Canadian Yachting October 2017 - 6

VAnTAGE PoInT

First Time Charter Vacation
Welcome to our annual Canadian Yachting charter and winter vacation planning issue!
We have a great selection of travel and cruising editorial in this issue - something
for everyone. For those staying in Canada, Catherine Dook takes a loving, but tonguein-cheek look at B.C.'s Cowichan Bay. It's a bit too popular for visitors by car, but coming by boat is easier and far more enjoyable. No surprise there.
If you like exotic boats and destinations, you will love Iain MacMillan's recent trip
to Italy's Lake Como. He went specifically to visit the iconic Riva Boat factory and then
for a ride on the lake to take in the gorgeous scenery and celebrity mansions that ring
the shoreline. Seems they were on a Riva shopping trip.
Mark Stevens details the pleasures of charter cruising in beautiful Antigua and
then, Sheryl and Paul Shard give us their choices for the Top Five Charter
Destinations; the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Nevis, Dominica and Grenada and
the Grenadines.
Check them all out and make your selection!
Seasoned charter vacationers will have undoubtedly gathered a "bucket list" but we
hope this issue encourages novice cruisers to give it a try. The opening to the story by
Sheryl and Paul Shard talks about how they got started on what has become a lifetime
of cruising that has covered north and south, and both sides of the Atlantic (with far
more new destinations in the planning stages!). They were Canadian sailors, members
at Toronto's Port Credit Yacht Club and now they are trans-Atlantic sailors and international media personalities too. Amazing.
So...do novice sailors sign up for southern charter vacations? I wanted to find out
so I contacted Ian Pedersen, Marketing Manager - Americas for The Moorings.
I asked him, for those who have been hanging back, how challenging is it to contact
the Moorings and set up a trip? Ian explained that they launched a new website this
past November, with the sole purpose of streamlining the experience of searching for
the right destination, and locating the right boat for you.
Sometimes, you just need to have a conversation with someone knowledgeable and
he told me that Moorings people are available via email, over the phone, or via live chat
on their website to answer any questions. They also established the Mainsheet Blog as
a go-to resource for genuine content about the Charter experience, written by people
who have been there.
He said they are seeing a large influx of new boaters every year. This is due to
two factors: first, yacht chartering is no longer the best-kept secret of the sailing
community. People all over the world are seeking more hands-on, genuine vacation
experiences, and few vacation options offer quite as immersive an experience as a
charter vacation.
The second reason is that you no longer need to be an expert sailor to charter a boat.
With the addition of new products such as Skippered Yachts, Power Catamarans, and
all-inclusive Crewed Yachts, the diversity of charter options has opened up the industry
to entirely new audiences - from power boaters, to casual sailors, to people who have
never before set foot on a boat, but who simply want to experience the freedom that a
boating vacation provides.
He noted that first-timers ask questions about logistics; which destination to
choose, what is the difference between a sailing catamaran and a power catamaran?
Should I hire a skipper or opt for an all-inclusive crewed yacht? What kind of resource,
training or support do I receive before I arrive to pick up the boat? Am I qualified to
sail the boat myself? How much does something like this cost? What do you actually
DO on a yacht charter? Who determines the itinerary? These are all questions they
receive every day.
So we hope you enjoy this special issue of Canadian Yachting and that perhaps
these stories inspire you to go on your own "bucket list" experience.
Andy Adams-Editor

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Canadian Yachting

october 2017
PuBLISHER Greg Nicoll
877-620-9373 * gnicoll@kerrwil.com
mAnAGInG EDIToR Andy Adams
416-574-7313 * aadams@kerrwil.com
TRAVEL EDIToR Elizabeth Kerr
416-258-9948 * elizabethkerr@kerrwil.com
ART DIRECToR Allan Bates
416-485-9229 * allan.s.bates@sympatico.ca
AD PRoDuCTIon
705-527-7666 * admin@kerrwil.com
ConTRIBuToRS Andy Adams, John Armstrong,
Catherine Dook, Samuel Jefferson, Iain MacMillan,
John Morris, Sheryl and Paul Shard, Mark Stevens
and Katherine Stone
ADVERTISInG
John Armstrong
289-962-1310 * johnarmstrong@kerrwil.com
Jim Negen
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* jnegen@kerrwil.com
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Yachting October 2017