bvi captains log blog

If Brent would have sent us this link before we hired him, we might not have! But those of you who know him now will appreciate it and my relatives in Western Canada will really like it!

Brent on UTUBE!

And, the answer is, yep, I would have hired him. I would have laughed, said the guests will love him and he has lots of confidence.....Be warned! Plus a lot of my family is from Alberta!

I am sure I will upset someone here by writing about this, but I have seen a few of these types of scenarios come up lately. I think I talked about this on the blog a couple weeks ago, or maybe it was a bulletin board, that you hope you hear about problems before the customer jumps up and down all over the internet and ruins your business, even if you thought you were in the right and gave back money.
Someone recently had a bad charter. This person did not get any satisfaction from wherever he went afterwards, be it the boat, owner, broker or clearinghouse. So, he took matters into his own hands and sent around this email to EVERYONE he could think of, remotely affiliated with the industry.
Let me say that I have NO IDEA on what really happened. This is just the guest side, I am sure that there is the boat side, and somewhere in between is the truth!
I firmly believe on being truthful, "as I know it" whether in selling my yacht charters or by selling others.
But, things happen. I saw this boat at the boat show last fall. I too was very impressed with the boat, and raved about how good it was looking. I recommended it. What if it would have been me who recommended the boat and this report came back? What would I have done?

More at the end of this. To set up the scenario, after you read the letter, you also need to know that these guests filed a police report.
The email heading said "The worst charter ever" well, that caught my eye real quick on opening up the email! What if it was one of my guests emaling me to complain! My heart did fall to my toes for a moment with a "on no" feeling!

The covering letter said this (everything has been edited to hide the boat or people)
CAVEAT EMPTOR,
So you want to go sailing in beautiful BVI's? I am a USCG master of 25 years and own a charter company in ***. I booked a charter for four of us aboard the ***. While the vessel was in fact pristine obviously no one was judging the crew Captain ** and chef ** who are awful bitter psychos. We booked through independent brokers ***************. Obviously our brokers were more interested in their commission than interests of us, the client.
They have decided that they are washing their hands of the whole matter because they have already transferred over the money to the psycho crew. The owner of the vessel has decided that he is not going to take any action.
The chef **** (who has zero culinary skills) physically hit one charter guest because he mistakenly attempted to enter the cockpit wet. The Captain **** unprovoked launched me off the vessel at night fully dressed because I politely requested him to tell his wife to be nicer to us as we are paying $11,000 for what was supposed to be a pleasant experience. The truth is **** is the real captain as her husband was constantly verbally abused by her and couldn't make any independent action without her approval.
I have pressed assault charges against ****; through it is unclear whether Tortola Police will bother to investigate. Please read the attached police report and synopsis by my wife.
We are charging back the credit card charges to *******. Further, I am reporting this matter to license agency for the British Merchant Marine and licensing agency for the vessels BVI charter permit.
Please stay turned for my new websites ******. Please forward this email to anyone who might mistakenly attempt to deal with these people professionally.
One of the attachment was a police report, and the other was this synopsis...

The Purging of The Most Awful Experience of our lives. Following is our account of our Holiday with ******

First, general review of the boat and crew:

Vessel – Was definitely one of the most meticulously cared for vessels. It was pristine. Quarters great.

Captain – Overall Cordial and Professional although appeared to be very unhappy. After the initial captain’s speech which was interrupted numerous times by his wife, he did not really speak to us and showed no interest in engaging us in any conversation. He drove the boat and stayed opposite of wherever we were on the boat. Regarding his boat handling it appeared to my husband’s trained eye that he was less than confident and somewhat uncomfortable.

Chef. Control Freak. Bossy. Drill Sergeant. No personality. Specific to her cooking and “what” we perceived her to be there for, not a chef. Not trained and no true skills in the galley with the exception of “bread making” from a bread maker


Saturday, February 23 the start of our Holiday. I arrived late due to our flights and so we did not board until 8:00pm. We boarded and took the tour to discover our room and learn the rules and “what” we were going to do for the week.

