David Burgess says he grew up with a fishing rod in his hand on forays with his dad to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Over the years, he’s owned a variety of vessels from builders including Carolina, SeaCraft and Fountain. As an equity-fund manager, he can work from anywhere. These days, he keeps his 30-foot center-console on a river near his home off Chesapeake Bay, and his 26-foot twin V-drive cat at his Florida condo. But the jewel of his current fleet, for rambling through the British Virgin Islands with family and friends several times each year, is his Moorings 464PC My Wish Too. It’s at the charter company’s base on Tortola.

The 464PC is the second power catamaran from South African builder Robertson & Caine that Burgess has purchased through The Moorings’ yacht-management program. He’s happy to rattle off several of the program’s benefits: Dockage, maintenance and insurance are all covered; he receives a monthly check from The Moorings, which charters the vessel when he’s not aboard, giving him guaranteed revenue that exceeds his regular finance payment and puts cash in his pocket; and he can enjoy a number of cruises each year while having access to charter vacations on power cats (and sailboats, for that matter) at any Moorings destination. For Burgess, this way of owning a power cat is a win-win-win.

There is, however, one caveat that he wishes to make clear: “If you’re just going to go once a year, or every other year, just charter a boat, don’t buy it. But if you’re going to go three or four times every year, on trips that can cost up to $25,000 apiece, this is a great program.”

The program has been around for a long time, initially with sailboats, says Franck Bauguil, senior vice president of yacht ownership and product development at The Moorings. “We first started getting involved with powerboats around 2003,” he says. “Some private owners buy a boat and put it in charter for a few weeks to offset expenses. That’s not what we do. We’re an established company with multiple bases globally, and we operate out of fully staffed bases with mechanics, technicians and boatbuilders. As with our sailboats, we offer bareboat charters where you drive your own boat, but we also have fully crewed options with a skipper and chef.

“Our fleet of boats, including the three power catamarans in the program, are all privately owned, but we take care of operations and management,” he adds. “You buy the boat, you own it and name it; it’s very much a regular purchase. But with that purchase comes a management agreement where we maintain the boat on behalf of the owner and charter it to a third party when they’re not using it. We take all the issues out of the owner’s hands and incur most of the expenses. We make sure the maintenance is done, the warranties are checked, the vessels are clean, the batteries are topped off—there’s nothing for owners to do except enjoy it when they’re aboard.”

As with any boat purchase, owners can lay down the cash or go the finance route. According to the boat-show special at last fall’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, when it comes to the Moorings 403PC, most owners put down 20 to 25 percent of the cost of the yacht (about $1 million). The down payment is just shy of $200,000. At an 8.25 percent interest rate on a 20-year loan, the monthly payment of about $6,700 is offset by a guaranteed income of just under $7,500.

Bauguil says The Moorings continued those guaranteed payments after Hurricane Irma decimated the fleet in 2017, and during the height of the pandemic, when chartering essentially ceased. Management contracts generally run five to six years, after which the owner can keep the boat, trade it in, or have The Moorings’ brokerage operation place it for sale.

As far as usage is concerned, owners receive 84 points per year, with the cost of trips equating to two points per day. Of those 84 points, 42 can be used to reserve trips in advance, and 42 can be employed on short notice. (Owners can’t sublease their vessels, but they can offer them to friends or donate the time.) Generally, this breaks down to four to six weeks per year of in-season cruising, or up to 12 weeks per year in the offseason. Yachts are standardized across the company’s destinations, with identical engines, watermakers, electronics and so on, so if an owner chooses to charter a boat in a distant location, no surprises await.

Burgess generally divvies up his journeys among his pals, his family or other couples. With his retirement on the not-too-distant horizon, as well as that of one of his boating friends, he’s gone in half on a partnership for the new boat. And while he’s always used his boat in the BVI, for the first time he’s planned his next adventure on a sistership in the Bahamas.

It’s always good to have options, and with The Moorings’ yacht-management program, he’s found plenty.  

