First Impression: Mea Culpa

Date toured: October 2009

The arrival of Mea Culpa at the 2009 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show was an auspicious occasion, indeed. When the 138-foot motoryacht originally launched back in 2003 from the McMullen & Wing shipyard in New Zealand, many of her parts and accessories suppliers were based in Florida. The yacht, under the command of Capt. Mike Hein, had spent the better part of six years cruising the world, and the boat show was the first chance to actually see Mea Culpa for many of the people who had contributed to her construction.
    They were treated to a beautiful sight, indeed. When I learned that the yacht’s owner had done some 30 cruises with guests across 68,000 nautical miles of the planet’s oceans, I expected the boat to be, well, a bit beaten up. Mea Culpa was anything but. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a single scratch on the interior, whose rich woods reminded me of a true gentlemen’s club in Manhattan.
    “This is the most elegant fishing yacht I’ve ever seen,” quipped Nina Martinsen of Camper & Nicholsons International, which manages Mea Culpa for charter. And I agreed.
    Calling a motoryacht of Mea Culpa’s caliber a “fishing yacht” sounds odd, but that’s exactly what she is. The owner, Hein told me, is a fishing fanatic, which is why the yacht has a veritable tuna tower atop its otherwise classic top-deck design. There are 68 assorted rods and reels onboard, a full fighting chair on the aft deck, plus an 18-foot Whaler tender and a 14-foot Novurania tender to help you get the most out of the fishing gear in shallower waters.
    “This summer, we had a bottom-fishing day off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina,” Hein told me. “We caught more than 50 grouper and snapper. Our whole crew is very into fishing. Our record is a 450-pound black marlin that we caught off the coast of Panama.”
    Hein is also a licensed dive master, and Mea Culpa carries seven sets of scuba gear along with several kayaks and other water toys. For any charter guest with a motorcycle license, there is also a Vespa onboard. This yacht is clearly aimed at the segment of the charter market that is interested in active days exploring above water, below, and everywhere in between.
    “We sometimes do just the guys on fishing trips, and that works just as well as families,” Hein said. “We have zero-speed stabilizers, and there is WiFi throughout the boat, and as you can see we are a comfortable motoryacht for any type of people. But if you love to fish, we understand that you don’t want to pound your way out to the fishing grounds for three hours. Your body and your wife won’t take it. You can charter Mea Culpa, cruise out comfortably at 14 to 20 knots, and have a great time fishing while your wife is comfortable, as well.”
    In terms of accommodations, Mea Culpa has a master cabin with a California king-size bed, a cabin with twin beds, and two cabins that can be arranged as either twin beds or queen-size beds. That’s great flexibility to have, depending on your charter party.
    The yacht had yet to perform its first charter as of my tour, so check with any reputable charter broker to get recent guest references before you book. Mea Culpa was headed to the Caribbean and Panama at a weekly base rate of $120,000 for the winter 2009-10 charter season, and then, Hein said, “we’ll go westward and see." The plan was to reduce the weekly base rate to $90,000 for the summer 2010 season, no matter where the yacht ends up cruising. "We will keep doing the world and go back to some of the places the owner liked best,” Hein told me.
   That’s a whole lot of options, considering that Mea Culpa so far has been to New Zealand, Australia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Western Samoa, French Polynesia, Hawaii, California, Alaska, western Mexico, Costa Rica, the Panama Canal, the Caribbean, the Virgin Islands, the U.S. East Coast, and Nova Scotia.
    It’s noteworthy to see a yacht entering the charter market not only with those destinations as possibilities, but also with an experienced crew who already know the local waters pretty much everywhere.—Kim Kavin