THE RULES dictated by Chef: 1. We were not allowed in the salon at all except to pass thru to our cabins. The entire area was considered the galley and the chef’s work space. 2. 12 volt cooler was the only thing we were allowed to touch in the galley which contained water, soda, beers. 3. We were not to help ourselves to anything alcoholic to drink with the exception of beer. Alcohol was rationed out only after asking repeatedly for one. 4. Snacks were not allowed with the exception of a small basket that had been put out with vending machine type provisions in it. 5.BATHROOMS: We were given a procedure: flush no less than 10 x close the valve flush the excess water and repeat the process for a total of 40 pumps!. MEN were to at all times sit on the head. 6. Moving about the boat: We were instructed to move only from the port side of the boat steering clear of helm station. 7. No wet bathing suits, feet, etc within the cockpit area which was the only seating for us. 8. When hanging items to dry we were given the instruction to use no less than four clothes pins for the towels and all other items had to have minimum of pins on them.9. We were to sit on deck towels at all times around the outside of the boat. 10. No sand to come from the beaches and we were hosed down while in the dinghy. 11.Showers - We could only take a shower with hot water before 8am or after 4pm if only if the boat was anchored because they would not turn on the generator until after such time. 12. NO use of wi-fi unless Capt. said so .13. MEALS – Mealtimes were dictated and the same schedule every day: breakfast 7am Lunch 12:30 Hors deuvers 6:00pm Dinner 7:00pm.




After we had the rules dictated, we sat down for our first meal. Started with appetizers of sliced green pepper, breadsticks, “fake” crab dip, feta stuffed red peppers and olives. A comment was made to ** about drinking all of the cold beer because there was not a cold beer for the Captain. On to Dinner: Frozen fish, specifically requested not to be served. The menu: Tuna - which was grilled and not to any of our requested temps; sundried tomato potato mash and a tomato w/balsamic drizzle. Devil’s Food cake for dessert. The tuna was mushy; the potatos had no seasoning and the tomato that was edible. We had wine with our meal which was “CHEAP”, Lindeman’s which retails for $6.00 a bottle and that was the only red choice.

After dinner we retired directly to bed as we were exhausted from our trip.

Sunday, February ** – Still in West end – We got up around 7 am and went to breakfast which was a choice of three cereals, fruit salad, yogurt and bagels. Fine. Good Fruit. Coffee and Tea. When ** attempted to clear the table and bring the dishes below she was reprimanded and sent back with the dishes outside.

We than sat with Captain ** and the charts and discussed where we would be going for the week. Our first request was to go to Jost Van Dyke since it was nearby .He told us no. He stated that the island had no water and could be a health risk.We found out later that Jost was still “open” and a rocking good time from other people, with no word of any health scares.

Clearly the weeks itinerary was already determined and our wishes were not part of the equation.

We sailed to The Bight @ Norman’s Key where when we were coming and going from our mooring we came dangerously and unnecessarily close to two different sets of swimmers making us all uneasy. Here we did some snorkeling and swimming and headed back to boat for lunch. Lunch was a green salad bottle dressing and a baked bread stuffed with small wedge of brie and mango which we each got one slice of before it was taken off the table and given to the Captain in the Salon for his meal. In addition to the salad and bread a plate of rolled ham was presented with what we were told was feta in a bowl and it turned out to be goat cheese.

We ate lunch and sunbathed on the bow of the boat. The Chef went for a swim and the captain was down below during the afternoon. During the course of the afternoon, I went down for a nap and heard an exclamation by our friend ***…apparently the Chef returned to the boat and stripped down nude to shower off the back of the boat. Not something any of us expected from a professional member to do.

In the evening we went ashore for happy hour, returning to the boat when we were dictated to even though we wanted to stay ashore for a bit longer. Upon our return we were greeted with appetizers of pringle potato chips, smoked fish dip, grape tomatos in a bowl. All things that did not need any preparation again. I was perplexed knowing we had a chef….The dinner menu stated we were having a pork tenderloin and coconut rice. What we ate was a pork tenderloin stew. The pork had been cut in cubes and floated in a dark prune sauce with big chunks of prunes served with a white rice that had peas in it.

After dinner we took the dinghy over to Willy T’s and we instructed before we left that when we returned the boat would be closed down…Meaning no drinks, No food and most importantly no noise. We returned at 10pm and went to bed.

The second day we got up again around 7 so I could be sure to take a hot shower. Breakfast was toast, fruit and eggs benedict if we wanted them made. Three of us asked for benedict, ** requested two eggs but the Chef said he could only have one to start. , because again the Captain was served first The benedict specifically consisted of an untoasted English muffin, egg, and a tasteless flour based sauce that had no seasoning. And no ham.

