One of the motoryachts I saw last week at the industry-only Newport charter show was the 55-foot Fabiola II. She had a smart, kid-friendly feature onboard that I’ve never seen anywhere else, even on yachts three times her size.

It’s called a Raymarine LifeTag Wireless MOB System (the MOB stands for man overboard). As you can see in the photo above, it’s small enough to attach to a child’s life jacket, or to stuff into a child’s pocket. The LifeTag operates on the same wavelength as a master unit that is mounted in the center of the boat, so that any time the LifeTag–or the child carrying it–gets more than about 30 feet from the center of the boat, a loud beep sounds onboard.

Thus, should you be docked at a marina, a child could not wander off without you knowing it. Perhaps more seriously, should a child fall off the boat while it’s under way, you would know within seconds so that the captain could stop the boat and get the child back onboard immediately (that would be a rarity on this boat, I think, as it is well-outfitted with a child gate on the top deck, but it’s nice to know the system is in place nonetheless).

What a nifty feature, especially onboard a charter yacht whose weekly base rate is just $11,000 for four guests. The $600 price tag for this unit at West Marine is less than most larger, crewed charter yachts spend on champagne for the week. There’s absolutely nothing, to my thinking, that should prevent this device from becoming standard equipment onboard all charter yachts that welcome families with young children.

Kudos to Fabiola II for leading the way. She’s part of the fleet at Neptune Group Yachting. Learn more about the boat, or about how to book a week onboard, from any reputable charter broker.

If you’re reading this on Friday, June 27, then I am somewhere in between the eastern tip of New York’s Long Island and my home office about an hour west of Manhattan. I’ll be back online again bright and early Monday morning with even more news and photos from this past week’s Newport charter yacht show.

I traveled this morning from the Newport charter show in Rhode Island across Long Island Sound to the North Fork of Long Island, New York, where I am attending two days of TrawlerFest in the quaint little town of Greenport. Unlike the charter show, TrawlerFest is open to the public–and, as you may have guessed, focuses almost entirely on trawler-style yachts.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to find any charter news here, but I did–in the form of Ben Wilde, who owns the Wilde Yachts boat dealership in Connecticut. He let slip to me over dinner tonight that he is planning to move one of his Nordic Tugs trawler yachts down to the British Virgin Islands, making it available for charters there this coming winter.

It’s an interesting news item, as the vast majority of charter yachts in the Virgin Islands are sailing catamarans. I can’t remember the last time I saw a proper trawler in the BVI available for charter, let alone a nice, new one like the Nordic Tugs that I’ve cruised aboard with Wilde up here in the greater New York area.

I’m even more excited about this development because Wilde himself is a longtime charter client who understands the value of great crew and a well-outfitted yacht. There’s no doubt in my mind that the setup onboard this Nordic Tugs will be first-rate.

I don’t have details yet on pricing, crew, and availability, but stay tuned here on CharterWave, and of course through any reputable charter broker.