First Impression: Fabiola II

Date toured: June 2008

I can’t remember the last time I saw—or even heard of—a Fleming motoryacht being available for charter. But Fabiola II is just that, a nicely maintained Fleming 55 that came into the crewed yacht market about a week before I stepped onboard in Newport, Rhode Island.

Flemings have a reputation for excellent stability under way as well as traditional good looks, including interiors with lots of natural wood and handrails everywhere for safety at sea. About a dozen are built each year, mostly the 55-foot model (though the company added 65- and 75-foot models to its line in 2007). Flemings are built for extended cruising and are typically bought by couples who want to live aboard or go boating regularly on their own. Crew quarters are not a priority, and thus in the case of a yacht like Fabiola II, one of the three “guest cabins” is occupied by the two-person crew. (The crew share a bathroom with the other twin-bed cabin, while the master cabin, with a queen-size bed, has its own en suite facilities).

Fabiola II was built in 1994 by a man who took meticulous care of her, Capt. Scott Briscoe told me. She had a second owner who was less careful with maintenance, but her new owners, who acquired her in early 2008, have supplied what Briscoe called a good budget for ensuring that everything aboard is in top condition. That includes hiring freelance charter chefs who are up to the standards of the owner, who also owns a gourmet food-importing business. Briscoe himself is new to crewed charter, having previously run a 42-foot catamaran day charter boat in Key West, Florida.

Management company Neptune Group Yachting is (rightly) keen to promote the fact that Fabiola II performs extremely well in the fuel burn category, something becoming of more and more importance to charter clients as worldwide oil and fuel prices continue to skyrocket. At a cruising speed of 10 knots, the yacht burns eight gallons an hour. If you slow down to seven knots, she burns no more than four gallons an hour.

As Briscoe explains it, marina dockage during a weeklong charter in New England would be equal to Fabiola II’s fuel costs, instead of the fuel costs exceeding dockage rates, as is the case onboard most other charter yachts.

Also worth noting is that the yacht welcomes children and is well-outfitted for them, since the owner has a 2-year-old. There is a small, stylish gate on the top deck to prevent children from wandering away from the seating area, and the yacht is outfitted with a Raymarine proximity alarm that you can attach to a child’s life jacket or put in his pocket. If the child gets more than about 30 feet from the center of the yacht (where the system is mounted), a loud beep alerts the crew that the child has wandered or fallen off the boat.
Briscoe says Fabiola II’s owners are hoping to book eight to 10 weeks of charter each year, in New England during the summer and in the Florida/Bahamas area during the winter. The owner has offices in Maine and Washington, D.C., so there is likely to be opportunities for charter in those areas, as well.

Contact any reputable charter broker to see how this yacht’s first charters are going this summer, or to learn more about booking a week onboard for four guests at the weekly base rate of $11,000.—Kim Kavin