April 5, 2011
A captain wrote to us in February asking if we knew much about a marina along the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast because he was thinking of stopping there on his way north this summer.
After a few e-mail exchanges, it was clear this captain had just about every portion of the boss’s summer itinerary mapped out, and was making final reservations. In February.
That got us wondering how many yachts plan so far ahead. So we asked.
We started with the broad and basic: Do you have plans for the summer yet?
To our surprise, most (78.5 percent) do, though not all as specific and concrete as the captain who called us in February.
“Boats are more active this year than last,” said the captain of a vessel 100-120 feet with firm plans to visit New England this summer. “The past two years, you could get away with very short or no reservations. While it's a far cry from the boom times, some advance notice will be needed to get into the best spots.”
Among the 21.5 percent remaining, 15 percent said the boss is considering several options. Just 6 percent had yet to discuss summer plans with the boss when we conducted our survey in early March.
“We keep the boat ready for the owner's use and any emergency, hurricane-related relocation,” said a captain cruising with the owners and guests in Florida this summer. “Fuel topped off, food and beverage on board, maintenance done, etc.”
There are several potential yachting events coming up, including the Summer Olympics in London in 2012 and the America’s Cup races in San Francisco in the fall of 2013. Only five of the 98 respondents said they already had plans to attend any of them.
While the amount of planning captains have already undergone was a bit surprising, we weren’t surprised at the answer to this question: Is this different from last year?
Almost 60 percent said it was.
Several readers have asked us to identify the body of respondents to get a better sense of what these answers mean. In this month’s survey, we asked yacht captains to share their summer plans.
Among the 98 respondents, about 40 percent run vessels of 100 feet and less; 60 percent run yachts larger. Nearly 25 percent are on vessels larger than 140 feet. We didn’t ask where the yacht is based, nor the nationality of owner or captain.
Now that we know the majority of yachts in our survey are busy making plans for summer already, we were curious to know What will the yacht be doing this summer, primarily?
Nearly 60 percent of captains said their vessels will be cruising with the owner and guests this summer.
“From the Caribbean to Florida, then New York, then the Baltic for the first half of the summer,” said the captain on a yacht larger than 160 feet. “On to the Med, beginning in Malta, for the second half of summer. Ending in Spain. Dates are firmed up but exact destinations and cruising itinerary are not.”
The next largest group, at a tad more than 16 percent, expects a good mix of charters and owner's use. Eleven percent expect to be sitting at the dock, awaiting a call to cast off.
We crunched these numbers a little further to see if the size of the vessel had any impact on summer plans. Turns out that vessels of 80-100 feet were three times more likely to be sitting at the dock than other-sized vessels.
For those with summer plans, we wanted to know Where are you heading?
The two largest groups indicated the yacht was heading to New York, New England and Maine (35.2 percent) and the Med (25 percent). Some are hitting lots of spots.
“NYC, Sag Harbor, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Provincetown, Boston, Maine,” said a captain who doesn’t yet have concrete dates for summer, despite the itinerary.
“Dania Beach now, to the Bahamas/Exumas in April/May, then sailing north to Rhode Island for the summer, cruise the cape and islands with the boss in August,” said the captain of a yacht less than 80 feet with concrete plans. “Then we sail to Spain in September for next winter.”
“NYC for May to June, possibly July, then up to Maine for August-September, then back to NYC,” said the captain on a yacht less than 80 feet.
“Monaco Grand Prix, first row; Italian coast line into Messina canal and the Adriatic Sea up to Venice and back to Sardinia, Italy, and back to Gibraltar by the end of the summer,” said the captain of a yacht between 80-100 feet.
“We’re taking Dockwise to Palma, then cruise the Med at our whimsy,” said the veteran captain of a yacht 80-100 feet.
The remaining captains offered a smattering of destinations, including the Bahamas (9.1 percent) and the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia and Alaska (6.8 percent).
“Heading north from Seattle to British Columbia and Alaska,” said the captain on a yacht less than 80 feet cruising with the owners this summer. “Not heading south to Mexico, too dangerous. Staying in safe waters. This is not the season to go on the great adventure. There are too many dangerous waters presently, and it is not worth risking the owner or the yacht.”
Still, about 4.5 percent were heading to Mexico, despite the perceived dangers.
Another 6.8 percent expected to spend much of the summer in a shipyard; 4.5 percent would be waiting at the dock.
