing this, we always managed to secure a spot wherever we wanted. The remarkable thing, though, that we didn't expect, was that it is pretty easy to avoid the crowds, simply by going to slightly less popular bays, and anchoring out, or even anchoring a bit away from a mooring field. There were several places we went into, picked up a mooring ball, and then realized that if we had looked around a bit more there was room not far away to anchor in the same area, a bit away from the crowd. As long as your main goal isn't restaurants, beaches, and night life, even during the busy time we were there, we managed a couple of quiet, relatively isolated nights by anchoring a little off the beaten path.

Given the relative lack of experience of many of the charterers there, most people spend to stick with the pack, and follow the published itineraries. The itineraries seem be designed, at least in part, to hook tourists up with the opportunity to spend money, so they largely focus around places with restaurants, yacht clubs etc. I won't write the name of our favorite spots, as I don't want to spoil the sense of discovery you could have by scouring the charts and looking for your own independent places. I will say that, if we went again, there are 4 or 5 places we would definitely go, and forego a few of the mooring fields we went to this time.



The People:

I can't say we were overwhelmed by the friendliness of the people living and working in the BVIs. Like any heavily travelled tourist destination, the overarching ethic seemed to be to separate travellers from their money as efficiently as possible, with as little personal interaction as necessary. The service was frequently brusque, and a few times downright surly. We got the impression that most of the locals were very clear they were unlikely to ever see us again, and they didn't have any vested interest in being pleasant, given that we would soon be replaced by another pink American with a fat wallet. It was slightly disappointing.

There were, however, a few remarkable exceptions. The lady that filled our outboard gas tank on Jost Van Dyke was initially as standoffish as everyone else, but when I took the time to engage her in a bit of conversation and ask about her life, she suddenly lit up with a big smile, and became really chatty. The same thing happened with our taxi driver from Charlotte Amalie to the St. Thomas airport when I asked him about where he grew up, and what it was like. And as I mentioned above, the staff at the charter operation was at the very least extremely professional, and a few were also really pleasant, personable, and welcoming. In the final analysis, I guess people, like everything else, give back whatever you put into them.

0945, April 3, 30,000 feet over Arkansas

Back in the air en route to Denver from Atlanta, screaming babies in the back of the plane and drink carts bumping our elbows, it is hard to believe we started out in tropical waters yesterday morning. The whole day yesterday was "hurry up and wait". We were up by 6:00, and off our mooring half an hour later, heading back across Sir Francis Drake Channel for Road Town. The wind was still strong, and as we got bounced and rocked by the big waves, we realized what great protection Kelly Cove had offered us for the previous two nights.

It was tempting to crank up the sails, as the wind was a solid 20+ knots on our beam, but we were on a tight schedule to make sure we got the ten a.m. ferry out of Road Town, so we bit the bullet and just powered our way back to the charter base. Once in, it was a quick matter to fuel up the boat (only $130.00 worth of fuel for the whole 10 days – gotta love wind power!), and unload all our gear. It was a bit strange to just turn over Catywampus, who had been our home for 10 days, to a total stranger, and watch him drive her away to dock waiting for the next group of tourists to take her out. We had all become more attached than we realized.

We didn't have much time to dwell on it though, because the taxi was there right away, and we were off to the Road Town fast ferry, only a few minutes from the charter base.



Before long, we were on the big power catamaran, headed for St. Thomas. Not the cleanest or most pleasant trip, but at least it was nonstop, and we only had an hour to sweat in the hot compartment (with no working AC), and breathe the diesel fumes blowing in from the back of the boat.



When we pulled in to Charlotte Amalie, we had the bad luck to land right behind another ferry unloading its own cargo of sunburnt tourists. Since we had to clear immigration at the ferry terminal, we were obliged to sit and wait on our ferry for another hour, at the dock, then stand in line for another hour after that to get through the backlog. We had left plenty of time to catch our flight, but were starting to get a little nervous, not knowing how long the whole process would take. A nice family ahead of us were due to catch a flight to Switzerland, and despite begging their way to the front of the line, we later caught up with them at the airport, where they had missed their flight, and were making alternate arrangements. You really can't rush anything in the islands.

    

Eventually, after satisfying the needs of homeland security, we made it through, and hopped in another taxi to the airport. There, we got to wait in more lines for customs and airport security. This time, the process was more efficient, and we made it through with a few minutes to spare prior to boarding our plane. So much for the two hour buffer we thought we had given ourselves.

