Powertripping in BVIs

Boat/US Magazine, March, 2001

Take four diehard sailors and send them to motoryacht camp for a crash (not literally) course in operating large powerboats and my, how perspectives can change overnight. Maybe it was the languid tropical air in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, the rush of twin 225 diesels under one's hand or the ability to get to just about any island in, say, 20 minutes, that swayed them. The sailing converts were four lucky staffers from BoatU.S. who tried out the new powerboat training program launched by Virgin Traders, one of only a few yacht charter companies in the Caribbean that charters power, not sailboats.

Based in Nanny Cay, Virgin Traders developed an educational program to teach charter clients to run a large motoryacht in five days of expert hands-on training. Lessons and practice, including man-overboard drills, engine care, lassoing cleats and navigating "blind," kept everyone on their toes. If the BoatU.S. sailors could dock a 47-footer, forwards and backwards, using only the throttles, then it can't be that difficult! For information on this unique charter offering, contact BoatU.S. Yacht