The Destinations

The Moorings has 18 worldwide destinations, including six islands in the Caribbean, a trio of bases in the Mediterranean, and locations in the Seychelles, Tahiti and Thailand. The 403PC and the 464PC are available at the Bahamian bases in the Exumas and the Abacos, as well as the BVI, Greece and Croatia. In addition, the 403PC is available in the Seychelles. 

The Alluring British Virgins

Perhaps the most popular of all of The Moorings’ cruising bases is the original location on Tortola, where the bareboat charter industry was basically launched in 1969. With Tortola’s easy navigation and protected anchorages, this spot remains the company’s crown jewel. Currently, there are seven 403PCs and two dozen 464PCs in the BVI charter fleet.

The Boats

As of this writing, The Moorings has a pair of flybridge power catamarans available in its yacht-management program, both built in South Africa by Robertson & Caine, which also produces the Leopard line of sail and power cats. The Moorings 403PC is powered by a pair of 320 hp Yanmar diesels with a cruising speed of 15 knots and a top hop of 17-plus knots. The Moorings 464PC is also powered with a pair of twin Yanmars and has a four-stateroom, four-head configuration. 

Take the next step: moorings.com

The post Cruising Made Easy with The Moorings appeared first on Yachting.

Yachting is an amazingly safe activity, and statistically speaking, you’re far more likely to get injured in your home or car than you are on your boat. Add to that the stress relief and relaxation that goes hand in hand with being afloat, and it’s easy to see how enjoying the yachting lifestyle can help you live a longer, happier life.

But this hasn’t become the case by chance. The inherent dangers of leaving land behind have always been cause for paying strict attention to safety measures, and everything from US Coast Guard regulations to boater-safety courses to modern technology has contributed to making our time on the water far safer than it once was.

And yet, of all the dangers that might occur, fire is one of the scariest.

Truth be told, boat fires resulting in injury or fatalities are extremely rare. According to the latest Coast Guard statistics, only four deaths and 49 injuries were caused by fires in 2018. However, the high amount of property damage resulting from the related accidents (more than $13 million, making fire second only to collisions in cost) also provides some insight into why fires aboard are so frightening. They tend to be incredibly destructive.

All of which begs the question: Just how prepared are you and your yacht in case of fire?

Fire by Wire

Setting aside boat fires caused by outside sources (more than a quarter of boat fires result from a blaze at a marina or storage facility, as opposed to an issue with the vessel itself), BoatU.S. marine insurance files show that 52 percent of all fires resulting in a claim are caused by some form of electrical issue. Most of these problems occur in the engine room, where heat, high-amperage loads, flammable fuel or lubrication leaks can contribute to a problem.

Thus, one of the best ways to prevent a fire is by doing regular maintenance inspections of your boat’s electrical system. Check out connections, and make sure they’re clean and tight. Look for loose or sagging wires and wire harnesses that may be susceptible to chafing. Search for signs of wear in wires and your shore-power cord (another notable source of electrical fires).

At the same time, keep the engine room clean and free of flammable-liquid spills, and inspect fuel lines and connections for leaks that can quickly turn a flare-up into a full-blown disaster.

Beat the Heat

Another substantial contributor to fires aboard is also located in the engine room: the powerplants. In most cases, the root cause is cooling- or exhaust-system problems overheating the  engines. But there’s usually a secondary contributor as well—a rag or wire touching an exhaust elbow, for example, and then bursting into flame or melting when the system overheats. Again, regular maintenance is the best prevention because as long as your yacht’s cooling and exhaust systems are operating properly, the chances of them causing a fire are exceedingly low.

The remaining causes of fires aboard are diverse and account for a very low percentage of accidents. “Alcohol stoves used to be a big problem, but we see fewer and fewer these days,” says BoatU.S. Foundation president Chris Edmonston. “Today, people cook outdoors or with a microwave much more often.”