After that, it was a comfortable flight to Atlanta, and the kids all enjoyed the inflight TVs Delta supplies, so the 3 ½ hours went by quickly. It is amazing how big a difference something like that makes. We are on United today, and there is no equivalent entertainment, so we are having to work a bit harder to keep the kids entertained. They are really good on the planes, but as the hours tick by, they get restless, and need to be reminded not to be too disruptive to the people around them.

    

Back in Atlanta, we took the convenient free train back to the Springhill Suites, and dropped our bags off in our room. Having been there 10 days previously paid off with a few tricks we had learned on our last stay. It turns out you can actually take the luggage carts from the airport all the way to the hotel, so we took advantage and pushed our bags all the way to our rooms, then decided just to keep the carts in our room overnight, and took our bags back on them this morning. We had a lot of sailing gear with us, and our bags were heavy, so it was a big help. Especially given that I am still dragging around a significant portion of sea urchin in my left foot, so it is not the most comfortable thing to be walking long distances with heavy bags.

We popped back to the airport for dinner, and treated ourselves to Oreo Brownie Sundaes at Burger King for dessert, to celebrate our success at making it off the boat in one piece.

Today, we were up early (5:45 Atlanta time; losing 3 hours today with the time change is going to hit us hard tonight!). We were quickly back to the airport for a smooth check in to today's flights. We are now on the way to Denver, where hopefully we'll have enough time for lunch, then will head off to Spokane, and finally home!

2045, April 1, Kelly Cove, Norman Island

Today was a full day, and we didn't even move the big boat. We spent our last full day in the BVIs trying to pack in everything that the west end of Norman Island had to offer.

We started the morning with a relaxed breakfast of pancakes and bacon – it was an interesting food day, too, as we tried to use up everything that was left over on the boat.

Then, around 10:00, we loaded up the dinghy and headed over to "the Caves", which are a prominent snorkelling site just across the Bight (the main mooring bay here). We jumped in for a good snorkel around the caves, and saw lots of great fish and reefs. It was pretty busy, though, and didn't provide a lot more than the snorkelling we had done in Kelly Cove the day before, right off our own boat, so we only lasted about half an hour in total.

After that, we took the dinghy into the Bight for a quick tour, passing the infamous Willy T's floating restaurant, which is an old boat made up to look like a pirate ship, with picnic tables on deck. You can pull your dinghy right up for a meal, and apparently it tends to get pretty raucous at night.

We decided to forego the pleasure of Willy T's for now, and headed into Pirate's Bight, which is the restaurant right at the top of the bay. It had a nice beach, and we had a look around, deciding we would come back later in the day for cold drinks if the spirit moved us.

We then zipped back out to our relatively secluded spot in Kelly Cove, and Alexander and I dropped off the others, then headed across about a mile of open water in the dinghy to snorkel the "Indians", which are two big red rocks sticking out of the water, with a beautiful reef below. We got pretty wet on the dinghy ride over, but the snorkelling was worth it – same fish as everywhere else, but generally bigger, and the reef and coral was more developed too. Also, there were fewer crowds than at the Caves, since the Indians were a bit harder to get to.

On the way back, Alexander practised his dinghy driving skills, and enjoyed soaking me as he hit some big waves.



We had a great lunch on the boat, then spent the afternoon enjoying the perks of cruising in warm water. Katie and Christopher decided to do a "photo shoot", and put on their best clothes that were still clean.

    

                

Then, we got into a diving and flipping contest off the back of the boat, and even Sara pulled out some moves that none of us had ever seen (check out her graceful backwards dive at the top of the post).

    

        

After all that, we figured we would head back into Pirate's Bight, and get some drinks. Christopher was keen to try some Conch fritters as well, seeing as how we were on a Conch Charter boat, we had bought a Conch shell, and we had even see real live Conch in the wild. Turns out Conch fritters are pretty good, and they were a big hit with everyone.

        

        

When we got back to Catywampus, just as we were trying to dry everything out in preparation for packing, we were hit with another rain storm. So, we pulled everything in off the lines, and the kids settled in to finish watching Pirates of the Caribbean.



Fortunately, the rain didn't last long, and we have had a beautiful last evening on the boat. We are all packed up, and ready for an early departure back to the charter base, so that we can be on time for the ferry to St. Thomas, and our flight to Atlanta.