My goal is to help charter sailors plan, enjoy and relive their sailing adventures. I'm Todd Middlebrooks, an ASA certified sailor and host of the Anchors Aweigh podcast. After our first sailing trip with friends in the summer of 2019, I was hooked. The following year, I began studying in preparation to becoming certified by American Sailing. Now me and my family charter and sail the incredible waters of the Caribbean on our own!
Charter vacations can be quite an investment and you want to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. Initially I planned with sheets and docs. However, I wanted better organized plans, to find information easily while on charter and then have a complete log of our trips afterwards to refer back to. I wanted to track where and how far we've sailed on what vessels and with what crew. That's why I started working on a Notion sailing template. Click "BVI Planner Waitlist below to learn more.
I would strongly dispute "they do regular maintenance" Moorings in Tortola is a disaster zone. The boats are only fixed when something breaks. There are no records of any maintenance done. Thus far payments have been received. Not for the faint of heart, incredibly frustrating trying to get anything repaired
For god sakes I hope you backed out of that crap ass contract. It will be one of the biggest mistakes of you life. You buy a boat and have limited access to it . O and the things they do as for maintenance... research (Cheeki Rafiki) boy they sure took good care of that charter boat. Boat was a total loss and only 5 people lost lives due to cost cutting and time saving bad decisions.
I’ve been bareboat chartering since the 1990’s (8 times in the BVIs alone) and have seen the evolution of the charter businesses. This coming March 2025, I’ll be going back for the first time since hurricane Irma and look forward to seeing the NEW BVI.. I’ve already opened an account on BoatyBall and it seems pretty stray forward and simple. I wish it was an app and not a website. But I look forward to being able to book ahead and enjoy sailing without rushing hoping to get a ball!
I am not sure i understand. If you start from the top and want to do the loop do you have to go to Devil's Bay first? Or do you go through the baths first and then on to Devil's bay?
From the top, you would simply follow the signs to enter the Baths. That trail will take you towards Devil’s Bay. When you get to the split you can go left into Devil’s Bay or right into the Bath’s entrance.
Fully accessing The Baths with limited mobility may be a challenge. The trails themselves may be an issue depending on the level of limitation. If navigating the trails is possible, you can visit each end of The Baths. However, passing through The Baths will require dexterity. Squatting very low while traversing under boulders is common. There are also steep steps and sloped rock to walk up and down. Some areas provide (and almost require) the use of a rope handhold for assistance. I hope this helps.
ok thank you I think i shouold add we just want to go to the baths beach not just devils bay, we are contetn if we cant walk in the baths themselves thats why I thought maybe by the baths beach there is a straight trail somewhere thank you @@ToddMiddlebrooks
Our boat will remain in the BVI for hurricane season. Should we incur any damage or loss dues to a storm, the insurance carried by The Moorings on our vessel will kick in. One of our partners experienced a total loss during hurricane Irma in 2017 and the Moorings handled the insurance process and replacement of his vessel. This is one of the reasons I have even more confidence in The Moorings as a company.
@@ToddMiddlebrooks Thank you for the reply. In the states, the insurance company pays for all repairs to automobiles after an accident. However, the automobile is still valued 10-30% less than a similar vehicle that has not been in an accident even if there is no evidence of an accident. If this is similar with yachts, does the insurance company compensate the owner for the loss in value?
This is an excellent question. I’m only familiar with total loss scenarios, so you bring up a great point. I've found in our agreement that there is a required "lender loss payable clause" in our included insurance policy, "in the event of a final determination that there has been an actual or constructive total loss of the Yacht." I hope this helps answer your question.
On your boat this week as our new 5000 is still waiting documentation. She’s still running like new. No issues whatsoever. The name of our 5000 is “Ondine”
Hey Brian, we chartered this boat through what was Sailing Florida at the time. They are now a part of Waypoints. We departed from the Vinoy Marina in St. Petersburg. I hope this helps. Are you looking to charter in that area?
Thanks for the info Todd!! We are currently reviewing Moorings/Sunsail! Have you now taken possession? What make/model/etc. did you purchase? Any updates to share? Also, cabin layout? We are looking at the 4 cabin version instead of an owners suite. Thanks in advance!
Thanks for the comment Bruce! I’m planning a follow up video soon. We closed on our boat in August and it arrived in the BVI at the beginning of November. We went with the Moorings 5000 (Leopard 50) in a 4-cabin layout. The nice thing about that floor plan is that you get four cabins with an owner’s suite! Best of luck in your process. Let me know if I can help in any way.
I just left the program. I loved it. I got to sail all over the world. If you don't have the time to take all the trips its not a great deal. I went on my actual boat once in last 3 years.
