Charter

Five Tips for a Safer Charter

Zuzana Prochazka
Apr 26, 2013

There’s nothing quite so liberating as being on charter. Not only are you on vacation, you’re on a sailing vacation, with the express mission to explore, enjoy and relax. Except, of course, when things get serious.

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Thin-Water Paradise

Adam Cort
Apr 01, 2013

The waters off Southwest Florida are one of those places where looks can be deceiving. At first glance, it’s “water, water everywhere,” until you look at the depths and then it becomes “nor any drop to, uh, sail.” But don’t give up.

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Key Largo to Key West: An Historic Route & Modern-Day Haven

Meredith Laitos
Mar 25, 2013

Sailing alongside Florida’s Overseas Highway, the road that follows the route of Flagler’s historic East Florida Railway from Miami to Key West, it’s easy to picture the turn-of-the-century developer pushing to expand his vision of Florida.

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Barely There

by Peter Nielsen, Posted October 11, 2010

Racing a charter boat is very different from campaigning your Sonar or Etchells or, as in our helmsman Charlie Garrard’s case, your J/105. Some bareboats are pretty tired, and sails can have a short lifespan in boisterous Caribbean conditions. Some of the bigger, heavier boats are cumbersome and slow to tack and trying to sail them well can be a frustrating exercise. Local knowledge of winds and
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Secrets of the Virgin Islands

by Meredith Laitos, Posted September 24, 2010

In the October issue of SAIL, we take you on charter adventures in the Spanish, U.S. and British Virgin Islands. You may have sailed there a dozen times before, but there are always new gems to discover. We asked our panel of Island Experts to divulge their best Virgin Island charter secrets. Here's what they came up with

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Florida's Nightmare

by Meredith Laitos, Posted September 23, 2010

“We were having our best year ever. People were booked back to back to back. The instructors were starting to complain that they couldn’t get a day off…then the oil hit.” For Peggy Van Sleen of Emerald Coast Yachts (ECY) in Pensacola, Florida, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill has devastated more than just the Gulf of Mexico; it’s crippled her charter company as well.

The worst oil spill in

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Does Size Matter?

by Lisa F. Mann, Posted August 11, 2010

I was sitting on the beach in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, in awe of the enormous cruise ships docked there, including the mammoth Oasis of the Seas. A couple sitting in beach chairs next to me asked which ship I was on. I laughed and said, “See that little charter sailboat out there, anchored in front of the cruise ship dock?” They nodded their heads in unison. “That’s the ship I’m on.”
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Island Yachts wins Green Award

by Meredith Laitos, Posted July 28, 2010

The water may be blue, but Island Yacht Charters, Inc. has gone green. The St. Thomas-based bareboat charter company recently received the 2010 National EPA Environmental Quality Award in recognition of a multi-year effort to make its boats and its base more earth-friendly.

Over the course of the past five years, Island Yachts transformed its fleet of 16 Island Packets, ranging in size from

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