September 2009 update: John and Maxine White are now captain and chef.

June 2008 update: Capt. Virginia Wagner is now in command onboard True North, having joined the yacht last month. She plans to do her first charter in New England this summer.

December 2007 update: Well, the new crew left quickly. Not three weeks after we posted this review, chef Lauren Mackin and Capt. Ken Hodgins are gone. We met the new crew, Brett and Andrea Clarke, briefly this month, and they seem capable and eager to please. They're due to stay onboard until the end of the season, when they're scheduled to take over another yacht. We'll keep you posted.

Date toured: November 2007

There are a couple of charter yachts called True North. This one is the 65-foot sailing catamaran that’s based in the Virgin Islands as part of the fleet at Nicholson Yachts. She was built in 1996 and has been with her current owner for four years, chartering all the time and developing a strong reputation that left her with just a few weeks available going into the 2007/2008 season.

She’s entering that season with a new crew, led by Capt. Ken Hodgins and chef Lauren Mackin, who used to live on their own sailboat in the Virgin Islands and thus know the area well—including the Spanish Virgins, which they’re happy to include in charter itineraries. During my tour, they were still waiting for their new stewardess to arrive, and the very polite mate had been onboard just a month. It’s hard for me to say how good the whole team will be, but Ken and Lauren were both friendly and impressive.

The yacht itself is in good condition for being so popular in the charter market, offering three equal-size cabins with double beds that are ideally sized for couples who want to split the bill. The fourth guest cabin is the master on the main deck, which is larger than those three and should go to the primary charter client (or to anyone who has trouble going down the handful of steps required to reach the double-bed cabins in the yacht’s pontoons).

I had the pleasure of being onboard True North during a cocktail party the crew threw to introduce themselves to reputable brokers at the annual boat show on Tortola. There were some 30 people or so in the main saloon and in the outdoor cockpit, and I didn’t feel crowded at all. Delicious hors d’oeuvres were being passed around, my glass never went unfilled, and the crew seemed happy as pie to be entertaining. That bodes well for good times during actual charters.

True North’s inclusive rate is $27,000 to $29,000 a week, depending on whether you bring six or eight guests. The fact that she has four crew instead of the more common two or three is the reason for her price when compared with similar-size, less-expensive catamarans available in the Virgin Islands.
Contact any reputable charter broker to book a vacation onboard.—Kim Kavin