“The boat is in dry dock,” said the captain of a yacht less than 80 feet who hasn’t discussed summer plans with the boss. “The owner wants to sell her to get out from under costs. The economy has me sitting still at the moment.”
Only a handful of respondents indicated heading off the beaten track of traditional yachting destinations. One respondent was starting out spring in New Zealand, heading to Tahiti for summer, then over to Costa Rica for fall.
Just 2.3 percent of respondents expect to summer in the Caribbean.
“Cruising the Caribbean as far south as Barbados to take advantage of the nice weather and uncrossed anchorages,” said the captain of a yacht 80-100 feet that will have the owner and guests aboard this summer.
“We’ve stayed around the Caribbean the past two seasons,” said the captain of a yacht of 120-140 feet. “The weather is great, the marinas have low rates, there’s plenty of space in the anchorages, and we get great charters.”
To get a better handle on how much planning goes into a cruising season, we asked captains How far ahead does the boss usually make cruising plans?
The largest group (almost 30 percent) said the boss plans at least a few months out. But the next largest group -- nearly 20 percent -- said it was just a few weeks.
The bulk of the rest were all over the timeline with anything from just a few days to 6-8 months. Six percent of respondents said the boss will plan a cruise a year in advance.
“Pre-planning is the way to go if the owners don’t change their minds too much,” said the captain on a vessel larger than 160 feet with an owner who plans a year in advance.
Since not every yacht cruises every summer, we were curious, too, to learn How far ahead does the boss usually make maintenance plans?
The answers were similar in that most respondents (32 percent) said the boss plans maintenance a few months out. Again, though, the next largest group -- at 16 percent -- plans maintenance just a few weeks in advance.
“Maintenance is done around the [cruising] schedule, and at times with little notice,” said the captain on a yacht of 80-100 feet.
The change for maintenance is that just as many owners and captains -- at 16 percent -- plan maintenance a year in advance.
Only 1 percent gave just a few days notice for maintenance plans.
Not wanting to judge those time frames, we asked captains Do those planning timetables work for you?
Almost 93 percent said it was usually fine. Nearly 60 percent said they are familiar with the cruising grounds and the boss's desires, and so they are ready when the boss is.
“Go with the flow,” said the captain of a vessel 80-100 feet whose boss makes plans a few months in advance. “The check arriving each month makes for a great life.”
With plans already being made, we were curious to learn How much influence do you have in where the yacht spends the summer?
We were happy to learn that most yacht captains (more than 60 percent) have at least some influence on summer plans.
“Our summer cruise begins with myself suggesting three cruises to the owners,” said the captain of a private yacht smaller than 90 feet. “Information on ports of call and destination are submitted at the time of presentation. The owners then make a decision and I start the preparations for the cruise.
“They seem to like not having to think of multiple locations to visit,” said this captain, who has been with the owners eight years. “I have had years when they haven't liked any of the presentations. This seems to inspire them to think of a cruise area.”
Those who felt they didn’t have influence with the boss may be mostly guided by the charter market and the owner’s traditional cruising habits.
“It is crucial to know the owners’ preferences and the places that match them so you can give solid advice on where to go,” said a captain of a yacht of 120-140 feet who has some influence on itineraries. “The places owners think they want to go are often the places they like the least. It's our job to make suggestions based on our knowledge of destinations but ultimately to take them where they want to go.”
We crunched these numbers a bit more to learn if experience played a part in this. Did captains who have been doing this a while have more influence than relatively newer captains?
The answer is no. The only experience category that showed any difference from the group as a whole were captains with 20-24 years experience, and the results for them were siginificantly lower -- just 8 percent of these experienced captains had a lot of influence compared with 23 percent of those outside this group.
We also wondered if the size of the vessel played a part in how much influence the captain had. It appears that owners are more involved in planning on yachts of 81-100 feet as only 5 percent of respondents in that group said they had a lot of influence, compared with 26 percent of respondents in other groups. In vessels larger than 160 feet, just 9 percent of those captains said they had a lot of influence.
Regardless of who makes the cruising calls, results from this month’s survey appear to predict an active summer ahead.
To read comments from captains about how to make the most of the summer season, click here.
We conduct our monthly surveys online. All captains and crew members are welcome to participate. If you haven’t been invited to take our surveys and would like to be, register for our e-mails online at www.the-triton.com.
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