Edmonston credits National Marine Manufacturers Association certification standards and generally improved quality in boats and yachts across the board with reducing fire dangers in general. Still, fires can start in countless ways. Treat the galley just as you would your kitchen, he says, and the staterooms just as you would your bedroom.

There is, however, one big difference between home fires and boat fires: the presence of smoke detectors.

“Early detection is critical when looking at a boat from a fire-safety standpoint, and it’s often lacking on boats,” says John McDevitt, a former deputy fire chief who holds a US Coast Guard 100-ton license and chairs the National Fire Protection Association 302 standard for watercraft.

“Some people knock the use of smoke detectors because they aren’t necessarily marine equipment, but smoke detectors should be in each accommodation space, the engine room and at the helm,” he says, adding that he has wirelessly connected radio-frequency smoke alarms on his own boat. When one goes off, they all do, so no matter where he might be on the boat, he’s alerted.

Along with ensuring early detection, McDevitt says that everyone should evaluate all areas of the boat for easy and safe egress, and take a “fire inventory” to catalog first-response resources on a regular basis. Just having the required extinguishers aboard doesn’t necessarily mean you’re prepared.

“Nonrechargeable extinguishers are of no value after 12 years,” he says. “Check the date stamped on the bottom of the extinguisher or on the label, and when they’re out of date, even if they still show green on the gauge, they should be replaced.”

The presence of a fixed extinguisher in the engine room also is not foolproof. McDevitt cautions that they’re not always mounted as high as possible, which is where they belong. Being located near natural or mechanical vents can also impact their firefighting effectiveness.

There are myriad reasons why a fire can start on a yacht, but the bottom line often comes down to common sense. Savvy fire safety aboard is no different from on land, and it all boils down to three things: prevention, early detection and being prepared to extinguish any fire quickly. Cover these bases, and your yacht will remain one of your safest—and favorite—places on the planet.

Life Lesson

A fishing boat catches fire off Alabama’s Dauphin Island, serving as a reminder for all boaters to be prepared.

By Kevin Koenig

Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class William Tadlock and his crew were watching a movie at Station Dauphin Island around 8 p.m. on January 15 when a distress call came in. A snapper-fishing boat had radioed for help from the island’s Confederate Strait. The vessel was on fire.

By chance, Tadlock’s four-man crew’s 29-foot response boat was out of the water that evening for maintenance and sitting on a trailer. The men rushed the boat to a landing and backed her into the water just as more information crackled over the VHF radio: The three men aboard the fishing boat were abandoning ship.

Tadlock, the response boat’s coxswain, revved the twin 225 hp Honda outboards. The vessel ripped off through the dark, glass-calm water at speeds upward of 40 knots.

As they covered the lone mile between the landing and the blaze, Tadlock went over his priorities in his head. “Obviously, the situation was very urgent, and we wanted to get an asset on scene as fast as possible,” he says. “And we wanted to help the people the best we can first, and then salvage their boat if we can, and third, prevent damage to other boats and property in the area.”

Tadlock and his crew found the fishing boat in a “fully involved” fire, meaning internal access was impossible because of heat, flames and smoke. Thankfully, they saw a life raft floating nearby with the three men in it.

“We made our approach to the raft and found that the three guys were all OK,” Tadlock says. “We got them on board our boat and got farther away from the fire so that we could assess any injuries. Then we took them to a pier nearby where they were cleared for medical attention. Then we went back to the fire.”

With the boat still engulfed in flames, Tadlock became concerned about a nearby pier. He and his crew rigged their P6 dewatering pump for firefighting and blasted the fire with a thick stream of salt water. In about an hour, the blaze was out. As of this writing, investigators were still determining the cause.

Tadlock says it’s important that the crew of the fishing boat was prepared. The lesson for recreational boaters is to know what to do in an emergency.

