Whitsunday Charter pioneers continue expansion

by Al Constable on 2 Feb 2006 Famous for the blue waters, white pristine beaches, quiet anchorages and magnificent scenery, the Whitsunday Island group lies midway along the Queensland coast in the heart of the world-renowned Great Barrier Reef. This is a major centre for Australia's bare boat charter industry and over the coming months we will be talking to the key charter companies around the country.

Whitsunday Rent A Yacht has been a Shute Harbour landmark for more than 20 years. The company started up in the late 70s, as did Whitsunday Yachting World, and was one of the first Whitsunday bare boat charter 'pioneers'.

Deni Linforth, now the Marketing Manager of Whitsunday Rent A Yacht, sailed up to Melbourne with her own yacht and joined Whitsunday Yachting World in 1981. 'We had a forty foot sloop on our way to see the world. We stopped in at the Whitsundays for a season - famous last words,' laughs Linforth now.

Linforth continues, 'In 1983, Yachting World started to wind down, they changed hands and changed direction. Bigger companies were coming into the area and I joined a company called Australian Bareboat Charters, quite an aggressive little company. They produced, in conjunction with Bruce Farr and David Binks, probably the first Australian built boats for bareboat charter, the Farr 42.

'In 1998-99 Australian Bareboat Charters took over Whitsunday Rent A Yacht. Australian Bareboat Charters moved all their operations to the Rent A Yacht premises.

'Then, close to four years ago, the company did a 1.2 million dollar upgrade, and upgraded the jetty and offices. We introduced a lot of new boats into our fleet last year and are currently sitting at close to 40 boats. Four new boats will be arriving into our group in the next couple of months.

'Shute Harbour is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands and we feel that, although we are situated on the mainland, we are really in the centre of the island group.

'On a given day most of our boats are a maximum of three hours from our base. Consider other charter operators in the world where you can be anywhere up to a week away from your service group.

'Whitsunday Rent A Yacht is the biggest bare boat operator in Australia. We are the only charter company in the Whitsundays to have its own private jetty and facilities and we feel that our facilities are of a very high standard. We have parking, new admin buildings; we own our own slipway, which adjoins our facilities. As we stand totally independent, it is a lot more convenient for the clients.

'Our Bare boat charter area extends from the top of Hayman Island, skimming the eastern border of the island group and going as far south as Shore Island which is just south of Lindeman Island. That's about 20 miles by 50 miles. We have 74 islands in the group and about 120 approved overnight anchorages for bare boating and you would find them all in '100 Magic Miles'.

'The bulk of our fleet is sailing cats, but we also have quite a nice spread of monohulls. Our company have a spread of size, and multiples of the same design. We also have about 10 motor cruisers.

'To take a sailing yacht out somebody in the group must be 'wind wise' and must have had a little bit of basic sailing experience. We spend three hours with the client and do an area briefing: a dockside briefing and then we physically go out boating, showing them our rig and how everything works. But it is not good if the person chartering has no idea what we are talking about, so we do require somebody to have some sailing experience. We feel that a catamaran is easier to sail than a monohull.

'If someone wants to sail and there is no one in their group who has sailing experience, there are options. The client or group can come to the Whitsundays and charter a yacht and we can teach them to sail in conjunction with the sailing school, or they can attend one of the many qualified sailing schools around Australia to get instruction in bare boating. This is what our company recommends if the person chartering the yacht is 'a little bit rusty', or if there is only one person on the crew who can sail. The other 'soon to be crew' members can just whip down to the sailing school for an afternoon or weekend. This is not a certified course, but if the attendees enjoy the instruction they can move up and on to Competent Crew.

'Yet another alternative is to get a motorboat and drive around the Whitsundays. We can even arrange a cruise guide to go on board for a day, or week or whatever the client requires,' concluded Linforth.

Reduced airfares have made the beautiful Whitsunday Island Group a most desirable destination and very competitive compared to other spots.

Jetstar and Virgin fly into to the Whitsunday Coast and Mackay regularly. and both airlines fly directly into Hamilton Island from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Virgin also has direct flights from New Zealand to Hamilton Island.

Jetstar will be starting a new service from Adelaide to Hamilton Island direct from the 29th March 2006.

http://www.rentayacht.com.au