On Wednesday, July 28, Boatbookings.com hosted their Second Annual Food and Wine Paring at Hugh’s Catering in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The event is a “thank you” for all the hard work and extra efforts the Central agents go to to assure our clients have flawless charters on the agents’ yachts.

Sharon Bahmer, the Caribbean andUSACharter Director, flawlessly organized the event. Regional Central Charter Agents in attendance were delighted to have the opportunity to meet Tom Virden, Boatbookings Founder and Managing Director based in Cannes, France, and Sean Fawcett, Boatbookings Vice President based in Boston.

The appreciation event featured Sommelier Francis V. Sullivan, who made an informative presentation with each pairing to reveal the complexities and nuances of the wines being served. Chef Hugh and his staff of experts welcomed those interested to watch the on-site preparation of the five-star, five-course menu. Chef Hugh took timely advantage of the local lobster mini hunting season, diving himself for the lobster that provided a delicious first course of Lobster Fra Diavlo.

The evening culminated in a grueling contest that tested the wine palate of guests with yet more tastings. Winners happily accepted bottles of wine that were awarded as prizes. Everyone

agreed the event was a superb success!

That’s right, you can get on board the yacht used as the BLACK PEARL in the Pirates of the Caribbean films and re-enact your own Captain Jack Sparrow moment. The UNICORN Brig is a 140ft masterpiece replica of an 18th Century Brig Tall Ship and is a beauty to behold without the tattered sails given to her in the film.
Built in 1948 in Finland, she now offers daily tours starting from Rodney Bay Marin on St Lucia, taking in either the Botanical Gardens or the Toraille Waterfalls & Gardens and the Sulphur Springs of St Lucia in the Caribbean.  The trip even includes a hearty meal and traditional pirate rum punch, perfect for a fantasy family day out.

A motorcycle daredevil from the Kiwi Crusty Demons yesterday backflipped over an America’s Cup yacht in Auckland. Luke Smith became the first person in the world to perform this crazy stunt, falling the equivalent of 4 storeys once he had cleared the yacht.  When asked what was going on in his mind before going ‘head over wheels’ Luke admitted he was nervous and said:

“I wasn’t sure how I was gonna end up you know. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna over-rotate, or was gonna be able to kick the bike away, but yeah, no it worked out great, there was nothing to worry about.”

Luke will continue to perform with the Crusty Demons in Auckland, though his motorbike, unfortunately, won’t.  The America’s Cup yacht belonging to the New Zealand team was not damaged in the stunt and awaits the onset of the New Louis Vuitton Cup Regatta to come to Auckland in next spring (see previous blog).

Information courtesy of 3news.co.nz

Following on from the announcement of the Porsche Design collaboration with the Singapore based yacht builder Royal Falcon Fleet (see the blog dated September 12th) a further two German Automobile Companies have inspired sea worthy vessels; Audi and BMW. 
The Swedish company Vizualtech were inspired by the Audi R8 and have designed a power catamaran in its image for a Dubai race boat company. It is 8.8m (29ft) in length, has two gullwing doors and uses either a modified biodiesel V10 engine or two smaller 320hp V8 engines taking the vessel to a top speed of 110 mph.

BMW Designworks USA meanwhile, has teamed up with Belgian yacht builder Zeydon to create the Performance Cruiser Z60 sailing yacht and enter a completely new yacht market; performance-oriented luxury sailing yachts.  The boat can reach downwind speeds of 23 knots under sail power alone or 10-13 knots using the yacht’s engines.

Will this trend from the automobile world to the yachting world continue?  Watch this space to find out.
Information and images courtesy of WorldCarFans.com and MarineBusinessNews.com

All the yachts have now left the Monaco Yacht Show and most will now be preparing for their annual migration to Fort Lauderdale and the Caribbean for the winter.  The success of this year’s show is testiment to the thriving status of the Mega-yacht industry despite the recent economic crisis.  The Boatbookings team were out in force to see the yachts and find the newest additions to the Super and Mega Yacht charter market; among those yachts viewed by the team were Martha Ann, Newvida, Makululu and Leonora, Daybreak, Midlandia and Parsifal III.  Updates on these boats coming soon…

The Monaco Yacht Show has always been a platform for the newest luxury, the most up to date technology and of course the latest Yachts to excite the yachting enthusiasts that travel to the event in a pilgrimage to their passion. This year the Ferretti Group (Ferretti Yachts, Pershing, Itama, Bertram, Riva, Apreamare, Mochi Craft, CRN and Custom Line) are presenting 9 elegant yachts at the show, 2 of which are world previews produced by CRN:

The CRN 54m MARAYA and the CRN 57m ROMANCE.

New models Riva Duchessa 92’, Apreamare Maestro 82’, Custom Line Navetta 33, Custom Line 112’ Next, Pershing 80’ are also being displayed, which were presented at the recent Cannes Boat Show, as well as the already well-known and much admired Pershing 90’ and Itama Forty

Some information courtesy of BYM Product and Industry News

Two years after its triumphal launch, Tom Perkins has put the Maltese Falcon up for sale. The cost of the boat was $100 million to build.

It might just be idle gossip, and it might really be that our friends in Valencia have seen something, but the word on the docks at the America’s Cup is that Alinghi has been significantly faster than Emirates Team New Zealand when they’ve practiced head to head.  If it’s true, you heard it here first!  If not, well, who trusts gossip anyway?