Meet Capt. Doug Stein and chef Peggy Langenbeck, the new crew onboard the 75-foot sailing yacht Bahamian Rhapsody. I haven’t had the chance to meet them yet myself, but the folks at management company Northrop & Johnson tell me that Doug has more than 100,000 nautical miles under his belt. That sounds like a good start in terms of knowing how to get around the islands.

As on all charter yachts, it is the crew as much as the boat itself that can make or break your charter vacation–and crew changes like this one happen more frequently than you might imagine. It’s fairly common for someone to book a charter a few months in advance after diligently reading a boat’s crew profiles, only to find out a few weeks before the charter starts that an entirely new team is in place.

Any reputable charter broker can help you keep track of which crew are operating onboard which yachts at any given time. Often, if the yacht’s owner takes crew issues seriously, a replacement team will be just as good as the crew you heard about when booking your charter.

After all, good yacht owners want to receive good service just as much as you do.

I met this month’s CharterWave Chef of the Month, David Beltran, onboard the 160-foot motoryacht Jo at the Antigua Charter Yacht Show. Not only did he prepare a delicious and beautifully presented luncheon, but he also treated us to a poem–something he does for all of Jo’s charter guests.

My guess is that after meeting Chef David via this three-minute interview, you’ll have just as big a smile on your face as I did after meeting him in person.

Google Direkt

Our newest vidcast is of Stephanie Hodges, the chef onboard the 135-foot motoryacht Atlantica. Stephanie also happens to be the CharterWave chef of the month for January, having just won first prize in Atlantica’s division at last month’s Sint Maarten charter yacht show.

Her winning dish was a variation on the surf-and-turf recipe that she cooked up before our cameras in the galley for this vidcast. (I got to eat it, and it was delicious. Believe me, I look forward to the day when they make scratch-and-taste video, so I can show you just how fabulous it really was…)

Click on play below to meet Stephanie and see her in action:

YouTube Direkt