Cruising aboard Winnie The Pooh, or WTP, as she is called; Mark and Joyce have spent the last seven months on their custom 46' trawler that first started life as a Heritage West Indies 46 Ketch called Southern Princess. WTP is a Charlie Morgan designed cruising sailboat with a broad 15' beam and lots of interior room. Winnie The Pooh has been to the Bahamas six times, up the Tennessee River twice, and up and down the East Coast at least a half a dozen times. We recently caught up with Mark and Joyce about a week shy of their homecoming near Fort Myers, Florida, after a long trip down the eastern seaboard and exciting adventure to Canada.
Mark and Joyce have been together for the last three years and during that time it seems like most of it, has been spent on the water. Nevertheless, we thought it was an excellent occasion to meet one of cruising's happiest couples. JG: Where were you born and raised Mark?MR: Cincinnati, Ohio. JG: Where did this passion for boating come from?MR: When I was three years old my family bought a 14-foot Runabout and we all learned to ski and aquaplane. When I was a little older we bought an 11-foot sailboat, and I was sailing when I was about 7 or 8. JG: Since you been an adult have you gone through a series of boats?MR: When I first moved to Florida out of college, I moved to West Palm Beach and before I found a place to live I bought a Hobie Cat sailboat! A few years later I bought a Pearson 26' sailboat and that was my first cruising boat that I went to the Bahamas on and that was to learn what I didn't know about cruising. My next boat was ex-IRA racing boat and I did extensive modifications on that boat and I cut the keel down from 7-feet to 5-feet. And then Winnie The Pooh came along. JG: My question is how did you come up with the name Winnie the Pooh?MR: Well, our first boat was a sailboat called, "Tigger." It just seemed like the next logical name because this boat is wider, and rounder in the rear, so this boat is a Winnie The Pooh.JG: How long have you been out on this current adventure?MR: Well, our trip will be seven months when we get back from Florida to Canada and back. JG: Where do you call home?
MR: We have a home now that we bought two years ago in Ortona, Florida, which is on the Okeechobee Waterway near Fort Myers. Before I met Joyce, I built this boat and started cruising on it with my ex-wife. That trip started in 1997. JG: So you've had this current boat nine years now?MR: Yes, plus the four-and-a-half years I spent rebuilding her. The boat originally was a Heritage West Indies 46' Ketch. It was a Charlie Morgan design and it was dismasted in Hurricane Hugo down in Puerto Rico. I bought the boat as a wreck and rebuilt her as a trawler. I put a new John Deere 80 horsepower diesel in her. JG: Before you met Joyce was she a sailor?MR: Yes she has done more extensive cruising than I have and then she has crossed the Pacific Ocean. She cruised the Caribbean first and then she crossed the Pacific to New Zealand, on a trimaran. JG: So the two of you started seven months ago and where has your journey taken you?MR: Well, this trip started seven months ago and we went up the East Coast on the ICW. We traveled the Hudson River, the Erie Canal, the Oswego Canal, cruised the Thousand Islands a little bit. Then it was on to Ontario, Canada and the Rideau Canal, which took us up to Ottawa. Then down the Ottawa River to Montreal. From there it was on to the St. Lawrence River and the Richelieu Canal, which goes on to Lake Champlain. Lake Champlain dumps you in the Hudson River again and then back down the East Coast. JG: What were some of the highlights for you Mark?MR: The canals of Canada were magnificent. I just loved the people there and the small towns along the way. We stayed for nine days in downtown Ottawa on the canal wall. We went to all the museums and the nightlife there and it was just a great place to be. It is very different than traveling by car and you travel so much slower that you get to see more. Every evening is time free and if you meet somebody in the town maybe you have them over for the boat or something. It is a lot of fun that way. JG: Hi Joyce, are you anxious to get home?JR: Well, I'm kind of homesick. For men I think continual cruising is fine but for us ladies, I believe we like to have a main base connection [laughter].JG: I know you have an extensive sailing and cruising background, however, over the last seven months what have been some of the highlights for you?JR: The people we've met and seeing all the different little towns along the journey. The cruisers we've met and getting to a town and finding out where to go to buy groceries. The restaurants and all the different little experiences along the way. Every place in Canada has been enjoyable from the little parks to meeting the people. You can see the locals having a picnic or perhaps fishing. Meeting those people is one of the things that makes cruising so much fun. JG: When I have spoken with cruisers in the past they always say being on the water is great but it is the people you meet along the way that makes everything so memorable. JR: Oh yes, and on this trip that has been the case. We've gone to farmer's markets, outdoor concerts and you get to enjoy the town folks and their lives. At night time they have activities in the little town squares and we just sit down and join them and it has been so fun! That is what has made it very special to me.JG: Joyce where did you grow up and how did you get involved in boating?JR: Mark has been actually boating a lot longer than I have. He started as a little boy but for me I grew up in Taiwan. I always enjoyed being around the water. I didn't really get involved in the cruising life until about nine years ago. Before that I had only been involved in deep sea fishing and fancy cruise ships. About nine years ago my ex-boyfriend had built a trimaran and he suggested that I learn to sail. So, we took a trip to the Bahamas and I was scared to death. There was nothing to prepare you to live on a boat and listen to the wind. It was a totally new environment and I was very nervous. We spent one month in the Bahamas and I just loved the water, swimming, catching fish and lobster and it opened a different type of lifestyle to me. We came back and I returned to work and on weekends we would sail a little bit and go down to the Keys. As time went on I remembered the quiet anchorages we had been at and I missed the sunsets. Then catching something for dinner at night or getting together for another couple at sunset while telling stories.
