Another happy owner - thanks to Pamela and our attentive captain!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Great Police Work
On Thursday, March 17, our on island Manager, Pamela, received an email about a 38' Lagoon named NAMASTE which had been stolen in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas about two weeks earlier. Pamela passed this information on to several contacts on the island, incuding our captain and chef. It was only twenty minutes later, at 10:32 am when Captain Tofer called Pam with an incredible story! The stolen yacht was anchored right beside Sweetest Thing off Water Island, still in the harbor of Charlotte Amalie. Hurried phone calls to the insurance company in Germany were made. Photos taken and sent to the insurance company. About 2 1/2 hours later the owners' insurance rep from the BVI arrived and secured the yacht with Capt.Tofer's assistance.
Another happy owner - thanks to Pamela and our attentive captain!
And Namaste (pictured above) has happily been returned to her rightful owner.
Another happy owner - thanks to Pamela and our attentive captain!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Open House for Charter Brokers
February 23 - cocktails for the brokers in St Thomas. A great time was had, got some leads, and many favorable comments. We have added DVD players in the cabins, and some kindles to entertain - good suggestions from the assembled guests.
Rebecca ready for guests
Note the azure highlights and island theme - Chris and Rebecca did a GREAT job dressing her up
Grub is ready
And Sweetest Thing is crisp and clean
Ain't she a beauty?
Transit Blog January 2011
If you want to read about the transit from Annapolis to St Thomas, you can do so by connecting to Captain Tofer's own blog at http://wanderingdolphin.blogspot.com/ . It was a challenging transit, with winds gusting to 60 knots, and waves over 30' breaking over the beam of Sweetest Thing, running from the wind under bare sticks. Cold weather as well. Fountaine Pajot gave us a sea-worthy boat. Just look a-loft at her spreader system, and you will see that she was designed to handle these conditions. A lesser rig would have not have remained aloft under these conditions.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Alive & Well in St Thomas
When I saw John, my brother in law, as they pulled Sweetest Thing into Crown Point harbor, my first question was, "Are you ready to transit the Atlantic?" "Not so sure now", was his response - then he added "I am happy I did this one, though. It was an experience I am glad I had.", which of course is faint praise for 14 days at sea with no sight of land, sometimes fearing for your life as 20 to 30' waves broke over the beam and completely covered the boat. Sustained winds of 40 with gusts to 60 for 12 hours running east under power and bare sticks. I think the most disconcerting was seeing the lateral movement of the hulls relative to the bridgedeck. Somehow you know that movement is normal, but seeing it when you are scared out of your mind must provide a different perspective. The civil engineer in me knows strength increases with deflection - until failure. Happily, there were no failures. Only shaken nerves.
Captain Kris admidted that overall, the ride was more comfortable than they would have had in a monohull, but he followed that by saying that the experience was punctuated by some very brief but much more stressful moments.
She did fair well - there is a list of repairs now that number 32 items, but most of these grow from learning what is needed more than failures en route. A pad eye or two to secure the dink more easily, for example. New locking hardware for the cabin door.
And some shake-down issues - one head with a failed valve, and a new freezer that will not freeze.
Captain Kristofer (or Captain Tofer, as he prefers) has agreed to stay on as our charter captain. What a great find - smile from ear to ear and a voice that commands immediate respect, backed by stories of a life experience that is especially entertaining. Kris is a teacher by nature, with a great sense of when to let his students learn on their own.
And we found a great chef to join him - we will call Ian what he is - a sailing chef rather than "crew", which reflects his background as a culinary school trained chef with a decade of gourmet restaurant and cruiseing experience. Ian is also equipped to deal with diatary retrictions of guests, and is adept at presentation that reflects his background working in some of the best gormet restaurants. Ian LOVES to sail, and only recently returned to St Thomas from his stateside duties. Great warm personality, very helpful. And he has won several awards in the Virgin Island crewed charter community. A great reputation.
I have not yet mentioned our island manager - Pam. Talk about being qualified. Pam was head of the non-profit Charter Yacht Association on St Thomas a few years back, and she found herself in the charter yacht management business when her last employer (who managed 18 yachts) split town with the cash, and left her his car as severance. Pam has capacity to handle 4 yachts - ours is her second, along with a 44' Lagoon, Catatonic. She has an invaluable network on-island (been there 15 years), loves boating (an admidted stink-potter), and has the winning attitude that every small business needs - an assertive but friendly "get er done" nature and a frugal approach. She asks only one thing of us - "When I tell you something needs to be fixed on Sweetest Thing, just fix it."
And Pam has a marketing mind with a salesperson's pragmatism.
Sweetest Thing will "go public" at a Valentines Day theme cocktail party that fits with her Sweetest Thing name. What a great idea. I am only sorry I will miss it.
We have also secured a second mooring for her - we have the one in Red Hook near to Pamela, and now a second one off Water Island close to the airport next to Captain Tofer's own 41' Wandering Dolphin where he lives with his lovely wife Rebecca and their 5 children. Either way, Sweetest Thing will be looked after by folks who get to know and lover her as we do already.
Life is good.
Captain Kris admidted that overall, the ride was more comfortable than they would have had in a monohull, but he followed that by saying that the experience was punctuated by some very brief but much more stressful moments.
She did fair well - there is a list of repairs now that number 32 items, but most of these grow from learning what is needed more than failures en route. A pad eye or two to secure the dink more easily, for example. New locking hardware for the cabin door.