“You need to do routine maintenance on your vessel,” he says, “and have the right safety gear, obviously—life jackets, a throwable flotation device, emergency signaling like flares and fire extinguishers. This boat had all the proper equipment. The water was 54 degrees that night. Them having that life raft and quickly coming up with a plan to abandon ship? That absolutely saved their lives.”

In fact, in the moments after Tadlock’s crew hauled the fishermen on board, he told them: “We’re awfully sorry about your boat, but we’re also awfully happy you had the right safety gear. Because property can be replaced, but lives cannot.”

The post Fire Safety At Sea appeared first on Yachting.

Buying a boat isn’t like buying a newspaper, a loaf of bread or even a car or truck. When a newspaper and groceries are purchased, the items have a finite timeline. Most people already drive either a car or truck. But with a boat purchase, especially with a first-time buyer, it is more of a lifestyle change, than a mode of transportation. A good dealer should guide the buyer through the process of navigating the wonderful world of a lifestyle afloat.

The best dealers walk buyers through all the features, functions of the equipment and the owner’s service points. This information may be unfamiliar to new boaters. It is essential that the dealer makes orientation to the boat an intrinsic part of the deal. Buyers need to learn how to use each feature to enrich their days on the water.

The new boat orientation should focus on key points like: how the canvas goes up or on; how the head works, using it and keeping it pleasant; what is the blower switch on the inboard or I/O; connect the safety lanyard and starting the motor. The dealer should introduce you to the safety gear and how to use it.

When there is time available with the dealer, any and all questions should be asked. If a dealer is involved in the sale, the buyer and dealer should build a relationship where the buyer can come back later and ask questions or arrange a maintenance schedule. Buying from the right dealer is just as important as buying the right boat.

The dealer should also make sure the buyer knows the basics; how to gas up and launch and load the boat. The relationship only starts at the sale and should never end! From handing off the keys to launching and loading the boat, the relationship with the dealer should grow over time.

The post Boat Owner Orientation appeared first on Yachting.

Some sports and activities talk about ‘retention’ like their participants need constant courting. Boating is not like that. Boaters may get new vessels on a regular basis, but they will always be boaters.

And why not? Through boating, families are nourished, friendships are launched and people celebrate old bonds. As a boater, stresses fade away when enjoying time with people they love and who share a common bond.

Communities form among boaters. Sometimes it’s people with boats of the same brand or size or type or similar interests, such as fishing, cruising or skiing. Maybe the connection to the boating community is a home port or favorite destination. Some boating communities are more formal with clubs and organized events. Others connect more spontaneously for a fun day on the water.

Making the community connection is key in the boating world. By asking around and watching for postings at marinas, new boat owners will find a community in which they have similar interests. Finding those individuals and hanging out with them is only part of the fun for new boaters.

The post Boating Community appeared first on Yachting.

Being confident around the docks is vital to starting and ending a new owner’s fun on the water. A great dealer should be there when the boat is brought to port the first time, whether it is a center console, a runabout or a yacht.

Boating skills are really techniques, easily learned – with the right teacher. Too many boat dealers bypass this part of the sale. They offer to hitch the trailer to the truck and walk away after the sale. Some buyers resort to asking friends and family to teach them all about boating. Finding someone who has that information and the time to show the buyer is rare.

Continuing boater education is essential. Experienced dealers make great coaches and cheerleaders for new and existing boaters! At the very least, a dealer should know who in the community conducts classes in boating skills and safety, where there are adult education courses, U.S. Power Squadron training or other classes available. Some really involved dealers may sponsor or host courses at their dealerships.

Go to school, because uncertainty on the water can be intimidating. A dealer can serve as a committed mentor to overcome the hurdles that a new buyer may not know about yet. They can teach the rules of the road, the knots and other seamanship skills and those all-important safety measures in a format that’s efficient and enjoyable. The lessons aren’t as hard and there aren’t as many of them as you may think. Classes in local communities can allow new owners to meet other new boaters and find they have a lot in common. These are bonds that can last a lifetime.

The post Boating Education appeared first on Yachting.