Captain, 105-foot motoryacht Independence 2

Date interviewed: June 2009

You were lucky as a kid. You had a boat before you had a bike.
My Dad was in the Navy, and we lived in Florida. His biggest personal boat was a 30- or 40-foot sailboat. We also had little center consoles, powerboats, and sailboats. I was on the water all the time.

Did you ever think about a career other than boating?
I did attend Florida State University, but I never got far from the water. I worked at a marina and did boat maintenance as a side job all through school, and after I graduated I went to work for the boatbuilder Sea Ray doing warranty work.


That’s a far cry from charter megayachts. How did you make that transition?
A friend of mine gave my resume to the captain of a 172-foot motoryacht called Big Eagle, and I got the job of deckhand in 1995. I stayed for two and a half years and moved up to first mate and assistant engineer.
    

Many crew keep moving up like that, eventually into the captain’s chair, but you took a career detour.
In 1997, I decided I wanted a land job. I wanted to ‘be normal’ and get out of yachting. I went to work as the materials manager for the boatbuilder Cigarette, in their factory. I liked the work, but the company started having layoffs not even a year after I started, so back to boating it was.


As it turns out, that was lucky both for you and for the charter industry.
I do feel at home in the job now, yes, and it’s a good thing after 10 years!
    I’ve been lucky to have come aboard Independence 2 in 2003 and to have stayed on the same boat, with the same owner, all this time. It’s a good program that we run, and we have earned a strong reputation.


What sets Independence 2 apart from other charter yachts in her class?
We have a wide beam, so our interior feels like that of a 120-foot yacht as opposed to the 105-footer that we actually are.
    We’re also well maintained. Our owner is in the construction business, so he wants everything to always be running perfectly. That’s really saying something about a boat built in 1993. It matters to charter clients, even if they don’t know that it’s happening behind the scenes. Maintenance matters on a boat in our age range.


What types of charter clients are your favorites?
We get a lot of families, mainly with older children. Our setup is ideal for that, since our guest cabins have one king-size bed, one queen-size bed, and four twin beds.
    We get a lot of Midwestern families, actually, and that’s just fine by me. I don’t like the monster partiers till four o’clock in the morning, and with families we as a crew get to be professional but relaxed. We’re not ultra-formal. If a family wants a barbecue on the beach, we’re great at that.

What are some of your favorite charter destinations?
I enjoy chartering in New England, Florida, and the Bahamas.
    Out of everywhere I’ve been, I like the Exumas part of the Bahamas the best. It’s pretty, it’s not crowded, and if the weather is snotty on one side of the islands it’s usually nicer on the other side. There are a lot of places in the Exumas where we take guests that aren’t in ‘the book.’ Throw your Frommer’s away. Beign on boats, you can see things that are so much more amazing that what the books say.

Describe a typical day onboard Independence 2.
It all depends on the guests. We don’t have alarm clocks in the rooms. We’ll get you up if you need us to, but you’re on vacation. We see how each day goes and what you want to do at any given time.

Does Independence 2 have any features that are unique for charter?
Our indoor dining room table folds down into a cocktail table, which makes our main saloon feel a lot bigger than other boats in our size range. We also have a large master stateroom for a boat our size. The his-and-her bathroom is very large.
    I would add that we’re also a very quiet boat. We’ve put a lot of money into the exhaust system on this boat, so that when we are under way, the guests are less disturbed. Not a lot of charter boats our age can say that.

What else should CharterWave readers know about you and Independence 2?
We don’t have a permanent chef as part of our crew. Instead, we bring on freelance chefs depending on what type of food the client wants. We have a few chefs we use regularly, and they specialize in lots of different cuisines.
    Also, if you plan to charter with us in Florida or the Bahamas, we tow a 33-foot Oceanmaster tender for water sports. It’s great for fishing.

Independence 2 is part of the fleet at Robert J. Cury & Associates. She takes eight guests at a weekly base rate of $36,000. Any reputable charter broker can tell you more or help you book a week onboard.