Last July, I reported here on the Editor’s Blog that the 97-foot yacht Lady Candida had caught fire and sunk off the coast of Corsica during a charter. A few weeks ago, the Maritime Accident Investigations Board, part of England’s Department of Transport, released a 32-page report detailing that fire (including the horrifying photograph above).

I have now had time to thoroughly review that report–which is quite disturbing–and to pose questions about it to experts in the international charter industry. Yesterday afternoon, I posted this CharterWave Special Report outlining what happened in the Lady Candida case, what lessons are to be learned, and what questions you and your broker might want to consider asking before booking your next charter.

Camper & Nicholsons International, which marketed Lady Candida for charter, has declined to answer my questions about the fire and sinking. However, I was able to get some excellent analysis of and insight into the report–and the charter business as a whole–from several longtime brokers who are also licensed captains, as well as from one longtime industry expert who works for a large company’s yacht management division.

The underlying message in this case appears to be that you, as a charter client, must be diligent in ensuring that the people you trust when booking a charter yacht are actually doing their jobs. That includes everyone from your broker to the yacht’s management company to the yacht’s captain and even its owner.

There is good advice in this new CharterWave Special Report about exactly how you can do that. I encourage you to take a close read before booking your next charter yacht vacation.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 8:37 am and is filed under charter tips, Boating Business, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.