And some shake-down issues - one head with a failed valve, and a new freezer that will not freeze.
Captain Kristofer (or Captain Tofer, as he prefers) has agreed to stay on as our charter captain. What a great find - smile from ear to ear and a voice that commands immediate respect, backed by stories of a life experience that is especially entertaining. Kris is a teacher by nature, with a great sense of when to let his students learn on their own.
And we found a great chef to join him - we will call Ian what he is - a sailing chef rather than "crew", which reflects his background as a culinary school trained chef with a decade of gourmet restaurant and cruiseing experience. Ian is also equipped to deal with diatary retrictions of guests, and is adept at presentation that reflects his background working in some of the best gormet restaurants. Ian LOVES to sail, and only recently returned to St Thomas from his stateside duties. Great warm personality, very helpful. And he has won several awards in the Virgin Island crewed charter community. A great reputation.
I have not yet mentioned our island manager - Pam. Talk about being qualified. Pam was head of the non-profit Charter Yacht Association on St Thomas a few years back, and she found herself in the charter yacht management business when her last employer (who managed 18 yachts) split town with the cash, and left her his car as severance. Pam has capacity to handle 4 yachts - ours is her second, along with a 44' Lagoon, Catatonic. She has an invaluable network on-island (been there 15 years), loves boating (an admidted stink-potter), and has the winning attitude that every small business needs - an assertive but friendly "get er done" nature and a frugal approach. She asks only one thing of us - "When I tell you something needs to be fixed on Sweetest Thing, just fix it."
And Pam has a marketing mind with a salesperson's pragmatism.
Sweetest Thing will "go public" at a Valentines Day theme cocktail party that fits with her Sweetest Thing name. What a great idea. I am only sorry I will miss it.
We have also secured a second mooring for her - we have the one in Red Hook near to Pamela, and now a second one off Water Island close to the airport next to Captain Tofer's own 41' Wandering Dolphin where he lives with his lovely wife Rebecca and their 5 children. Either way, Sweetest Thing will be looked after by folks who get to know and lover her as we do already.
Life is good.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
More Storms
We had her bottom scraped in Norfolk. Owner Bob Thomas got seriously ill with the flu, and decided to stay in Norfolk, so Sweetest Thing departed Norfolk Tuesday, early afternoon (today), with John, Captain Kristofer, and mate Dylan, and a full tank of diesel.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
January 15
Sweetest Thing - She is a 2009 Fountaine Pajot 48 we purchased on 12-28-10. Since then, she has been under the daily effort of one Peter Lunde of Lumbar Marine who has done all the work specified in the survey, and many other improvements to make her ready for crewed charter duty. We added a freezer, ice maker and water maker to a long list of additions placed into service by the previous owner - 4 zone heating and cooling, radar, chart-plotter, flat screen TV, electric heads, diesel gen set. We upgraded to allow flushing on seawater, put float switches on the bilge-pumps with a visual and audible alarm if the pump fails to keep the bilge free of water. We added twin fuel filters on both engines with a valve, backed all the stanchions with plates, up-sized the davit system, replaced the main halyard, jib sheets and topping lift, changed 20 blocks that were poorly engineered, undersized, and more I cannot remember.
We tried to have her pulled, scraped and painted, but she is 6" wider than any lift available in the Chesapeake. We ran her 8 hours to a lift that is indeed 25'6" wide. Her specs say she is 25'2", but she did not fit -- we think her beam is actually close to 26'.
As of January 15, 3:15 pm, she is under way to St Thomas where she will be available in crewed charter service, along side Catatonic. You can book a charter by contacting me at wade@yachtsweetestthing.com, or our agent in St Thomas Pamela at pam@yachtsweetestthing.com.
Captain Kristofer Burton, crew John Liggett (my brother in law), co-owner Bob Thomas and 15 year old crew Dylan left after a day and a half of preparations Saturday, January 15. Not bad considering we closed December 28. After a day of progress, Weather Commander advised that a storm would hit late Monday with 30 to 50 knot winds on their nose - so they decided to hole up in Norfolk until Tuesday.
The water is a balmy 39, so they are going to see if they can find a diver to scrape her on Monday, which will take a day off transit time to make up for the day spend in Norfolk and another in Annapolis preparing.
We tried to have her pulled, scraped and painted, but she is 6" wider than any lift available in the Chesapeake. We ran her 8 hours to a lift that is indeed 25'6" wide. Her specs say she is 25'2", but she did not fit -- we think her beam is actually close to 26'.
As of January 15, 3:15 pm, she is under way to St Thomas where she will be available in crewed charter service, along side Catatonic. You can book a charter by contacting me at wade@yachtsweetestthing.com, or our agent in St Thomas Pamela at pam@yachtsweetestthing.com.
Captain Kristofer Burton, crew John Liggett (my brother in law), co-owner Bob Thomas and 15 year old crew Dylan left after a day and a half of preparations Saturday, January 15. Not bad considering we closed December 28. After a day of progress, Weather Commander advised that a storm would hit late Monday with 30 to 50 knot winds on their nose - so they decided to hole up in Norfolk until Tuesday.
The water is a balmy 39, so they are going to see if they can find a diver to scrape her on Monday, which will take a day off transit time to make up for the day spend in Norfolk and another in Annapolis preparing.
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