Owner, Penelope Kellie Worldwide Yacht Charter & Tours

Date interviewed: June 2009

How did you get started as a charter broker?
My background is the travel trade. Although I’m from England, I worked nearly 11 years in Brunei, where my husband worked for the Sultan. I was doing marketing for British Airways and a big travel company there. We had our own boat in Brunei, and I’ve always been keen on sailing.
    When we came back to England in 1986, I imagined I would stay in the travel trade here, selling the Far East, but a friend was starting a yacht brokerage business and asked if I would help set up the office for him. He had a couple of boats, and I asked if he wanted to charter them out, and that was it. We formed a yacht charter partnership.
    Unfortunately, he had other interests and the business began to flounder around 1988, but in the meantime, I had been to Antigua and met the owner of a company that was putting boats into Galapagos. I asked if he would he be interested in having a British agent. That was how I really got involved, selling cruises in the Galapagos, which has really been one of our main areas. I do yacht charters worldwide now, but I was one of the very first people selling Galapagos charters in Britain and in Europe.

Galapagos is an unusual area of expertise for a charter broker. Most tell me their primary areas are the Caribbean and Mediterranean.
We literally do worldwide charters, but we only sell the things that we know, and we happen to know Galapagos well. Turkey is another of our big areas, and we also do Brazil and Central America.
    We were going into Venezuela, and we had a couple of very good boats there, but the infrastructure and economic struggles in Venezuela have made us pull out of there—for now.
    Another place I’m getting involved with is Madagascar. A boat I know well with a super crew is thinking about going down there. It’s not 100 percent confirmed yet, but they’re probably going, and that would be a fascinating area.

The areas you’re describing are not traditional charter hubs. Are there proper, crewed yachts in these locations?
Everything we book is fully crewed, sailing yachts and motoryachts, normally at least 40 to 50 feet long. We also do river yachts. There’s one we like in France on the Canal du Midi, for example, that we feel reflects a quality of service on par with yachts as opposed to barges.

That minimum size range, 40 to 50 feet long, is what I would call entry-level for crewed charter. Do you get a lot of clients booking boats for the first time?
Most of our business is referrals and repeat clients, but we do get a good number of first-timers, and we are happy to have them.
    Maybe they want to teach their children to sail, or they’ve been on an all-inclusive trip and want to try something new. We get a lot of that in Turkey, actually. It’s a very good cruising ground for learners, you have the ruins to look at, and all the little restaurants—it’s an ideal family holiday. I’m a fan of Turkey.

What are some of your other favorite charter destinations?
I love the Grenadines. That’s a fabulous area. Then you’ve got places like the Seychelles, which are absolutely wonderful, and the Far East. There are some fantastic sailing grounds in Indonesia and Thailand.
    I also love the rice barges on the backwaters of Southern India. They’re barges that used to carry rice, and a lot of them have been converted into vessels for tourists. It’s a lovely trip, a complete canal system, in Kerala. You have to be on the right boat to get the proper quality, but then again, of course, that’s why we’re here.
    We also enjoy Brazil and Peru. In Peru, there is a most fabulous boat that goes up to the Peruvian Amazon, and it’s the only luxury vessel that does that area. We know it well.

Again, I must say, these are not typical destinations for charter yacht brokers.
A lot of people call me the “funny places” lady. That’s just fine with me.


What is the first thing you ask a new charter client?
We first find out how many passengers in their group, whether they’ve got a budget, what are their likes and dislikes, and if they’ve been recommended by somebody we know. If that’s the case, we’ll have an idea of what they might like. If they are someone entirely new, we ask all sorts of things about likes and dislikes. It’s terribly important to match the client with the right boat and the right crew in the right place.


Describe your ideal charter client.
That’s a difficult question. We have such a variety of clients.
    We have a lot who are high profile and don’t want anyone to know who they are or what’s happening, and we take on the challenge of helping to make sure no press gets involved. Other clients are families we’ve worked with for years, and repeat clients who say, “This year, we want to go to X or Y.” They’re the easiest, because we know what they want and they trust us to help them.


Describe your nightmare charter client.
The sort of client I can’t stand is the one who, when you give them the price, they immediately say, “We want a discount of 50 percent.” We usually say, “Then perhaps you want to book with somebody else.”
    Funnily enough, we had a client like that earlier this year. He slammed the phone down, then called back five minutes later and said, “Nobody has ever spoken to me like that before. I think I’m going to like you.” He’s been brilliant to work with ever since.


Describe a previous booking where you worked “above and beyond” for a client.
Honestly, with boats, quite often things happen. We don’t think of it as “above and beyond.” We just sort it.


What are a few of your favorite charter yachts?
There are so many different, wonderful yachts around the world, and so much depends on the particular clients. I wouldn’t say that I have preferences anywhere. All one wants to do is put one’s client on a good yacht with a good crew in the location that the client wants.
    You can actually have a yacht that might not be as smart as others, but the crew are absolutely fantastic. That’s especially true in a place like Galapagos.


What makes you different from other charter brokers?
I think basically the fact that I do go to places that other brokers don’t. I’ve been around in the business quite a long time. I’ve seen companies come and companies go, and I’m still here. I believe in honesty and integrity. That’s the main thing, the most important thing.


How can CharterWave readers contact you?
My direct phone line is +44(0)1962 779 317, my e-mail is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and our website is www.pkworldwide.com.