Charter broker, Fraser Yachts Worldwide

Date interviewed: March 2011

Congratulations on being named the 2010 Charter Broker of the Year by the Florida Yacht Brokers Association. That’s quite an honor after some two decades in the yacht charter business.

Thank you. It has been a long time indeed, and I still love every minute of it!

How did you get started in the charter business?

I moved to South Florida to be in ladies’ retail clothing. It took me about five minutes to run screaming from that industry, and I went to work for Broward Marine. From there, I took a job with Bob Offer at his company, Offer and Associates. That was in 1992. I stayed there for five years booking charters, and Bob taught me a lot about the business.

I also was fortunate to get a lot of advice during those early years from some of the best minds in the charter industry, people like Terry Hines, who is now with International Yacht Collection; Diana Mares, who is now with Camper and Nicholsons International; and Jan Henry, who works with me at Fraser Yachts Worldwide.

When did you join the Fraser Yachts team?

I’ve been with Fraser Yachts since 1997. I have no desire to work anywhere else. I’m still very happy here.

What kinds of charter yachts do you book?

I book power and sailing yachts, all over the world. I really do have a varied list of clients, and they want to charter everything from 65-foot to 365-foot yachts. I can accommodate all of them because I make a point to know the entire market. I feel like I’m pretty well-rounded and able to help all of my clients.

Are most of your clients repeat business?

I do have repeat clients who I very much enjoy working with, but I also really enjoy booking charters for first-timers. They’re great because they’re really looking to the broker to help them, and it feels wonderful when I do a good job and they come off the yacht and tell me it was the best vacation they’ve ever had—and that they want to charter again.

What are some of your favorite yacht charter destinations?

I’ve done quite a bit of chartering in French Polynesia, so I know the boats and the itineraries there really well.

About 70 percent of my business is in the Mediterranean, Western and Eastern alike. I’ve chartered fairly extensively in the Western Mediterranean as well as in Greece, so I know those areas and boats, too.

I also book a good number of charters in the Caribbean, and I’ve traveled throughout those islands, from the Virgins all the way to the Grenadines.

Describe a situation where you had to go “above and beyond” for a charter client.

I once had a client who was flying privately to an island in the Caribbean to meet his charter yacht. His plane broke down and had to stop for mechanical work, which was going to take so long to complete that he would have to land on the island after the airport had closed for the night.

I arrived on the island that afternoon to make sure everything went well with the yacht, and while I was in the taxi from the airport to the marina, I got a call from his assistant explaining what had happened. When I hung up the phone, the taxi driver, who had been listening, said, “Oh, your friend is coming in after hours? Let me call my cousin. He handles those things.”

It turned out to be true, that the cousin was a plane handler, and I spent the next five hours making calls to the cousin, the client’s assistant, and everybody else I needed to call. My client offered to pay $10,000 total to the five people required to open the airport after hours, including the cousin, the customs and immigration officials, everybody. I got them all to say yes except for the immigration guy, who didn’t want to get out of bed at 2 o’clock in the morning. So I called the cousin and said, “We’re trying to give each of you $2,000 for a half-hour’s worth of work. Are you going to let this one bad apple spoil that for the rest of your bunch?”

That got things done. The yacht’s captain and I pulled up to the airport in the pitch dark, and the cousin drove up with his headlights off. We handed over the $10,000 in cash. I told the captain that I felt like I was doing a drug deal, and we both laughed hysterically. We sat there in the dark for about 10 minutes, and then all of the airport lights flipped on. My client’s plane landed a few minutes later, and then all of the lights flipped off again.

My client came running across the runway telling me how much he loved me. So it was a strange day, but all very much worth it. It felt great, and they had a great charter.

How can CharterWave readers contact you when you are not standing on a dark airport runway at 2 o’clock in the morning?

My telephone number at Fraser Yachts in Fort Lauderdale is (954) 463-0600. My e-mail is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and our company website is www.fraseryachts.com.