JG: So them you started thinking about bigger adventures?JR: Yes, we left in the year 2000 and we sailed through the Caribbean. We went to Colombia and on to the Panama Canal and from there to the Marquesas Islands. Then on to the Society Islands and we were gone for three years. I sailed all the way to New Zealand. However, I left. I like the challenge but the relationship was not working out so I left. So I came home and went back to work and my lifestyle was not as fulfilling. I felt like a bird in a cage [laughter]. JG: So how did you meet Mark and how did that come about?JR: We actually met through E-mail. He was looking for crew and he had just been through a divorce and we just met through this website. We communicated through E-mail and then he started calling me every night. We talked for three months and then he came down to meet me and after we met everything just worked out. We have together over three years! We cruised until we bough a house two years ago. We spent part of last year cruising down the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway, all the way to Nashville. JG: So the three years that you have been together you have spent a fair amount of time once again cruising. It sounds to me that you both have a passion for being on the water and outdoors.JR: Oh yes, we love it! It is just fortunate that we found each other. It has been great and we really have been enjoying this lifestyle. JG: But you are looking forward to getting home in a couple of days?JR: Yes [laughter]. We are looking forward to being home but the two of us are so fortunate because we have the best of both worlds. We live in a little community that our neighbors are all cruisers or former cruisers. So when we are at home we have a cruising mentality in our neighborhood. When we are out cruising our neighbors are keeping an eye on our place. Everyone understands and you don't have to explain anything. It is a simple lifestyle but very enjoyable. JG: Being a live aboard isn't a life for everyone but it seems as if for you and Mark it works. There is harmony on your boat.JR: It is a slower life. We enjoy seeing nature and birds up close and you don't see that from the highway. Like today we saw hundreds and hundreds of these huge pelicans diving in front of us. Then there were a number of islands connecting together in this Mosquito Lagoon we were cruising by.JG: Mark, you mentioned that you rebuilt your boat and that must have been a lot of work and a lot of fun at the same time?MR: It was a big project and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I would never want to do it again [laughter] because it was a one time deal. JG: Are you happy the way everything has turned out for you?MR: Oh, yes. I've lived on this boat fulltime for seven years until we bought the house two years ago. I mentioned that I put a new John Deere engine on it and I just turned over 6,000 hours on it to give you an idea just how much cruising I have done. JG: Now when you aren't cruising the rivers and going to Canada what is your profession?MR: Well, I do electrical boat work and I do it cruising as well as when I am home. I had a number of jobs along the way on this trip, including a one week job on a trawler in New Jersey. I work directly with the owners, usually they work with me on the boats and they learn what to do to maintain their system. They learn how it works and they help make the decision on how to wire things. There are hundreds of ways to wire a boat and which one is right for you depends on what kind of cruising you are going to do. I try to educate them as I go along with solving their problems. JG: I asked Joyce but I'm curious to get your answer. You obviously have a passion for boating and cruising, but can you explain why?MR: I not sure I can put it into words. A part of it is that I like to live in a way that is inexpensive enough that I don't have to work fulltime. I like traveling a lot and trawling by boat in a trawler is a good way to travel for long periods of time inexpensively. I really don't like the type of traveling where you jet into some place and you stay in a hotel and then you dash around to the tourist things, then fly back a week or two later. That doesn't do it for me. I need to become part of the local culture and get to know people. Instead of the major tourist attractions, I like the minor tourist attractions [laughter]. The local bar that just has the best ham and cheese grilled sandwich. Or perhaps a bakery in the little town of Chambly in Canada, which was the best French bakery, I had ever been in. We were in the town for three days and we went to the bakery six times. And in addition to the locals you always meet the cruisers and that is what always makes it such a great experience. The next time you just happened to encounter a 46-foot trawler that looks like she might have been a sailboat at one time, well, be sure and say hello to the crew. The happy couple aboard will be Mark and Joyce and they have a few stories to tell.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Fishing the Georgia Coastline
It is a problem that most of us should experience. You are spending the winter down in the Caribbean, enjoying the warm water and the tropical breezes, catching a few fish aboard your yacht. However, when springtime rolls around in a few months you want to head north to Newport. See, I told you it is a problem that most of us should have! In any event, the boat needs to travel to Rhode Island, so what do you do? Well, if you are like a number of boat owners over the last few years you ship her. Just short of stopping you heart of course, there is nothing like watching as your pride and joy; your boat, your baby is hauled out of the water, precariously perched atop some medieval device before she deposited back down for transportation. There has been another method around for transporting yachts for closing in on twenty years and it is rather ingenious. A Dutch company called DYT began using semi-submersible yacht carriers back in 1989 to transport yachts to various destinations.
The ships were originally designed for shipping heavy machinery for use on oil rigs and platforms in the Gulf and the North Sea, however, over the last two decades four of the ships have been put to a much different use specializing in the maritime transport of luxury yachts. We recently caught up with Clemens van der Werf, the DYT President and CEO to gain a greater understanding of just how the process works. “Basically we are in the business of transporting yachts in special ships. The ships are semi-submersible so they can basically sink down to the water, so that you can get water above deck,” van der Werf explained. “The yacht then sails on the vessel and with the support of divers we put customized supports under the yachts. Then the vessel comes out of the water again basically dry docking all the yachts individually. Then the yachts are seafasten for an ocean voyage. Basically, when they arrive on the other side the seafastening is taken away and the ships slowly sinks down in the water again. Divers take the supports away and the yachts can sail off one by one. So it is a very smooth process.” Currently DYT operates a fleet of four dedicated semi-submersible yacht carriers. These heavy transport vessels have been modified to specifically transport luxury yachts. The fleet includes Super Servant 3 (139.09 meters), Super Servant 4 (169.49 meters), The Dock Express 12 (158.97 meters), and The Explorer (158.90 meters). “It is an absolutely safe process and there is no strain on the yachts at all. Weight is not a limitation, which is good for the bigger yachts as well,” van der Werf says. “That is basically the concept of semi-submersible ships. It originated in the 1970’s in the oil and gas industry, when those type of ships were used to transport oil and gas platforms and oilrigs all over the world. That is actually where these ships that we use were deployed. In 1989, we started as a project basically to move two yachts from Italy to Fort Lauderdale and that eventually became the business. Then we did it more frequently in the spring and the fall season transferring yachts from Florida and the Caribbean to the Mediterranean.” For anyone who has actually watched their boat lifted out of the water, well, it can be a white knuckle, molar grinding experience and that is what DYT has been able to get around. “It is never nice to see your boat hanging in a crane. This is a very smooth slow process loading the boats,” van der Werf confided. “When the divers put supports under the yachts they do it yacht by yacht to make sure that the boat is secured. It is really the safest way to move your yacht.” OK, so you are in the Bahamas or perhaps Narragansett Bay on the north side of Rhode Island Sound and you want to ship your boat, well, you are in luck because you are close to DYT’s service points. “Basically the main market that we service is Trans-Atlantic market that is roughly Florida and the Caribbean to the Mediterranean,” van der Werf says. “That is usually with the peaks in April, May and September, October. Another market is what we call the “Caribbean Shuttle” from Newport, Rhode Island to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Also it is basically spring and fall work where in the spring we bring all the boats down in the Caribbean back to the ports [so] that they can enjoy the summer up there again. Then in the fall we shuttle them back so that they can spend the winter in the Caribbean.”
