Fraser Yachts Worldwide has just released a flurry of announcements, including its annual awards for top crew and charter yachts within the Fraser fleet.

The award for best crew on a yacht smaller than 50 meters goes to Dragon, a 134-foot Palmer Johnson motoryacht. The crew are led by Capt. Dave Frevert. Fraser says both clients and brokers have been submitting "raving references" about the outstanding service onboard.

The award for best crew on a yacht larger than 50 meters goes to Force Blue, a 207-foot Royal Denship motoryacht. Fraser says the award is not only because of great service, but also because of exceptional attention to safety. There was a man overboard situation this summer with a guest at night, and the Force Blue crew reacted swiftly to prevent loss of life. That, plus good client reviews from 10 charters this past summer, earned the Force Blue team this year's award.

The charter captain of the year for Fraser Yachts is Takis Tsakos from the 150-foot Christensen motoryacht Ionian Princess. During one charter this past summer, Ionian Princess was chartered for staff as a tender to a larger megayacht. After several days, the principal charter client decided that the service and crew were far better aboard the smaller yacht, so he and his guests moved to Ionian Princess and left the larger yacht for the staff. Now that's really saying something.

All of this year's awards come alongside a report from Fraser Yachts that there was a 5-percent increase this year in total value of charters compared with 2011. Many new clients are coming from Brazil, making up for the slower business that remains in Europe. Fraser also reports an uptick in early bookings for summer 2013, which could indicate that the market is beginning to recover from the recession's impact that has lingered since 2008.

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