We asked to sit down with the Captain to discuss the itinerary for the day because as a group we had decided that we would like to do a bit more sailing to cover more distance and come back to Peter Island later in the week. Where he suggested we could sail out to the ocean to sail more and still only go the same distance to Peter Island therefore refusing to change the itinerary. We also expressed that we wanted to go to the Baths and he advised against it but when we insisted he stated he would drop us off in Spanish Town. He stated that we weren’t allowed to anchor off the baths because it is a National Park which we know to be false. We went with the Captain’s program - sailed to Peter Island but not before the Captain sailed us within 100 yards of White Bay which was our lunch destination, then he proceeded to head off the wind, and drift with close hauled sails another 45 minutes passed Indian Rocks into open water so the boat rolled uncomfortably with the obvious attempt to make us sea sick unsuccessfully.

When we did get to our destination we went swimming into shore and hung out til lunch.
We returned at our scheduled time, were rinsing off and preparing for lunch when ***(guest) stepped into the cockpit wet. Chef ** started screaming at him, lunged at him hitting him in the arm and chest attempting to get him out and when he started to fall she just continued yelling and hitting him. A heated conversation between the two ensued and when done the Chef disappeared below leaving us lunch on the table. This lunch was where I started to get upset about how much money we had paid and “what” poor quality we were getting. First the Ham reappeared that I had asked NOT to have on our menu. This time it laid flat on a plate. There was a small bowl of a grayish brown mush which we discerned to be tuna fish salad and a small bowl with egg salad; a basket of rolls made from the same dough our bread came from the day before. There wasn’t any lettuce or tomato or condiments. That was our lunch. Oops…I lied there were the Pringles again. ***(guest) refused to eat. The rest of us ate a roll and a small scoop of egg salad because there was not even enough to go around….I went below for a nap.

That afternoon I was in the mood for a frozen cocktail. When I asked I was told no and “Why would I want a cocktail if I was going to be going running on Peter Island when we anchored for the night?”, making me feel guilty, stupid and fat.
When we anchored for the night we all went ashore with the exception of the captain. Our plans were the girls were going exercising and the men were going to happy hour at the beach bar. Chef ***(chef) was leading the girls on an exercise route and than took off with her friend to run 5 miles. ***(guest) and I stuck fairly close together and ended up an hour later at the beach bar to meet our husbands. There we were having such a great time with the staff and a reggae band started up. ***(guest) discussed how upset he was treated by ***(chef) and could not believe she hit him. We all discussed that we were going to discuss meals with them as well as our itinerary etc. We did not realize time had escaped us and we received a call at the bar from ***(chef) where I answered and told her we would head back. The conversation was cordial and happy. We proceeded to our meeting spot where Capt ***Met us with a scowl and would not speak to us. We got back to the boat where ***(chef) had our daily bucket of water and soap for our feet to rinse. ***(guest) knocked over the bucket and ***(chef) started her usual rant and he asked Capt ** if he could speak with him. Our cabin was in the aft of the boat so I could hear the conversation above me but could not see anything. My husband was asking politely, if adamantly, if ** (capt)could talk to ***(chef) about being nicer to us, we paid allot of money, etc. Next thing I heard was a big thud and water. I ran up to see ***(capt) standing over the top of my husband who was in the water yelling at him that her was going to throw him in again. When I started telling Captain ** he cant throw anyone in he turned to me and said that my husband fell in. But then proceeded to not let him up the ladder ,shouting him that he was Captain and his word was law. When he did my husband got in his face and they had words. He said he was throwing us off his boat, He was captain and what he said ruled! I told him that while we did not have a problem with him, his wife was an aggressive bitch! She got into my face and told her to get away from me. I told ***(guest) to go below but he was so upset by now that he and ***(capt) were yelling back and forth. I pulled my husband away told him to go below and demanded to be taken in. Capt ** told ***(chef) to go get someone because he could not drive the boat(?). She returned 10 minutes later from a boat Capt ** had been on earlier with a Skipper named ***. I packed our clothes. My husband put on dry clothes and made sure he had no injuries. Our friends hid in their cabin the whole time.
When we reached Road Town we immediately got off and searched for a hotel in the dark.
This experience has left me in shock and I have relapsed back into my physical sickness I had before coming away. It has ruined our vacation and caused me undue stress and illness.
****
OK, now back to my thoughts..I think I hear the sound of a law suit coming up in the last line. This guy is setting up websites as he feels that he has gotten no satisfaction. I am sure he threatened the boat owner with all this in advance. Why not just do whatever you can as a business owner to keep him quiet? We all screw up. I know I have talked about that before.
I have recommended a charterblog on here before, called Charterwave, done by Kim Kavin, and one of things that drives me crazy about her site, is the keywords she has decided to buzz around in about every post "contact your reputable charter broker", as with all industries there are good and bad. Maybe she is on to something though as I try and ponder how you KNOW who to TRUST. Doing this blog is one of the ways I do it, but I also said that I raved about this boat, and was on it. Would I book it now? Probably not without getting a ton of reference letters and also getting recommendations from Brokers who booked her that there were not letters from.
DO I think that this charter crews chartering career is over with? Yes, I do, whether rightly or wrongly, after something like this being splashed everywhere on the web, it will be hard to regroup.
I pondered whether to put this up, but at least I blacked out the names etc. I wish in a lot of ways we could have a list of "yachts we would NOT EVER in your wildest dreams ever book" There are a few who would be on it!
And, if 20% of the rules were what they actually did, then it is horrible. I don't how many times we have turned down the oven as the guests were having too good of a time at Michael Beans. I recently heard of a freelance chef who basically threw a hissy fit whenever the guests were not there at the table at the exact time, and thought "my gosh, WHO is running these boats?"