Business has steadily moved forward over the years as the entire yachting industry has continued to grow. In 2006, DYT transported 1700 yachts to various destinations around the globe. This coming May, the company will start operating the world's first specifically designed (purpose-built) semi-submersible yacht carrier. The New yacht carrier is named Yacht Express, and she is scheduled for launch in Beijing, China. “That ship we designed it basically on the knowledge that we built up over the last twenty years. All the ships that we have now were never designed as yacht carriers,” van der Werf explained. They were designed as heavy lift transportation vessels for the oilrigs. Of course, they are perfectly suitable for the job but we wanted a ship specifically designed for the yacht transfer business. We also wanted a ship that is larger than the largest one we have now, which is 550 feet and the new ship will be 100 feet longer. She has a higher speed as well and she will service the Trans-Atlantic market. She will travel from Fort Lauderdale to Genova, Italy, every month just like a train schedule. So that on the first on the month you can load in Genova and in the 15th, you can load in Fort Lauderdale. We have extra amenities onboard and we can accommodate a yacht crew. There is fitness rooms, cinema, conference room, so there are places for them to enjoy the ride and work on their boats. It is more of a cruise ship for yachts.” Since they have been in business DYT has shipped over 7,000 yachts, which totals up to a lot of hopes, dreams, and safe harbors for sailors worldwide. The question what is on the horizon for the company that is now operating fulltime out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida that was originally a Dutch company with the heavy lift market in Holland? “As with the entire yacht industry the end of the development is not within sight. There are still a number of yachts that will be built and they are being built at the moment,” van der Werf maintains. “They all need transport so I only see growth in the future in the area that we service right now. There will be growth in other areas that we are not present at the moment. We do go to Australia and New Zealand twice a year but we want to increase that frequency to put more capacity into that market. The Far East is developing; it isn’t something that is happening in two or three years time but let’s say ten years it is definitely an area in which we see more and more activity in the yacht business. People are looking for new destinations, everyone has seen the Caribbean and the Mediterranean and they want to go somewhere else and that’s what we anticipate and that’s why we want to add new routes to new destinations over time. There is still a lot of growth in our business as we increase the capacity of the current routes we serve and open up new routes in the future.”
So the next time you want to ship your mega yacht, well, now you now about another option on the high seas. However, if you are perfectly content to stay put and enjoy those warm sea breezes down in the Caribbean right about now, well, we understand. Like I said at the beginning, that’s a problem most of us should all experience from time to time.
The ships were originally designed for shipping heavy machinery for use on oil rigs and platforms in the Gulf and the North Sea, however, over the last two decades four of the ships have been put to a much different use specializing in the maritime transport of luxury yachts. We recently caught up with Clemens van der Werf, the DYT President and CEO to gain a greater understanding of just how the process works. “Basically we are in the business of transporting yachts in special ships. The ships are semi-submersible so they can basically sink down to the water, so that you can get water above deck,” van der Werf explained. “The yacht then sails on the vessel and with the support of divers we put customized supports under the yachts. Then the vessel comes out of the water again basically dry docking all the yachts individually. Then the yachts are seafasten for an ocean voyage. Basically, when they arrive on the other side the seafastening is taken away and the ships slowly sinks down in the water again. Divers take the supports away and the yachts can sail off one by one. So it is a very smooth process.” Currently DYT operates a fleet of four dedicated semi-submersible yacht carriers. These heavy transport vessels have been modified to specifically transport luxury yachts. The fleet includes Super Servant 3 (139.09 meters), Super Servant 4 (169.49 meters), The Dock Express 12 (158.97 meters), and The Explorer (158.90 meters). “It is an absolutely safe process and there is no strain on the yachts at all. Weight is not a limitation, which is good for the bigger yachts as well,” van der Werf says. “That is basically the concept of semi-submersible ships. It originated in the 1970’s in the oil and gas industry, when those type of ships were used to transport oil and gas platforms and oilrigs all over the world. That is actually where these ships that we use were deployed. In 1989, we started as a project basically to move two yachts from Italy to Fort Lauderdale and that eventually became the business. Then we did it more frequently in the spring and the fall season transferring yachts from Florida and the Caribbean to the Mediterranean.” For anyone who has actually watched their boat lifted out of the water, well, it can be a white knuckle, molar grinding experience and that is what DYT has been able to get around. “It is never nice to see your boat hanging in a crane. This is a very smooth slow process loading the boats,” van der Werf confided. “When the divers put supports under the yachts they do it yacht by yacht to make sure that the boat is secured. It is really the safest way to move your yacht.” OK, so you are in the Bahamas or perhaps Narragansett Bay on the north side of Rhode Island Sound and you want to ship your boat, well, you are in luck because you are close to DYT’s service points. “Basically the main market that we service is Trans-Atlantic market that is roughly Florida and the Caribbean to the Mediterranean,” van der Werf says. “That is usually with the peaks in April, May and September, October. Another market is what we call the “Caribbean Shuttle” from Newport, Rhode Island to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Also it is basically spring and fall work where in the spring we bring all the boats down in the Caribbean back to the ports [so] that they can enjoy the summer up there again. Then in the fall we shuttle them back so that they can spend the winter in the Caribbean.”
