Captain, 55-foot sailing catamaran Frangines

Date interviewed: November 2008

How did you become a captain?
I was born in Tennessee and raised outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I attended high school in Stuart, Florida, and that was about the time I started thinking that I wanted my own sailboat. I went on to become a chef, training in Atlanta and then working as the executive chef at a south Florida country club. A friend of mine had a restaurant in Culebra, Puerto Rico, so I worked there for a few years and finally bought myself a 33-foot ketch.

How did you get into full-term charter boats?
I sailed around on my ketch, ran a dive boat, and worked on some day charters in the U.S. Virgin Islands until 2004, when I got hired by a man named Laddie Woods to work on a boat that ended up having a bad reputation in the Virgin Islands, just like the company that I had signed on with. I just didn’t know any better at the time.
     It was unfortunate, because my initial interaction with all the charter brokers was not great. It didn’t have as much to do with me as with that company and boat that I had signed on with. It was really a shame.
   
How did you repair your reputation in the industry?
In 2006, I got a job on a 63-foot sialing yacht called Shiwara. That’s where I met Courtney Kimball, my girlfriend, and we took a job together on a Hatteras motoryacht in early 2007. Then, in late 2007, we were able to join the 55-foot sailing catamaran Frangines, which was in Charleston, South Carolina, at the time. Courtney and I got to fix the boat up, and we realized that we’re a really good team.
    We’ve been on Frangines ever since, doing charters in the Virgin Islands. It’s great now that a lot of the brokers feel comfortable recommending us.


What makes Frangines special?
A lot of the sailing catamarans in the Virgin Islands have different names, but they’re the same model of boat with very few differences after you step onboard. We’re a custom-built boat that’s 32 feet wide—which means that even though we’re only 55 feet long, we’re wider than some boats that are 58 feet long. That makes us more spacious and airy, which a lot of charter guests like.
    One broker calls us “the charter boat for the senses.” We have a friend who is a massage therapist, and she’ll meet us anywhere to serve the guests. We can surprise the mom or the wife in the middle of a charter. She can be walking up the beach, and we’ll have worked out the whole thing with the husband in advance, so she’s surprised to find the massage table right there overlooking the water, ready to go.


How do you determine charter itineraries?
I talk with the guests to see what they want to do. The conversations help them feel comfortable with me, and we sort out what interests them. I set a general itinerary, kind of a flow for how the trip will go. That way we have a plan, but if the guests want to stay somewhere they like along the way, I can be extremely flexible.


What are some of your favorite destinations?
White Bay on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands is my absolute favorite. We anchor about 50 feet from the beach in about 6 feet of water, and it’s crystal clear. It’s a popular place for day charters, but they all leave in the afternoon, so we have the whole place to ourselves, to share with our charter clients.


What features onboard Frangines stand out?
The beds are really comfortable. We have 400-thread-count sheets, goose-down comforters, and good air conditioning. All three are important when you’re chartering in sunny locations.
    We also have a big hammock behind our aft deck, in a spot we call “the back porch.” We hang the hammock out there with two hanging chairs and two anti-gravity stress-less chairs, so the parents can chill out and watch while I’m swinging the kids around on a water tube behind our dinghy.
    Another thing we have that a lot of other boats don’t is bocce ball. It’s fun to play on different beaches because they’re like different courses.


Describe a typical guest’s day onboard Frangines.
We have a good breakfast and then sail or snorkel. By midday, we are at our lunch destination, so we eat and then either stay or move on, whatever the guests want to do.
    Once we’re at our final destination for the night, we serve a plated, multicourse dinner including cocktails and wine. After that, everyone usually likes to hang out and relax. Sometimes the guests sit outside under the stars, and other times they sit in our saloon, which has a flat-screen television.


What kind of charter guests are your favorites?
We really do well with pretty much everybody, but personally, I enjoy having three couples aboard. I think that’s the most fun. The massages, the local bars—we can really show them a good time.
    I don’t want it to sound like we don’t enjoy kids, though, because we really do. We have tons of things for them to do, and I’m really good at wearing them out with all of our water toys, which makes their parents happy.


What else should CharterWave readers know about you?
We’re really down to earth, Courtney and I. We don’t feel like the hired help, and we enjoy just being ourselves. We really try to make the guests aboard Frangines feel as comfortable as if they were guests in our home.


Frangines is part of the CharterPortBVI fleet. She takes six guests at an all-inclusive weekly rate of $13,125. Any reputable charter broker can tell you more.