The simple economics are that you EFFECTIVELY SPEND $45,000 per year as a Moorings “owner”. 1. You must buy the boat. 2. Moorings sends you cash during 5 years in the program. 3. You sell the boat. When you factor cash/loan to buy, monthly cash-in during the program, and cash from selling the boat, you will have been out of pocket around $45,000 per year--for 5 years. So, you can simply compare the cost of a la carte chartering you might do to a $45,000/yr baseline.
The water is fairly deep until you get pretty close to the beach. However, there are lines that lead from the dinghy tie line to shore that you can pull yourself in on. Just be careful as there can be growth on the line that could potentially scratch or cut your skin.
Im ignorant. How does this compare with simply renting when you want to? Then if you are able to go full time, buy one of the post charter boat either alone or with a buddy?
If you only plan to sail once per year or so, then chartering is definitely the way to go. However, if you want to charter up to 12 weeks per year, then this type of ownership allows you to do so much more economically. It's a great option for between occasionally chartering and full boat ownership. I guess it depends on how you want to sail and own a boat. Many stay in a program like this forever, because it fits their needs. I hope to move on to full ownership at some point and sail my boat when, where and as much as I can.
You really seem to like how you have access to their boats at many of their locations. I guess they didn’t tell you at the boat show that they have a public facing website, where you can book boats as a charter and not buy a asset that will be beat to hell. You also mentioned professional maintenance, have you been to their Tortola location? Good luck with that, hope your boat arrived on time and isn’t late(first sign of a journey that you will end up regretting). This is a time share like situation. Ever wonder if it made sense, why Morning’s just doesn’t buy the boats?
Yep.. stupid stupid stupid. You buy the boat they use it all they want. Bottom line you bought a boat you can not afford hoping it all works out. However you have access to some other nasty charter boats all over the world you can use. Please the boat you bought will take you there... just go where you want to sail. Absolutely a time share but one you got to buy a 500K plus boat to join. A firggin joke. You pay for the boat and the charter company (The Moorings) makes all the money all the while trashing your boat. Do name it properly something like... ss party barge or better still ss motel 6 because buy the time Moorings is done with it she will be a dumpster fire with pecker tracks from bow to stern.
The town or harbor is the port. The company has "bases" at the ports. When you are returning from your charter and have to call in to arrange docking, you call "Mooring Base, Moorings Base, this is...".
The financial outcome depends a lot on the boat’s residual value in 5 years. People who bought 5 years ago ended up doing very well due to Covid and inflation. Time will tell. If you can use it as a US tax shelter and like boating, it is very attractive but I don’t think a lot of their buyers set it up to meet all of the requirements to tax deduct it.
Agreed. We have put in a lot of work up front to ensure we maximize our sailing fun and the benefits of ownership. Ultimately our goal is to reduce the costs of sailing over the term of the agreement. To what extent we’re able to do that depends on the market for sure.
How did they handle the guaranteed income during COVID when everything was locked down? How guaranteed is "guaranteed"? I recall hearing horror stories about this.
While I was not in the program at the time, one of my boat partners was. They continued to make the guaranteed payments to owners, even though in many locations they weren't able to charter at all. This is one of the things that gave me confidence in their program.
in 2020 i was thinking about that as well. these companies must have taken on so much debt to cover "guarantees" it is scary, especially with declining boat values-
@@brettharman8921 I just assumed they had a loophole in the contract and bailed on the payments... I'm glad to hear they didn't. I wonder if they added the clause to the contract afterwards... 😂 I have major trust issues with stuff like this.
So it's a time share basically? How it's described sounds alot like a time share and with the bad reputation of other types of time shares I think I'd pass. To each their own but I associate time shares with scams.
Hey Chris, I can see how this might look similar to a timeshare model. A lot of people think that when they first hear it. The difference is a fractional time share is typically an asset (condo, Villa, home, etc) that is owned by the timeshare company and sold or leased in fractions of “ownership” that correspond with the use the buyer gets. In The Moorings model, we actually own the asset and place it in their charter system for use. In return we receive guaranteed income and the ability to use any of their boats at all of their bases, for a certain amount of time each year over the term of the agreement. At the end of the agreement term, we still own 100% of the boat. Thanks for watching and I hope this helps!
It can definitely be hot for sure. It’s important to have water and some type of shoes for the trail. The water and rock features make it worth it. I hope you and your crew ultimately had a great time!
The actual costs depends on the vessel and base location, but is something I could go into more detail in future episodes for sure. You can also see a lot of information on the pro-forma sheets for each vessel at www.mooringsyachtownership.com/pricing
The BVId has become very over crowded with charter boats. An alternative is chartering in the USVI and sailing to the Spanish Virgin Islands which in many of the anchorages has no ball requirements and is free too anchor.
Don't do business with St Petersburg municipal Marina they wanted to charge me $3,000 a month for a transient slip to wait for a window to cross the Gulf their price gouging hurricane victims
