TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Skipper - Errol Maynard

Mr. Maynard was suggested as a skipper for a charter and I was wondering if anyone knows him or has sailed with him before. If so, please share any info or comments which may be helpful to know. You can post here or PM me if you prefer. Thx!

Ask the charter company for pictures, Email and a brief resume of the captains

Hi,
We met Maynard on our 1st powerboat charter back in 2008. We met up with 3 couples who had Maynard as a captain on a 52 mono. We ended up tagging along with the couples for the week. Maynard was great. He showed us around the BVI's for the week. I am sure not many 1st timers can say they took Mosquito Cut and sailed around Saba Rock, turned left and went behind Prickly Pear to anchor and enjoy the beach on their 1st charter.. Keep in mind I think the 52 has an 8' draft! Maynard also sailed around the Willy-T and also way up into Sopers and back under sail. The crew said as they went up into Sopers and made a tac, the could almost reach out and take a drink off the deck of one of the houses! One day when grabbing a ball he had engine trouble. We saw him quickly jump from the helm into the dingy and use the dingy to back up the boat prior passing the ball and getting close to the next boat. Turns out the shaft coupler broke lose and he had no propulsion to put the boat in reverse. That was quick thinking...The man knows how to sail! Some may consider some of these actions crazy, but as a person watching this from another boat it was pretty impressive!

He had a sense of humor and when ever we were on land he would have stories to tell and also informed us about the Islands. In the week we did the caves, Willy T, Pirates, Cooper, Saba, Anegada, Foxys, White Bay and Sopers.

I can't speak as to having him for a captain and being on the boat with him 24 hours a day, but I know the crew never complained about him to us all week. Since 2008 we have bumped into Maynard at Leverick, Foxy's, Saba and Cooper. He remembers us every time.

And as any sailor, he likes his rum!

Here is a link to some pictures

http://www.castinephotography.com/Maynard/
Hope this helps.

Thanks for the feedback. Maynard sounds like my kind of skipper.

Maynard is a super friendly, very experience sailor and an all-round wonderful guy. You should consider yourselves very lucky to get him! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Tell him Liane says Hi! (He taught me to sail many years ago when I first moved to the BVI.)

Give me a break.
Sailing the VI should not be about the Capt but about being with your friends exploring and enjoying the bueaty of the islands.

Well, maybe. But if you have an incompetent, surly, or unsafe captain it sure could put a damper on your trip, too.

Yep, or a drunk, or someone completely bored, or someone whose body odor could kill a cat...or, or, or. The captain is very much the key. He should be both invisible when it's appropriate, and prominent when it's needed or desired.

And, just to clarify, for safety's sake, there's no way that Anguilla Cut can carry eight feet!

It was Mosquito Cut...

Good point! You don't want a swamp Yeti as a captain. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Guess I'm out then!

I'm guessing that post needs blue font or something as surely you jest. About a dozen years ago we put a boat in charter with TMM. Barney at TMM set us up with Simon Wood who was their instructional skipper at the time for 5 days. We had a blast. It has resulted in a close friendship with Simon and Heather. Nearly every trip down we find Time to get together for a day on the water or a dinner out.

A friend here locally in the states did my wife a huge favor and would not accept his fee for the service. So we arranged a trip for them and another couple on our boat with Simon at no expense. They too became fast friends with Simon, took the ASA courses through TMM with Simon and for many years have chartered bareboat cats from TMM a couple times a year. Always like us they will nearly always meet up with Simon to go diving or have dinner. Another life long friendship because of the happenstance of having the right skipper that first visit.
Simon quit doing charters several years ago and he and Heather have a day charter business Caribbean Image Tours BVI that was rated the top BVI daytrip in the Islands last year. R

The personality of a charter skipper is all important. It can make that first adventure the first of a new found passion or the trip from hell.

Well well I'm very happy for you!

Huh? There is no Mosquito Cut. Anguilla Cut is the entrance to North Sound that passes between Mosquito Island and Anguilla Point on Virgin Gorda.

I totally agree with Will. The right skipper can make or break a sailing vacation. As a charter broker for over 20 years, I have had a great deal of feedback from clients that proves this to be the rule, rather than the exception.

There are some pretty poor captains out there and believe me, I could tell you some interesting stories that would make "captain Ron" seem like a boy scout.

Many years ago when I worked for BVI Yacht Charters, I had one captain get into an all out brawl with my client that resulted in charges being laid against the captain ... and deservedly so. He spent some time in jail.

Another captain verbally abused my clients so badly that it resulted in the clients walking off the boat on day 3 of their holiday. I had to refund the entire trip out of my own pocket because said captain told me my clients were "fill in the blank".

Another captain asked my elderly client what it was like to have a "trophy wife", while telling that client that 3:30pm was beer o'clock ... and time to find an anchorage with a bar. This was an ASA captain by the way who was supposed to be teaching my clients to sail!

Yet another insisted that the client pay 10% of the cost of the charter as a tip, not knowing that the client had no intention of giving any tip whatsoever because the service provided had been so poor. Yet another one smoked dope right in front of the client on THEIR yacht!

Granted, all these things happened a very long time ago ... and the charter companies do a much better job of vetting captains these days, but it is still possible to get a less than pleasant captain. I have a list of captains the charter companies are not allowed to hire for any of my clients. Three out of the five captains noted above are still working as captains in the BVI. The one who assaulted my client was sent packing as he was from England. The one who smoked dope is no longer working as a captain.

I urge all charter guests to do their due diligence when hiring a skipper, and commend Moonshinemike for doing just that.

You can't go wrong with Maynard and if you go through with your charter plans and end up with him, I for one would love to hear back from you and get your opinion first hand.

They should change the name to Mosquito Cut because that's what most people call it when referring to it.