Business has steadily moved forward over the years as the entire yachting industry has continued to grow. In 2006, DYT transported 1700 yachts to various destinations around the globe. This coming May, the company will start operating the world's first specifically designed (purpose-built) semi-submersible yacht carrier. The New yacht carrier is named Yacht Express, and she is scheduled for launch in Beijing, China. “That ship we designed it basically on the knowledge that we built up over the last twenty years. All the ships that we have now were never designed as yacht carriers,” van der Werf explained. They were designed as heavy lift transportation vessels for the oilrigs. Of course, they are perfectly suitable for the job but we wanted a ship specifically designed for the yacht transfer business. We also wanted a ship that is larger than the largest one we have now, which is 550 feet and the new ship will be 100 feet longer. She has a higher speed as well and she will service the Trans-Atlantic market. She will travel from Fort Lauderdale to Genova, Italy, every month just like a train schedule. So that on the first on the month you can load in Genova and in the 15th, you can load in Fort Lauderdale. We have extra amenities onboard and we can accommodate a yacht crew. There is fitness rooms, cinema, conference room, so there are places for them to enjoy the ride and work on their boats. It is more of a cruise ship for yachts.” Since they have been in business DYT has shipped over 7,000 yachts, which totals up to a lot of hopes, dreams, and safe harbors for sailors worldwide. The question what is on the horizon for the company that is now operating fulltime out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida that was originally a Dutch company with the heavy lift market in Holland? “As with the entire yacht industry the end of the development is not within sight. There are still a number of yachts that will be built and they are being built at the moment,” van der Werf maintains. “They all need transport so I only see growth in the future in the area that we service right now. There will be growth in other areas that we are not present at the moment. We do go to Australia and New Zealand twice a year but we want to increase that frequency to put more capacity into that market. The Far East is developing; it isn’t something that is happening in two or three years time but let’s say ten years it is definitely an area in which we see more and more activity in the yacht business. People are looking for new destinations, everyone has seen the Caribbean and the Mediterranean and they want to go somewhere else and that’s what we anticipate and that’s why we want to add new routes to new destinations over time. There is still a lot of growth in our business as we increase the capacity of the current routes we serve and open up new routes in the future.”
So the next time you want to ship your mega yacht, well, now you now about another option on the high seas. However, if you are perfectly content to stay put and enjoy those warm sea breezes down in the Caribbean right about now, well, we understand. Like I said at the beginning, that’s a problem most of us should all experience from time to time.
Safe Harbor
It is a problem that most of us should experience. You are spending the winter down in the Caribbean, enjoying the warm water and the tropical breezes, catching a few fish aboard your yacht. However, when springtime rolls around in a few months you want to head north to Newport. See, I told you it is a problem that most of us should have! In any event, the boat needs to travel to Rhode Island, so what do you do? Well, if you are like a number of boat owners over the last few years you ship her. Just short of stopping you heart of course, there is nothing like watching as your pride and joy; your boat, your baby is hauled out of the water, precariously perched atop some medieval device before she deposited back down for transportation. There has been another method around for transporting yachts for closing in on twenty years and it is rather ingenious. A Dutch company called DYT began using semi-submersible yacht carriers back in 1989 to transport yachts to various destinations.
The ships were originally designed for shipping heavy machinery for use on oil rigs and platforms in the Gulf and the North Sea, however, over the last two decades four of the ships have been put to a much different use specializing in the maritime transport of luxury yachts. We recently caught up with Clemens van der Werf, the DYT President and CEO to gain a greater understanding of just how the process works. “Basically we are in the business of transporting yachts in special ships. The ships are semi-submersible so they can basically sink down to the water, so that you can get water above deck,” van der Werf explained. “The yacht then sails on the vessel and with the support of divers we put customized supports under the yachts. Then the vessel comes out of the water again basically dry docking all the yachts individually. Then the yachts are seafasten for an ocean voyage. Basically, when they arrive on the other side the seafastening is taken away and the ships slowly sinks down in the water again. Divers take the supports away and the yachts can sail off one by one. So it is a very smooth process.” Currently DYT operates a fleet of four dedicated semi-submersible yacht carriers. These heavy transport vessels have been modified to specifically transport luxury yachts. The fleet includes Super Servant 3 (139.09 meters), Super Servant 4 (169.49 meters), The Dock Express 12 (158.97 meters), and The Explorer (158.90 meters). “It is an absolutely safe process and there is no strain on the yachts at all. Weight is not a limitation, which is good for the bigger yachts as well,” van der Werf says. “That is basically the concept of semi-submersible ships. It originated in the 1970’s in the oil and gas industry, when those type of ships were used to transport oil and gas platforms and oilrigs all over the world. That is actually where these ships that we use were deployed. In 1989, we started as a project basically to move two yachts from Italy to Fort Lauderdale and that eventually became the business. Then we did it more frequently in the spring and the fall season transferring yachts from Florida and the Caribbean to the Mediterranean.” For anyone who has actually watched their boat lifted out of the water, well, it can be a white knuckle, molar grinding experience and that is what DYT has been able to get around. “It is never nice to see your boat hanging in a crane. This is a very smooth slow process loading the boats,” van der Werf confided. “When the divers put supports under the yachts they do it yacht by yacht to make sure that the boat is secured. It is really the safest way to move your yacht.” OK, so you are in the Bahamas or perhaps Narragansett Bay on the north side of Rhode Island Sound and you want to ship your boat, well, you are in luck because you are close to DYT’s service points. “Basically the main market that we service is Trans-Atlantic market that is roughly Florida and the Caribbean to the Mediterranean,” van der Werf says. “That is usually with the peaks in April, May and September, October. Another market is what we call the “Caribbean Shuttle” from Newport, Rhode Island to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Also it is basically spring and fall work where in the spring we bring all the boats down in the Caribbean back to the ports [so] that they can enjoy the summer up there again. Then in the fall we shuttle them back so that they can spend the winter in the Caribbean.”
