The Story of Bareboat Chartering in the BVI
By Claudia Colli
In the early days of BVI tourism, bareboating – or chartering a yacht without a hired skipper or crew – was a daring idea. But even so, entrusting strangers with a large sailing vessel, without a professional captain at the helm, would soon take off, and make the BVI the world capital of bareboating.
BVI surgeon, Robin Tattersall, Kicks off Bareboating
In the mid-60s, the BVI was rural and undeveloped, tourism a mere whisper in the trade winds. But a few sailing pioneers were about to change the territory’s uncertain path and introduce a new concept in sailing – bareboating.
One of the earliest of these pioneers was the Territory’s first general surgeon, Robin Tattersall. An avid sailor with a true pioneering spirit, Tattersall and his brother Ralph, started the BVI’s first bareboat company in the mid-60s. They purchased a few Westerly sloops, and based the company at the dock beneath Fort Burt Hotel on the western end of Road Town.
The BVI, with its dozens of small islands and sheltered waters may have possessed unparalleled beauty and unrivaled sailing waters, but the company was, nonetheless, ahead of its time. And even though the venture soon went under, it paved the way for a new group of sailing entrepreneurs.
In 1967, a dentist and avid sailor from New Jersey named Jack Van Ost changed the trajectory of the BVI’s charter boat industry when he launched Caribbean Sailing Yachts in Road town with three Capri 30s. He later introduced custom designs, the Carib 41 and the CSY 44, among others.
CSY, as Caribbean Sailing Yachts was also called, implemented several chartering concepts, new at the time, but now standard within the industry, including an owner lease-back program, onsite provisioning and multi-base operations. He instituted a standardized manual for boat systems and at a time when there were a dearth of beach bars and off island restaurants, a helpful guide to to popular, and off the beaten track ports of call.
Soon after Van Ost set up shop, Charlie and Ginny Cary arrived on island with a cheery optimism about the future of charter boating in the BVI. Possessing unique vision and serious business acumen, the former New Orleans oil executive, first sailed the Virgin Islands with Ginny in the mid-60s. Along with friends, Tony and Sherryl Rainold, the couple believed that if they loved sailing the BVI, others would too. And they were right. Although the BVI offered little in terms of infrastructure and amenities, they saw its potential.
The Moorings is launched
In 1969, they launched the company they christened, The Moorings, with six Pearson yachts and a small base in the western end of Road Harbour. The boats were docked in front of a compact two-story building which they used as their office with rooms available for guests to overnight before their charters.
As more boats were brought in, the fleet grew, but the company faltered when it began building its own boats, a less successful arm of the company. But by the time that CSY closed shop in the ‘90s the BVI had already established itself as the sailing center of the Caribbean.
While Tony and Sheryll marketed the new company from their sstateside home, Ginny and Charlie moved lock stock and barrel to the BVI to be the hands-on managers. More boats were ordered, and this time, instead of the company owning the boats, they were sold to individual owners. They were put back into the charter fleet where The Moorings managed them on the owners’ behalf. It is a formula followed to this day.
The Moorings soon outgrew its location and moved to a dedicated facility in Wickhams Cay II. When I first met Charlie Cary, in 1980, there were 81 boats in his fleet. How rapidly, the territory’s charter boat industry had developed was a source of pride for Cary. “A Time magazine survey showed that of people interviewed at Kennedy and Miami airports, 39 percent were travelling to the Caribbean to go boating,” he said, adding: “a good portion of those were heading for the BVI.”
The Moorings eventually acquired another early BVI based charter yacht company, Sunsail. Both companies are now owned by KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co L.P.) with bases in the Mediterranean and Central America among other locations. Today, there are 254 boats in the combined Moorings and Sunsail fleets here in the BVI. Its facilities now feature restaurants, a spa, and a 40-room hotel. In addition to bareboats, the fleet now includes crewed charter yachts, and where monohulls were once the bread and butter of their business, luxury catamarans are now the most popular boats in their fleet.
The Moorings’ early success paved the way for a group of new charter boat companies to fill the BVI’s bareboating and crewed yacht landscape.
Fleet Indigo at West End and BVI Bareboats in Road Town were two other early trail blazers of the bareboat scene. BVI Bareboats was founded by Bill and Sarah Hirst as a small family operation. Their two young boys seemed as much a part of this hands-on family company as their parents and I often saw the boys playing on the docks as they grew older.
New Ventures Carry on the BVI’s Bareboating Tradition
In 1995 Arjan Stoof purchased BVI Bareboats and changed the name to BVI Yacht Charters. The charter company believes that there is no better way to explore the BVI than from one’s own sailboat, and to this end, offers bareboat, crewed all-inclusive and captain only charters.
Founded by, Cindy Chestnut and Brian Gandey, a couple who came to the BVI looking to beat the Canadian winter, Conch Charters is another family-owned business. Starting with a handful of boats the company now offers an extensive fleet of monohulls and catamarans.
“The BVI is set up for sailing,” says Rasika Twist, the company’s affable sales manager. “It has an excellent boating culture and infrastructure and an amazing selection of boats.” With so many attributes, she says that, “people come back to charter year after year.” They have clients who have returned for 30 years, she told me.
Established by Robin and Jo-ann Downing, Voyage Charters is located at Sopers Hole Marina on Tortola’s West End where their South African manufactured yachts fill the docks. Jo-Ann is upbeat about the season’s prospects, noting that “Our BVI operations team, our USA Reservations Team, and our Manufacturing Company in Cape Town, South Africa, are all extremely positive about the future of the yachting industry in the British Virgin Islands.”
Horizon Yacht Charters is based at Nanny Cay. Now a Caribbean wide company, it got its start in the BVI in 1998. According to Andrew Thompson, who co-founded the company with Sylvia Driver, who is now retired, “we founded the company when we realized that there was a gap in the market for sailing charters of a higher standard from an independent operator.” He says that the BVI has much to recommend it as a sailing center: “line-of sight sailing, protected warm waters, steady trade winds, sunny climate and myriad of anchorages, coves, cays and bays make the island chain the perfect sailing grounds for all levels of sailors.”
Andrew also offered some advice for finding the right kind of sailing vacation “One of the first things to know before selecting a boat is to decide on what type of charter you want and who’s joining the vacation. You may decide on a bareboat (if you or one of your party is an experienced skipper who will captain the charter or you can hire a captain), maybe you want ‘a learn to sail charter’, and get ASA certified, or go all out for a luxury crewed yacht.” He recommended discussing these options with reservation staff.
https://www.voyagecharters.com
https://horizonyachtcharters.com
https://www.bviyachtcharters.com
