This blog is about a couple of the interesting anchoring techniques shown by bare boat charters that we have witnessed recently. At first I was tempted to title the piece ”Sunsail Specials and Moorings Monkeys”, given the Chartering dominance of these two companies around these waters. However, the more we saw of these yachts, the more we came to realize that the yachts offered by these two companies are generally very well presented and maintained, and that the comments I am about to dish out should not be linked to Sunsail and Moorings alone! We were nearly wiped out by a dragging “Switch” cat in Bequia, so one learns to identify the livery of all the charter companies PDQ.
We had chartered a Sunsail yacht, a Beneteau 381 in the Seychelles around the turn of the century, and it was a dog…. Designed and prepared to maximize accommodation, at the cost of sailing capability. It was also nothing like as well maintained as the fleet we have observed in the Caribbean, which also have the added advantage of now ,once again, mostly from the Bruce Farr stable, after the Bay of Biscay tragedy, where the righting moment of a particular boat was questioned. A South African cruising friend we met here, bought an 8 year old 50ft ex Sunsail Bruce Farr designed Beneteau, and it was extremely clean, well equipped and maintained. Yes , the 75hp Yanmar had done 5000plus hours, and the windlass was past its best. It would still require a fair amount of time and money to convert it into a livaboard cruising yacht, but we felt he still got a lot of boat for his $140000. Similarly, we have had friends who have bought ex Moorings Leopards, and have also been able to get fine cats for reasonable value. There again, the engines have big hours, and re engining them needs to be factored into the equation before too long. Although having said that I prefer the solid look of the old 45/47ft Leopards against which, the newer 44ft versions appear to have higher topsides, seem narrower, and a tad more skittish at anchor.
Which brings me back to the chartering crews and skippers who are let loose on the poor innocent and unsuspecting cruising fraternity…….actually Not unsuspecting at all….. more like Suspicious, Wide awake, and generally Shit scared of Bare Boat Charters! The point being…. It’s the crews skills deficiency, and not the Charter Company’s boats, that is the problem!!
Mary and I were hard pressed not to burst out laughing at the succession of anchoring exercises that were on display in Anguilla last week. The biggest clue and common denominator about Bare Boat Charter boats, seems to be the need to hold committee meetings on the bow, when about to anchor. We watched a Sunsail boat pull up behind us in 4mts of water, let out 4mts of chain , and then proceed to back up for about 8omts, until they were in at least 6mts of water, without ever letting out any more chain! They did this about 4 times before concluding loudly that the holding was bad, and they should try elsewhere.
Another mystery we observed on this yacht, was to do with all the flags they flew from the spreader: Lima,Whisky,Bravo,Juliet,Mike,Sierra. We think it was just because they thought it looked pretty, but I wanted to inform all the boats in the anchorage that it was a well known signal for “Free drinks here at 5pm”, but Mary felt sorry for them, and said “No!”
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