Business has steadily moved forward over the years as the entire yachting industry has continued to grow. In 2006, DYT transported 1700 yachts to various destinations around the globe. This coming May, the company will start operating the world's first specifically designed (purpose-built) semi-submersible yacht carrier. The New yacht carrier is named Yacht Express, and she is scheduled for launch in Beijing, China. “That ship we designed it basically on the knowledge that we built up over the last twenty years. All the ships that we have now were never designed as yacht carriers,” van der Werf explained. They were designed as heavy lift transportation vessels for the oilrigs. Of course, they are perfectly suitable for the job but we wanted a ship specifically designed for the yacht transfer business. We also wanted a ship that is larger than the largest one we have now, which is 550 feet and the new ship will be 100 feet longer. She has a higher speed as well and she will service the Trans-Atlantic market. She will travel from Fort Lauderdale to Genova, Italy, every month just like a train schedule. So that on the first on the month you can load in Genova and in the 15th, you can load in Fort Lauderdale. We have extra amenities onboard and we can accommodate a yacht crew. There is fitness rooms, cinema, conference room, so there are places for them to enjoy the ride and work on their boats. It is more of a cruise ship for yachts.” Since they have been in business DYT has shipped over 7,000 yachts, which totals up to a lot of hopes, dreams, and safe harbors for sailors worldwide. The question what is on the horizon for the company that is now operating fulltime out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida that was originally a Dutch company with the heavy lift market in Holland? “As with the entire yacht industry the end of the development is not within sight. There are still a number of yachts that will be built and they are being built at the moment,” van der Werf maintains. “They all need transport so I only see growth in the future in the area that we service right now. There will be growth in other areas that we are not present at the moment. We do go to Australia and New Zealand twice a year but we want to increase that frequency to put more capacity into that market. The Far East is developing; it isn’t something that is happening in two or three years time but let’s say ten years it is definitely an area in which we see more and more activity in the yacht business. People are looking for new destinations, everyone has seen the Caribbean and the Mediterranean and they want to go somewhere else and that’s what we anticipate and that’s why we want to add new routes to new destinations over time. There is still a lot of growth in our business as we increase the capacity of the current routes we serve and open up new routes in the future.”
So the next time you want to ship your mega yacht, well, now you now about another option on the high seas. However, if you are perfectly content to stay put and enjoy those warm sea breezes down in the Caribbean right about now, well, we understand. Like I said at the beginning, that’s a problem most of us should all experience from time to time.
The ships were originally designed for shipping heavy machinery for use on oil rigs and platforms in the Gulf and the North Sea, however, over the last two decades four of the ships have been put to a much different use specializing in the maritime transport of luxury yachts. We recently caught up with Clemens van der Werf, the DYT President and CEO to gain a greater understanding of just how the process works. “Basically we are in the business of transporting yachts in special ships. The ships are semi-submersible so they can basically sink down to the water, so that you can get water above deck,” van der Werf explained. “The yacht then sails on the vessel and with the support of divers we put customized supports under the yachts. Then the vessel comes out of the water again basically dry docking all the yachts individually. Then the yachts are seafasten for an ocean voyage. Basically, when they arrive on the other side the seafastening is taken away and the ships slowly sinks down in the water again. Divers take the supports away and the yachts can sail off one by one. So it is a very smooth process.” Currently DYT operates a fleet of four dedicated semi-submersible yacht carriers. These heavy transport vessels have been modified to specifically transport luxury yachts. The fleet includes Super Servant 3 (139.09 meters), Super Servant 4 (169.49 meters), The Dock Express 12 (158.97 meters), and The Explorer (158.90 meters). “It is an absolutely safe process and there is no strain on the yachts at all. Weight is not a limitation, which is good for the bigger yachts as well,” van der Werf says. “That is basically the concept of semi-submersible ships. It originated in the 1970’s in the oil and gas industry, when those type of ships were used to transport oil and gas platforms and oilrigs all over the world. That is actually where these ships that we use were deployed. In 1989, we started as a project basically to move two yachts from Italy to Fort Lauderdale and that eventually became the business. Then we did it more frequently in the spring and the fall season transferring yachts from Florida and the Caribbean to the Mediterranean.” For anyone who has actually watched their boat lifted out of the water, well, it can be a white knuckle, molar grinding experience and that is what DYT has been able to get around. “It is never nice to see your boat hanging in a crane. This is a very smooth slow process loading the boats,” van der Werf confided. “When the divers put supports under the yachts they do it yacht by yacht to make sure that the boat is secured. It is really the safest way to move your yacht.” OK, so you are in the Bahamas or perhaps Narragansett Bay on the north side of Rhode Island Sound and you want to ship your boat, well, you are in luck because you are close to DYT’s service points. “Basically the main market that we service is Trans-Atlantic market that is roughly Florida and the Caribbean to the Mediterranean,” van der Werf says. “That is usually with the peaks in April, May and September, October. Another market is what we call the “Caribbean Shuttle” from Newport, Rhode Island to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Also it is basically spring and fall work where in the spring we bring all the boats down in the Caribbean back to the ports [so] that they can enjoy the summer up there again. Then in the fall we shuttle them back so that they can spend the winter in the Caribbean.”
Business has steadily moved forward over the years as the entire yachting industry has continued to grow. In 2006, DYT transported 1700 yachts to various destinations around the globe. This coming May, the company will start operating the world's first specifically designed (purpose-built) semi-submersible yacht carrier. The New yacht carrier is named Yacht Express, and she is scheduled for launch in Beijing, China. “That ship we designed it basically on the knowledge that we built up over the last twenty years. All the ships that we have now were never designed as yacht carriers,” van der Werf explained. They were designed as heavy lift transportation vessels for the oilrigs. Of course, they are perfectly suitable for the job but we wanted a ship specifically designed for the yacht transfer business. We also wanted a ship that is larger than the largest one we have now, which is 550 feet and the new ship will be 100 feet longer. She has a higher speed as well and she will service the Trans-Atlantic market. She will travel from Fort Lauderdale to Genova, Italy, every month just like a train schedule. So that on the first on the month you can load in Genova and in the 15th, you can load in Fort Lauderdale. We have extra amenities onboard and we can accommodate a yacht crew. There is fitness rooms, cinema, conference room, so there are places for them to enjoy the ride and work on their boats. It is more of a cruise ship for yachts.” Since they have been in business DYT has shipped over 7,000 yachts, which totals up to a lot of hopes, dreams, and safe harbors for sailors worldwide. The question what is on the horizon for the company that is now operating fulltime out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida that was originally a Dutch company with the heavy lift market in Holland? “As with the entire yacht industry the end of the development is not within sight. There are still a number of yachts that will be built and they are being built at the moment,” van der Werf maintains. “They all need transport so I only see growth in the future in the area that we service right now. There will be growth in other areas that we are not present at the moment. We do go to Australia and New Zealand twice a year but we want to increase that frequency to put more capacity into that market. The Far East is developing; it isn’t something that is happening in two or three years time but let’s say ten years it is definitely an area in which we see more and more activity in the yacht business. People are looking for new destinations, everyone has seen the Caribbean and the Mediterranean and they want to go somewhere else and that’s what we anticipate and that’s why we want to add new routes to new destinations over time. There is still a lot of growth in our business as we increase the capacity of the current routes we serve and open up new routes in the future.”
