First Impression: Balaju

Date toured: December 2007

Former CharterWave captain of the month David Linebaugh is now the skipper onboard the 146-foot motoryacht Balaju, which was built in 2002 and got a new owner in August 2007. The yacht’s first charter was expected to begin Jan. 2, 2008, with a crew who mostly were new to charter and learning the ropes from their highly experienced captain.
     They made a good impression at the industry-only Antigua charter show, not only because Balaju herself is a nice boat (check out that sundeck hot tub, at right), but also because the crew showed real creativity in the kind  of service they hope to provide onboard.
     One evening, they did a “spa night” theme in which they had an onboard masseuse catering to charter brokers. If I were on vacation, believe me, this is the kind of night I would really enjoy at anchor in a quiet harbor.
     The crew made a point of telling me that Balaju is a family-friendly boat. The owners have three children, ages 10, 7 and 4, so the crew are used to having kids around and keeping them entertained. There are Sony PlayStations, tons of water toys, and even a partition that can be closed between the main saloon and dining room, if you want to have adults enjoying a formal meal while the kids watch TV and eat chicken nuggets in a separate space.
     Balaju has a tender that really impressed me (see the photograph at right). It’s a 31-foot Novurania with a teak interior, instead of the normal inflatable plastic-type tender that I see on a lot of motoryachts. Also noteworthy in the water sports department is that licensed scuba divers will be allowed to dive right from the yacht, instead of having to rendezvous with local companies, according to the crew.
     Onboard, Balaju has WiFi throughout the boat and a television system that was still in the works during my visit. The crew said they were working on building a DVD library, and that while some of the televisions onboard had full satellite channel access, others had a choice of just a half-dozen channels at a time. Ask before you book on the status of those items, if they’re important to you.
     Suffice to say I think Balaju is a nice yacht that has very good charter potential, especially under Linebaugh’s direction. It would be smart, though, to work with a reputable charter broker to ask how her crew performed on their first few charters.
     Balaju is part of the fleet at International Yacht Collection. Her weekly base rate is $145,000 for ten guests with ten crew, or about $18,000 per person with typical 25-percent expenses factored in.—Kim Kavin