Owner, Yates Yachts

Date interviewed: July 2010

How did you get involved with boating?

I grew up in Madison, Connecticut, on Long Island Sound. My mom pushed me out the door at age 11 to take sailing lessons. The very first day we went out sailing on the Sound, we encountered a dolphin. I went crazy.  I loved everything about sailing and being on the water, and I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

My father always said, “A day on the water adds a day to your life.” I really took that to heart.

Did you go from childhood sailing in New England straight to cruising in the Caribbean?

I took a detour through Washington, D.C, where I attended Georgetown University. I ended up with a job as a social secretary for a very powerful lobbyist, where I learned I was good at working with high-profile people who needed their privacy and confidentiality respected. Then I moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where my husband-to-be introduced me to the beautiful ski resort community.

I missed the water so much that on every vacation, we would go sailing. One of our vacations took us to see a friend on St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. We lucked into living aboard a yacht that offered rum punch sails out of Caneel Bay.  We helped the captain sail and entertain his guests.  We were onboard for 10 days, and it was magical. When we got back home, all of a sudden our Ski and Powder magazines were being replaced with Yachting and Cruising World. We decided to take a respite from corporate life, buy a sailboat, and go cruising in the Caribbean for two years.

So you lived aboard your own yacht?

We did. It took eight years of planning, but in 1992, we found a boat we liked in St. John. It was a 43-foot C&C sailboat. We quickly scared the bejeezus out of ourselves—we’d never commanded a sailboat of that size on our own—and we learned that living on a boat is like dancing with a partner. We became a well-oiled team, and we loved it so much that we sold our home, cars, businesses, land, everything. We had nothing but seven boxes in a cousin’s basement. We ended up living aboard for 10 years in the Caribbean.

Is that where you discovered charter?

It is. Our plan had been to stay aboard for two years, but we weren’t ready to quit. We wanted to earn enough to island hop and really get to know all of the islands more than we already had. A company in St. Thomas hired me to book their yachts. Some were bareboats, and some were crewed. We were lucky to have a mooring that was about 50 feet from the office, so I’d dinghy into work every day. I loved being a matchmaker—interviewing the clients and matching them to the right boats. I really excelled at booking the crewed boats.

I worked there for four years, until my husband and I went island hopping with the money we’d saved. We sailed the entire Eastern Caribbean with a long stay in Grenada and Trinidad. It was wonderful. We also spent two months in Europe with people we’d met while cruising. We went to England, Nice, Monaco, wine country, the Alps, Tuscany—basically, from England to Italy along the Mediterranean coast. I got to see Antibes, Cannes, and all the French Riviera ports where I book charter yachts.

How did Yates Yachts come to be?

I created the company at the end of 2000, and it really got off the ground in 2001. I was originally based on St. John in Cruz Bay. A lot of cruise ship passengers would walk by and say, “We want off this ship. We see all the yachts going into the small, pretty bays. We want to do that instead.”

My husband talked me into moving back to Steamboat Springs in 2002, and that’s where Yates Yachts is based today.

Colorado is an awfully long way from charter yachts in the Caribbean. Do you find it difficult to work from there?

Not at all!  I attend all the Caribbean yacht shows and still spend all my spare time sailing in the Caribbean. Plus, Steamboat is a premier ski area, and people who ski also tend to enjoy other “S” sports like sailing, snorkeling, swimming, scuba diving, and slurping rum punch. Every time I get on that gondola to go skiing, I have a captive audience asking me what I do for a living. I always have my business cards ready, right next to my ski poles.

What kinds of boats do you book?

I really prefer to book the crewed yachts. I enjoy matching the personalities of the clients with the personalities of the crew.

What are some of the best charter destinations you’ve visited?

The British Virgin Islands are the ultimate destination for people who have not been sailing before. There are so many diversions. The snorkeling is outstanding, the water is crystal clear, the distances between islands is as short or as long as you want it to be—it’s a very forgiving place to learn what chartering is all about. The Grenadines would be second in my book, and then the northern Caribbean islands of Anguilla, St. Maarten, and St. Barth’s.  Antigua and Barbuda are wonderful sailing destinations, too.

Describe your ideal charter client.

My favorite client is one who is enthusiastic about trying something new. They’re people who readily open up about their dreams and expectations, their concerns, and, perhaps, their fears.  When clients realize that I’m listening to them, and that the information I send it far from cookie cutter and takes their needs into account, I earn their trust and the relationship flourishes. The ideal client becomes a repeat client, and that means I’ve done my job.

Describe your nightmare charter client.

I don’t think of them as nightmares. Just challenging! Some clients simply require more educating than others. When we can visit by phone—which is what I prefer to do—and the client hears an enthusiastic and sincere person on the other end of the line, it can do wonders for the a client-broker relationship.  I love introducing people to sailing and the places I love, and I believe that comes across on the phone better than any handwritten e-mail.

Describe a previous booking where you worked “above and beyond” for a client.

I once arranged a charter for a well-known author who wanted to surprise his wife for her birthday. He told her they were going to the Caribbean—nothing more. She had no idea they were getting onto a 115-foot motoryacht.

I had the captain meet them at the airport in civilian clothes instead of his captain’s uniform.  I ordered a big banner that said “Happy Birthday, Mickie!”.I arranged for the boat to be docked at a marina where the author and his wife could walk to it from a restaurant. While waiting for their drinks, my client took his wife for a walk to look at the yachts. That’s when she saw the banner hanging from their charter yacht. The crew were on the stern in full uniform yelling “surprise!”

The funny part is that when she saw the banner, she yelled out, “You bought me a yacht?” They ended up having a fantastic celebration, as well as a memorable charter vacation.

What else should CharterWave readers know about you?

Yates Yachts is a green company. In addition to supporting yachts that advertise their efforts at sustaining our planet—recycling, reusable water bottles for guests, wind and solar energy, and the like—all of my correspondence is done electronically. That includes inquiry replies, yacht brochures, and charter agreements. Any paper I do generate is recycled. Here in the Rockies, we take our recycling seriously.  My office has solar-powered heat and I listen to wind-powered radio!

I know brokers who send out hundreds of packets and brochures, and they all get thrown away. Where we live, we have to physically take our recycling to the center every week. I am very aware of how much waste is generated, and I am trying to limit what I put into the environment.

How can CharterWave readers contact you?

My toll-free phone number is (866) 994-7245, my e-mail is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and my website is www.YatesYachts.com.