Capt. Kristian Sondergaard
s/y Breanker

How did you realize you wanted to become a captain?
I lived in a little fishing village in Denmark, north of Copenhagen. I got my first ticket [license] for navigating a little dinghy there. After that, when I was in first grade, we had to move because housing was difficult to get in the 1960s. So we moved onto an old Baltic Trader sailboat. We stayed a year and a half, and then moved to my grandmother’s house, and I sailed at her yacht club until I was 14.
     I met Marianne when I was 16. By the time we were 19, we had started building a copy of a Baltic Trader 68 ketch. It was 30 gross tons, so you have to have an international license. It took us six years to build it, and we had our son during that time. So I took night school for navigation.
     We named that boat Nana, which is what we would have named a daughter if we’d had one.

What training did you undergo?
Our first work on that Baltic Trader was for the government of Denmark. We would take delinquent children with us sailing, paid for by the government. One of the kids was an 18-year-old drug addict from a single-mother household, those types of kids. We did that for three years with three different kids.
     Then we cruised to France, England, the Azores, the Mediterranean, Northern Africa, Grenada, the Caribbean, Venezuela, ending that trip in 1985. We always had paying customers along the way, about ten people total at a time.
     I skippered an 83-foot motoryacht in 1986, up to New York City for the United States 200-year celebration. We then made it all the way up to Maine before sailing back down to Fort Lauderdale, in Florida.
     That’s where Marianne and I started building Casador, a 68-foot sloop that we named after a dog we loved. We worked as builders on other boats at the same time, and we did a delivery of another boat through the Panama Canal to San Diego, California.
     In 1991, we took Casador to the Bahamas, to Marsh Harbour. We built the interior there, while the boat was on anchor. She was the prettiest boat in the fleet for many, many years.

When did you join your current yacht?
We sold Casador two years ago. Monohulls didn’t charter very well anymore, and this is our business. We bought the 55-foot Breanker at the same time as the 57-foot Quest, as a package deal. Breanker is named for the previous owner’s children, a combination of their names.
     We bought these boats to make a better business, and to do six months on and six months off because now we have three grandchildren and a small house back in Denmark. So we work onboard Breanker from October through March, and we bring another crew onboard for April through September. Quest has its own crew.

What do you think makes Breanker unique or special?
We have rebuilt her almost completely. She was really run down from having been a busy charter boat, so we spent the past two years along with about $200,000 making everything you see new. There are things you don’t see, too, like the new engines, inverters, batteries, all of that. Everything is done now except the galley, which we’re getting ready to do next.
     The big thing that most people like besides her looks is that she has four equal cabins. You can’t find that in our price niche, so that four couples can share. We also can take bigger groups by doing tandem charters with Quest.
      And for some people, it’s nice to be with us, a crew who are young grandparents. We’re in our 50s, and of course we can handle young people fine, but older couples really seem to like us. We can take a party group, and that’s fun sometimes, but Quest has a younger crew for that.
     Also, boats break down. All boats break down. We know how to fix them. We have never lost a charter in 15 years of boating.

How do you determine what itinerary you will set for a given charter?
We get people onboard and make them comfortable, and then we sit down and talk about their ideas for what they want to do. We do it their way, of course, as long as what they want is safe and in keeping with the weather. We are not rigid. We are flexible all the way through.

What are some of your favorite cruising destinations, and why?
In our home cruising grounds of the British Virgin Islands, I like Little Harbor on Peter Island because it’s calm with good snorkeling. And there’s a little walk up to a ruin.
     We also like Diamond Shoal on Jost Van Dyke. You can walk up to a natural blowhole where the water shoots right up through the rocks.
     I also like Great Harbor on Peter Island because it’s a little less people. I like destinations to be a little remote. It’s fun to go to bars like Foxy’s, but that’s just part of it.
     And these are the places that I like. Where we go is completely up to the guests and what they like.

What features onboard your yacht do you particularly enjoy sharing with guests?
I think the two swim ladders are great. Coming from a monohull sailboat, I can see how much easier catamarans like ours make it for people to get into the water.
     Also, we have the two trampolines up forward. They’re a great place to sit.

Describe a typical guest’s day onboard Breanker.
We ask what they want. If there’s one early bird, I’ll make him a cup of coffee. Then the others will come up for breakfast. After that, it depends. We’ll probably go sailing, and then to an anchorage to snorkel or dive before lunch. Usually, then people want a nap.
     Maybe we’ll do a second sail in the afternoon, or swim before dinner. Dinner is about 7:30 or so.

What kind of charter guests are your favorites?
We are good at people from our age and up. Those are most of our repeat clients, people who are in our age group.

What else should CharterWave readers know about you and Breanker?
We already have 14 weeks booked for 2008 onboard each of our boats. We’re looking for 22, and Christmas 2007 is available on Quest.

Breanker is part of the fleet at CharterPort BVI. Her all-inclusive weekly rate is $16,500 for eight guests with two crew. Add $500 for an additional child in the “ninth cabin.” Contact any reputable charter broker for booking details.