So the next time you want to ship your mega yacht, well, now you now about another option on the high seas. However, if you are perfectly content to stay put and enjoy those warm sea breezes down in the Caribbean right about now, well, we understand. Like I said at the beginning, that’s a problem most of us should all experience from time to time.
2006 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year
Watsonville, CA. (January 16, 2007)—They are almost at opposite ends of their racing careers but they share a common passion for their sport.
The winners of sailing’s highest award for 2006, the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year differ in age by thirty years, however, watching them compete on the water, well, they seem timeless.
Jud Smith, from Marblehead, Massachusetts turns a youthful 50 this month, while his counterpart nineteen-year-old Paige Railey of Clearwater, Florida hits the ripe old age of 20 this coming May.
The two outstanding athletes were recently named to US SAILING’s highest honor, from a shortlist of nominees determined by the membership panel of noted sailing journalists. The Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Awards recognize outstanding on-the-water achievement and the winners will be honored this coming March at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan.
2006 was an outstanding year for Smith, who scored a victory at the Audi Etchells World Championship in Perth, Australia. A five-time North American champion of the class, the noted sailmaker Smith had been knocking on the door seemingly forever and had previously been a four-time runner up at the Worlds.
Still when he found out that he was named Yachtsman of the Year, Smith was more than taken aback.
“It was a little bit unexpected but it is a culmination of a pretty good year and it is a non-Olympic year and a non-America’s Cup year really,” Smith confided. “All the candidates were excellent choices I was just fortunate that it went my way. I was a little bit surprised. They caught me at a regatta in Florida and I wasn’t racing that day. I was scrambling around trying to get ready and that’s when I heard. So, I was so caught off guard; and I was expecting maybe to hear from a customer, asking where their sails were, or something like that so it was a real surprise. It was out of the blue.”
The veteran sailor had seen more than his share of hard luck with four second place finishes at the Worlds, however, this time out on the final day of racing in the 69-boat fleet, he aced the win with a great start in the seventh race. Sailing in breezes that jumped into the 20’s, Smith was unstoppable and he crossed the finish line first to lead the fleet across the finish line.
“That was it more than anything else because I had been second so many times and close. As much as anything else I remember it being sort a relief with the burden off of me,” Smith explained. “It was something I had been working for a long time and I achieved it. I was so determined to make it happen that at that stage the excitement was over. I really put a lot of effort into it this year and certainly put a great deal of effort into the San Francisco Worlds and came up short. So, I was more determined more than ever to see it through.”
Just a month before winning his first world title, the Marblehead sailor captured his third straight Etchells North American Championship. Once again it came down to the final day of racing and Smith iced the victory with a 2-1 finish. All the veteran sailor had to do to score a win was battle rain, 20-25 knots of breeze with gusts to 35, and a six-foot chop that blistered Buzzard’s Bay in Massachusetts. We don’t want to say it was brutal out on the water but no less than 12 boats in the 46-boat fleet failed to finish because of equipment failures.
Smith’s mastery of the Etchells class this past season also included wins at the Lands’ End Annapolis NOOD Regatta, the Florida State Championship and Acura Miami Race Week. While at the wheel of a Rhodes 19, Smith also notched victories of that class’s National and East Coast Championships. In his spare time, Smith also crewed on the class winners at the Rolex Big Boat Series (Sydney-38 Copernicus), the Lands’ End Chicago NOOD Regatta and the Verve Cup (both on the Farr 40, Inferno).
Not too bad for a guy who turns 50 in less than a week. Still, Smith is very happy to be honored by Rolex and rather reflective what the award means at this point in his career.
“Sooner might have been better [laughter] but it comes at a good time. I have had a very good career sailmaking and it can only help,” Smith believes. “It probably made me extend my career a little bit. One of the things that 50 was in the back of my mind and it has been in the back of mind all the way along. In preparing for these Worlds, the by-product of it is when we were sailing with four as oppose to three, is that I had to lose a bunch of weight. It forced me to get into shape in the biggest aspect of preparing for the Worlds. I wasn’t probably [as] fit or agile, as I was years ago when I started this thing. I really put an effort into those two things and I figured the rest of my sailing was going to hold up fine. I was smarter and sail more intelligently and more under control and do a better job of positioning myself on the racecourse than I ever have. But the part of my game that was weak was that I was probably physically weaker than I should be. I worked on that and I wanted to make my sails better for those conditions. Our sails were better geared for the East Coast where we predominately sailed. Those two things came together and it definitely paid off.”
The son of 1960 5.5 Metre Olympic Gold Medallist David Smith, this past year’s Rolex winner was determined to get in the best shape possible for his run at a world championship.
“April 1st was the drop dead date and it isn’t that I’m a big person but I started jogging and I went from 210 and I did the Mid Winters West last year at about that weight. I cut out the submarine sandwiches, the chips and the ice cream and all that stuff was gone,” Smith explained. “When I had trained for the 1995 America’s Cup with Dennis [Conner] I lost a lot of weight to and I went down from 200 to 170 for the Cup. So I thought if I could do it for him I could do it for myself. I remember that time going cold turkey and cutting out the French fries. So it was just simple diet and exercise and having the determination to stick with it and I got down to 183, which is what I weighed at the Worlds. I would like to get below 180 to allow me to sail with bigger teams and bigger crews. It is a good by-product for someone turning 50-years-old and to get down to the weight I was in my 20’s.”
Hard to believe but the teenage winner of the top Rolex award for women, Paige Railey earned her first nomination in 2002 and remarkably has been short listed for the honor five years in a row. Paige has dominated in the Laser Radial class and fortunately for Railey and American dreams of gold in Beijing, the Laser Radial will make its Olympic debut in 2008 as the chosen equipment for the women’s single-handed event.