One factor has to be THAT THERE IS NOT ENOUGH trained crews out there for the amount of boats around, and the BVI charter market, is the entry level for a lot of them. I see crews taking out charters that i would not hire to be a deckhand. OK, getting off soap box now...taking flu head to bed!
And for the next person, the CHARTER YACHT BROKERS ASSOCIATION (CYBA) CYBA DOES have an ethics committee and should be on your contact list if you have a problem like this above.

...whether he knows it or no! I am just struggling to get through the rest of the appointments I have this morning so I can collapse in a heap and be sick for a few days! Bazza can barely stand up he is feeling so poorly so I am not looking forward to it.
We had an interesting thing last afternoon, just as I was going for a meeting. Apparently a shaft tube or something mechanical like in the engine room had just about worn through the fiberglass and water was coming in the boat (not enough to sink here, this thing will never sink) but it had to be fixed and he was not sure if he could get things dry enough to be able to fibreglass in water, but after doing magical engineery type things (which I can't describe) apparently today will be a fiberglassing fun job for the boat (just what you need I suppose when you can barely stand up!)
Lisa says it is COLD in CHicago, yep, there was a reason us who came from North America rolled their eyes when they said they were going sightseeing in Chicago for a few days in March!

Our Cape Cop Pirates made it home safe and sound, as I received this yesterday. My love to all and I will reply when I feel better Smitty!



Promenade: Promenade: Promenade:
This Cape Cod Pirate is in the cold rain and miserable, please come and get me. I wish it were that simple. Once again, we cannot thank you enough for the wonderful week. I, myself, thought it was every bit as good as the first charter, and the sailing was spectacular. The bays and snorkeling sites that we visited were tremendous, I am only saddened with the thought that they may be forever changing due to development. Your, (Kerry and Bazza) attention to detail and knowledge of the BVI's cannot be matched. Brent did a great job and his eagerness to help us was greatly appreciated. His little mistakes now and then gave us the opportunity to tease and have fun at his expense and he was more than gracious to go along with the kidding. I am so glad that the both of you were able to charter this week. Although, we have not had the pleasure of meeting Rich and Lisa, the positive praise heard about them, especially from Bazza, indicates they also do a great job. I mean, Bazza is not one to be flowery with words without reason. With some 50 islands and locations, and reading the blog, I am sure I can come up with a plan for another trip. Slatts, (Carol) and I were talking back on St. Thomas, while looking over at Tortola, that if I ever found my way to the BVI's when I was Brent's age I would probably be imitating a Michael Bean or still a deck hand at 60. What wonderful memories we already have and the great stories we have shared with others, all this only kindles the desire to do it again. We have been downloading the pictures, I found a few that you might not have. Again, thank you and we hope for good health and good winds for all.
Smitty
PS: We hope Bazza is feeling better, the one picture of Brent with the ladies, we have titled it Brent and Cape Cod Moms, were they ridiculous or what? The one of Bazza on the back (stern) of the boat looks like he is holding class with the "teachers".