The windward leg of an inshore race on the Solent at the 2009 Class 40 Worlds held in the UK
Owen Clarke’s goal in running this service is not to become a charter agency. We are yacht designers not yacht charterers and our preference would be for owners and charterers to make their own arrangements and use us and our resources solely as an initial point of contact. This allows us to get on with the job we love, designing boats. However we do have a good deal of experience in the class having been involved in its development since the beginning both as designers and sailors. We’re passionate about the boats and we want to see more people sailing them for the benefit of the class, our existing clients and of course eventually our own design business.
In summary, we are offering a service as facilitators, linking existing owners to sailors who either do not have sufficient funding in place to own their own boat or who wish to try a Class 40 for the first time. All fees in connection with our services are paid by the yacht’s owners. Before going on to describe the conditions under which a charter is organised from a practical and legal perspective it’s worth stepping back a moment. Chartering a yacht to an individual/s that you probably don’t know is a big step for any owner. Not just the financial commitment, but in many cases an emotional one too. This isn’t like going to Hertz, Avis to hire a car or even Sunsail to charter a boat. The owner and their Class 40 will in most cases have a history and you should approach the sailing and manner in which you treat their yacht as if she were your own. If you take this onboard then barring unforeseen circumstances, or an unavoidable accident the charter should end well. Trouble comes in these situations where charterers treat the boat as a combination of a hire car and a hotel room. It is not. You have paid for the privilege to charter the yacht. It should to all intents be returned in the condition you found her or at the least to the extent dictated by the contract. Having said that, for the considerable sum of money that you will have paid either by daily, monthly or as an event rate you deserve to have a boat that is clean and in good condition for her age. One that has all the safety equipment that is required for her class and if you’re racing, a yacht that has a Class 40 measurement certificate, is equipped to pass scrutineering and has a valid rating certificate if one is advertised as being held. New rating certificates may be charged to the account of the charterer if the yacht has never previously been measured for an IRC certificate (for example) in the past and the charterer wishes to race under IRC. If conditions such as these (which should be made clear in your contract) have not been made clear and/or met by the owner then the charter will neither start nor end well. 1. Charter conditions Day sails and weekend sailing may be accompanied by an experienced sailor rather than bare boat charter and depending on the experience level of the charterer any of the other charter periods may involve some degree of acclimatisation to the boat, race training or involve a third party acting as crew/co-skipper on a race itself. Where an owner is unable to fulfil these requirements OCD will endeavour to find a suitable experienced replacement agreeable to both parties. In all cases Owen Clarke Design would require prospective charterers to provide a sailing CV for themselves and their primary crew as well as any information they have regarding their own history of having held yacht insurance, if any. This information will be supplied to the yacht’s owner. It is up to the owner in each case to judge the suitability of the charterer and ensure that the relevant insurance is in place before commencing the charter. 2. Insurance The yacht normally continues to be insured through the owner and they will check before agreeing to charter the boat that their policy allows them to charter or if their insurance company will provide a replacement policy if it does not. Insurance is normally paid in addition to the charter fee, on a pro-rata daily/monthly basis with any additional premiums arising from special circumstances (single-handed or double-handed racing, racing outside the existing insurance limits) being paid by the charterer to the owner. We advise that a security deposit at least to the minimum deductable of the yacht’s insurance is taken and lodged in an Escrow account. This deposit to be returned when the yacht is taken back by the client, the inventory and the vessel’s condition is checked. 3. Local regulations
Owners will check with their national sailing bodies, RYA, FFV or bodies such as the US Coastguard, the minimum safety standards and equipment, along with any inspections/certificates that may be required prior to entering into an agreement to charter their yacht. 4. Charter fees
Charter fees are agreed and paid directly by the charterer to the owner. The owner is invited to discuss and provide a scale of fees for the different levels of charter to Owen Clarke Design. We will make potential charterers aware of these fees after their initial enquiry. The charter costs for Class 40’s will vary from boat to boat even for the same event depending on the owner’s expectations, location, specification, launch date, sail inventory and history of the yacht. The cost of chartering a Class 40 with a history of achieving podium positions can be expected to be higher compared for instance to a yacht that has been rarely raced or whose sail inventory is old or perceived not to be as optimised. It makes sense financially therefore when there is a choice of available yachts that clients match the yacht they charter to their aspirations, be they an introduction to Class 40 sailing, racing at an entry level, or racing at a more competative level. Those that aspire for podium positions in a competitive event must realise that they are less likely to achieve their goals if they charter a less competitive yacht than one that has proven to be more competitive in the past. 5. Contracts It is the owner’s responsibility to contract with the charterers, Owen Clarke’s role is one of facilitator only. We will supply a sample contract to owners who sign up with our service which they can decide to adapt and/or have translate for their own use. We advise that before any contract is signed that the charterer has it checked by their legal representative. 6. Availability Owen Clarke Design cannot guarantee to find an owner with a Class 40 who is willing to charter to every prospective sailor. We will try to match your demands for event, location and yacht with our clients who have already listed and/or actively search for new owners from our database who have not come forward before. It should be born in mind that peoples plans change and boats will become and cease to become available over a given length of time so if at first we’re not successful we won’t mind if you ask us again at some future date.
To enquire into the charter of a Class 40 for racing or just for the fun of it, please download the Excel enquiry form here and post it back to us or email it to: charter@owenclarkedesign.com
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