After coming close for so many years, Railey was very happy to finally win the Rolex award.
“I was really excited. I was actually in Orlando on a trip with my boyfriend and they called me up and I was really happy about it,” Railey recalled. “ I was pleased to be winning in my own country and since I had been nominated that last couple of years and to finally win it was really exciting. It was special for me because the last few years I was nominated and now to finally to get it is really nice.”
Railey’s most outstanding efforts in 2006 were wins on foreign waters, which also contributed to her being honored last November as the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2006. That award recognized her sailing achievements between September 1, 2005, and August 31, 2006.
At Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères, France, the race for gold in the 80-boat fleet resulted in a final-race battle between Railey the eventual winner and the defending champ from France, Sophie de Turckheim. Just a few weeks later, at the ISAF World Sailing Games in Neusiedl, Austria, Railey squared off again against the defending title holder and her rival de Turckheim. It was white knuckle time, as a match race for the championship ensued when the final race began, with Railey holding a three-point advantage. de Turckheim rounded the top mark five seconds ahead, however, Railey turned up the heat and turned on the downwind speed to eventually pass the French woman by the time they reached the gate. Railey crossed the finish line seventh in the 68-boat fleet to nail down the championship victory.
However, Railey believes it was her performance and victory at the Good Luck Beijing-2006 Qingdao International Regatta, the first test event in China at the venue of the 2008 Olympic Regatta, that was the key in winning the Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Award.
“I believe that they noted my win at the Qingdao International Regatta, the pre-Olympics in China was really concrete for last year,” Railey said. “My races leading up to the event weren’t that good and then I sailed well at the whole event. I didn’t even have to compete in the medaling because I had that many points. So I just went out and sailed it and I did it. I really enjoyed the course. I think it was what people made of it. You could have either been at that regatta and had been really stressed because it was real light. You could be too critical about the wind and the current but pretty much I stayed relaxed. I had a really good time sailing, it was fun and it was warm. So it was nice.”
All along Railey’s main focus has always been on winning an Olympic Gold medal, so right now she is all ready preparing for the USA Team Trials, and winning a place on the American sailing team.
“Pretty much this my main focus is the Trials. It takes a lot of dedication and hard training,” Railey confided. “Pretty much I have to keep pushing until October. I have been training for a couple of years now, so this is just like the homestretch and I hope it works out.”
What has really set both of these athletes apart has been their sustained passion for sailing. No matter how much time they spend on the water they continue to strive for excellence.
“When I started sailing Optis I had a new motivation and that pushes me,” Railey says. “Once I feel that I have accomplished that goal, then I find something new that will push me. So it is a drive inside of me and pretty much, I hate to lose. That’s one of my big drives, I like to win at the events. If I don’t win I go train like crazy so I can win the next event.”
“I get a charge more so than ever for the competition,” Smith confided. “Not necessarily just the sailing but it is an adrenaline rush to go out there and be in the competition and sail in these big fleets. I guess I’m somewhat addicted to that more so than I realized I would be and perhaps even more than when I was younger. I have always had a passion for sailing and never feel like I can get enough. When you’re a kid you have much more time for this sort of thing but now I do more regattas than I use to as a kid. Actually you get a passion for the thing and you get the chance to sail for the enjoyment of it and I have never lost that passion. I’d go sailing everyday if I had the chance.”
Age after all is just a number and it doesn’t matter if you are a teenager from Florida, or a midlife warrior from Massachusetts, the thrill of sailing and sailing fast is still what it is all about.
The winners of sailing’s highest award for 2006, the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year differ in age by thirty years, however, watching them compete on the water, well, they seem timeless.
Jud Smith, from Marblehead, Massachusetts turns a youthful 50 this month, while his counterpart nineteen-year-old Paige Railey of Clearwater, Florida hits the ripe old age of 20 this coming May.
The two outstanding athletes were recently named to US SAILING’s highest honor, from a shortlist of nominees determined by the membership panel of noted sailing journalists. The Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Awards recognize outstanding on-the-water achievement and the winners will be honored this coming March at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan.
2006 was an outstanding year for Smith, who scored a victory at the Audi Etchells World Championship in Perth, Australia. A five-time North American champion of the class, the noted sailmaker Smith had been knocking on the door seemingly forever and had previously been a four-time runner up at the Worlds.
Still when he found out that he was named Yachtsman of the Year, Smith was more than taken aback.
“It was a little bit unexpected but it is a culmination of a pretty good year and it is a non-Olympic year and a non-America’s Cup year really,” Smith confided. “All the candidates were excellent choices I was just fortunate that it went my way. I was a little bit surprised. They caught me at a regatta in Florida and I wasn’t racing that day. I was scrambling around trying to get ready and that’s when I heard. So, I was so caught off guard; and I was expecting maybe to hear from a customer, asking where their sails were, or something like that so it was a real surprise. It was out of the blue.”
The veteran sailor had seen more than his share of hard luck with four second place finishes at the Worlds, however, this time out on the final day of racing in the 69-boat fleet, he aced the win with a great start in the seventh race. Sailing in breezes that jumped into the 20’s, Smith was unstoppable and he crossed the finish line first to lead the fleet across the finish line.
“That was it more than anything else because I had been second so many times and close. As much as anything else I remember it being sort a relief with the burden off of me,” Smith explained. “It was something I had been working for a long time and I achieved it. I was so determined to make it happen that at that stage the excitement was over. I really put a lot of effort into it this year and certainly put a great deal of effort into the San Francisco Worlds and came up short. So, I was more determined more than ever to see it through.”
Just a month before winning his first world title, the Marblehead sailor captured his third straight Etchells North American Championship. Once again it came down to the final day of racing and Smith iced the victory with a 2-1 finish. All the veteran sailor had to do to score a win was battle rain, 20-25 knots of breeze with gusts to 35, and a six-foot chop that blistered Buzzard’s Bay in Massachusetts. We don’t want to say it was brutal out on the water but no less than 12 boats in the 46-boat fleet failed to finish because of equipment failures.
