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Robert Larson

wrote:
Just thinking about starting a sailboat charter in a nice tourist area
(ie Pawleys Island, S.C.) where people are taken on a tour for a
couple of hours for 20.00 each. Not looking for a get rich quick
thing, but something people would enjoy doing without breaking the
bank. Just trying to get a discussion going on this and any
suggestions would be helpful. I understand about having a sailboat
captains license (at least a 6 pack), insurance business license, ect.
Just wondering what other drawbacks there are as you don"t see this
very often.

I don't know Pawleys Island, but "nice tourist area" may make or break
the venture as you will want a pool of potential customers tempted to go
out with you.

There are a couple of such operations at Pier 39 in San Francisco where
we keep our boat. One is the "Adventure Cat" - actually they now have
two boats. The other is a monohull, but I don't know much about them.
There's even a third operator that has a small motorized boat that makes
relatively short trips out and back. This is all on top of large ferry
boats that ply the tourist trade as well. Helps that Pier 39 is one of
the City's top tourist destinations.

Good luck if you go ahead with it.