Anyone see the program on Super Servant on Discovery channel tonight? Very
interesting show but I thought it only ran trans Atlantic routes. That run
was Ft. Lauderdale to St. Thomas. I can see Calais or Gibraltar to Antigua
but an average fee of $7,000 to transport your boat on a route that can be
made on your on hull in 2 or 3 weeks with lots of nice stops on the way?
Even out to 65W it is only 10-12 days.

Several of those yachts looked like they would have beat Super Servant's 15
knots on their own.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

Glenn Ashmore wrote:

Anyone see the program on Super Servant on Discovery channel tonight? Very
interesting show but I thought it only ran trans Atlantic routes. That run
was Ft. Lauderdale to St. Thomas. I can see Calais or Gibraltar to Antigua
but an average fee of $7,000 to transport your boat on a route that can be
made on your on hull in 2 or 3 weeks with lots of nice stops on the way?
Even out to 65W it is only 10-12 days.

Several of those yachts looked like they would have beat Super Servant's 15
knots on their own.


Probably most people are scared of crossing large open waters themselves or
simply don't have the time to do so. For a large motor yacht and with todays
fuel prices it may be more economical to do a piggyback ride.
--
MarineYacht Yacht Charters
http://www.marineyacht.com

In article ,
says...



Probably most people are scared of crossing large open waters themselves or
simply don't have the time to do so. For a large motor yacht and with todays
fuel prices it may be more economical to do a piggyback ride.
--
I checked them out a couple of years ago when I was thinking of taking the
boat to Europe (we were looking at moving to the Channel Islands). The price
to carry our 37 foot sloop from Newport, RI, to France was about $7,000. To my
mind, that is a real bargain if your intent is not so much a 30-day ocean
voyage as getting the boat from one place to another. Just consider the wear
and tear on the boat and equipment, the need for crew and supplies for at
least six weeks, etc., etc., and it becomes a no-brainer.

We didn't move to the Channel Islands.

"Glenn Ashmore" wrote in message
news:akCzf.8906$Dh.6808@dukeread04...
Anyone see the program on Super Servant on Discovery channel tonight?
Very interesting show but I thought it only ran trans Atlantic routes.
That run was Ft. Lauderdale to St. Thomas. I can see Calais or Gibraltar
to Antigua but an average fee of $7,000 to transport your boat on a route
that can be made on your on hull in 2 or 3 weeks with lots of nice stops
on the way? Even out to 65W it is only 10-12 days.

Several of those yachts looked like they would have beat Super Servant's
15 knots on their own.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com


They are adding new routes all the time. Last year they added a stop in
Alaska to their West Coast stops. I actually saw the carrier docked at our
commercial terminal in Nanaimo a few months ago which was a surprise. I
assume there was a special reason for this stop.
According to ads in the sailing mags they are also commissioning a new ship
that has been specially designed/built for yacht transport. Maybe some
innovations to speed up the building of the cradles.

If your boat is set up for coastal cruising, and that is your main interest,
I think using their service to get you across oceans makes sense. You could
easily spend more than $8k trying to outfit your boat for an ocean crossing
(liferaft, EPIRB, etc) and then you would have all the wear and tear of the
voyage, not to mention the time required and work involved.

In article akCzf.8906$Dh.6808@dukeread04,
"Glenn Ashmore" wrote:

Anyone see the program on Super Servant on Discovery channel tonight? Very
interesting show but I thought it only ran trans Atlantic routes. That run
was Ft. Lauderdale to St. Thomas. I can see Calais or Gibraltar to Antigua
but an average fee of $7,000 to transport your boat on a route that can be
made on your on hull in 2 or 3 weeks with lots of nice stops on the way?
Even out to 65W it is only 10-12 days.

I was going to agree with you, but stopped and visualized the trip to
the VI, even as described by van Sant. I've been dreaming about it for
years, so have read many of the cruising accounts of the trip.

I'm not sure that $7k is out of line.

That's more than I believe our boat is worth and about double a
bareboat for two to the BVI, but for that, you get not-unreasonable
conditions to the southern "half" of the Caribbean and/or a downwind
romp back to the States that I know our Xan can handle comfortably.

Bashing a boat to there can easily cost more than that. Sailing out to
65W and heading south is out of the question at this time with our boat
and experience.

Since our next "big step" is the Bahamas or Caribbean, but it's likely
to be just a few months, I will consider the Super Servant option. If
my lady has fun, we might go further afield, probably in a bigger boat;
if not, we won't. Xan would look just fine at the end of our retirement
home's dock and would satisfy our needs for up to a month or three of
"local" sailing at a time.

The cost of ensuring that my lady need only sail downwind may be well
worth it.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/