Smith’s mastery of the Etchells class this past season also included wins at the Lands’ End Annapolis NOOD Regatta, the Florida State Championship and Acura Miami Race Week. While at the wheel of a Rhodes 19, Smith also notched victories of that class’s National and East Coast Championships. In his spare time, Smith also crewed on the class winners at the Rolex Big Boat Series (Sydney-38 Copernicus), the Lands’ End Chicago NOOD Regatta and the Verve Cup (both on the Farr 40, Inferno).
Not too bad for a guy who turns 50 in less than a week. Still, Smith is very happy to be honored by Rolex and rather reflective what the award means at this point in his career.
“Sooner might have been better [laughter] but it comes at a good time. I have had a very good career sailmaking and it can only help,” Smith believes. “It probably made me extend my career a little bit. One of the things that 50 was in the back of my mind and it has been in the back of mind all the way along. In preparing for these Worlds, the by-product of it is when we were sailing with four as oppose to three, is that I had to lose a bunch of weight. It forced me to get into shape in the biggest aspect of preparing for the Worlds. I wasn’t probably [as] fit or agile, as I was years ago when I started this thing. I really put an effort into those two things and I figured the rest of my sailing was going to hold up fine. I was smarter and sail more intelligently and more under control and do a better job of positioning myself on the racecourse than I ever have. But the part of my game that was weak was that I was probably physically weaker than I should be. I worked on that and I wanted to make my sails better for those conditions. Our sails were better geared for the East Coast where we predominately sailed. Those two things came together and it definitely paid off.”
The son of 1960 5.5 Metre Olympic Gold Medallist David Smith, this past year’s Rolex winner was determined to get in the best shape possible for his run at a world championship.
“April 1st was the drop dead date and it isn’t that I’m a big person but I started jogging and I went from 210 and I did the Mid Winters West last year at about that weight. I cut out the submarine sandwiches, the chips and the ice cream and all that stuff was gone,” Smith explained. “When I had trained for the 1995 America’s Cup with Dennis [Conner] I lost a lot of weight to and I went down from 200 to 170 for the Cup. So I thought if I could do it for him I could do it for myself. I remember that time going cold turkey and cutting out the French fries. So it was just simple diet and exercise and having the determination to stick with it and I got down to 183, which is what I weighed at the Worlds. I would like to get below 180 to allow me to sail with bigger teams and bigger crews. It is a good by-product for someone turning 50-years-old and to get down to the weight I was in my 20’s.”
Hard to believe but the teenage winner of the top Rolex award for women, Paige Railey earned her first nomination in 2002 and remarkably has been short listed for the honor five years in a row. Paige has dominated in the Laser Radial class and fortunately for Railey and American dreams of gold in Beijing, the Laser Radial will make its Olympic debut in 2008 as the chosen equipment for the women’s single-handed event.
After coming close for so many years, Railey was very happy to finally win the Rolex award.
“I was really excited. I was actually in Orlando on a trip with my boyfriend and they called me up and I was really happy about it,” Railey recalled. “ I was pleased to be winning in my own country and since I had been nominated that last couple of years and to finally win it was really exciting. It was special for me because the last few years I was nominated and now to finally to get it is really nice.”
Railey’s most outstanding efforts in 2006 were wins on foreign waters, which also contributed to her being honored last November as the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2006. That award recognized her sailing achievements between September 1, 2005, and August 31, 2006.
At Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères, France, the race for gold in the 80-boat fleet resulted in a final-race battle between Railey the eventual winner and the defending champ from France, Sophie de Turckheim. Just a few weeks later, at the ISAF World Sailing Games in Neusiedl, Austria, Railey squared off again against the defending title holder and her rival de Turckheim. It was white knuckle time, as a match race for the championship ensued when the final race began, with Railey holding a three-point advantage. de Turckheim rounded the top mark five seconds ahead, however, Railey turned up the heat and turned on the downwind speed to eventually pass the French woman by the time they reached the gate. Railey crossed the finish line seventh in the 68-boat fleet to nail down the championship victory.
However, Railey believes it was her performance and victory at the Good Luck Beijing-2006 Qingdao International Regatta, the first test event in China at the venue of the 2008 Olympic Regatta, that was the key in winning the Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Award.
“I believe that they noted my win at the Qingdao International Regatta, the pre-Olympics in China was really concrete for last year,” Railey said. “My races leading up to the event weren’t that good and then I sailed well at the whole event. I didn’t even have to compete in the medaling because I had that many points. So I just went out and sailed it and I did it. I really enjoyed the course. I think it was what people made of it. You could have either been at that regatta and had been really stressed because it was real light. You could be too critical about the wind and the current but pretty much I stayed relaxed. I had a really good time sailing, it was fun and it was warm. So it was nice.”
All along Railey’s main focus has always been on winning an Olympic Gold medal, so right now she is all ready preparing for the USA Team Trials, and winning a place on the American sailing team.
“Pretty much this my main focus is the Trials. It takes a lot of dedication and hard training,” Railey confided. “Pretty much I have to keep pushing until October. I have been training for a couple of years now, so this is just like the homestretch and I hope it works out.”
What has really set both of these athletes apart has been their sustained passion for sailing. No matter how much time they spend on the water they continue to strive for excellence.
“When I started sailing Optis I had a new motivation and that pushes me,” Railey says. “Once I feel that I have accomplished that goal, then I find something new that will push me. So it is a drive inside of me and pretty much, I hate to lose. That’s one of my big drives, I like to win at the events. If I don’t win I go train like crazy so I can win the next event.”
“I get a charge more so than ever for the competition,” Smith confided. “Not necessarily just the sailing but it is an adrenaline rush to go out there and be in the competition and sail in these big fleets. I guess I’m somewhat addicted to that more so than I realized I would be and perhaps even more than when I was younger. I have always had a passion for sailing and never feel like I can get enough. When you’re a kid you have much more time for this sort of thing but now I do more regattas than I use to as a kid. Actually you get a passion for the thing and you get the chance to sail for the enjoyment of it and I have never lost that passion. I’d go sailing everyday if I had the chance.”
Age after all is just a number and it doesn’t matter if you are a teenager from Florida, or a midlife warrior from Massachusetts, the thrill of sailing and sailing fast is still what it is all about.
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