blue moon
Endless Vistas, Endless Possibilities, Endless Relaxation...
Blue Moon is a stunning yacht which turns heads in every harbor and surrounds her crew with comfort and sailing performance. Available as captain only or bareboat, the upgrades on Blue Moon are endless.
From composite sails to generator with air conditioning and a magnificent hard top bimini, blue moon is definitely a very well equipped yacht in every department, right down to the Margarita Machine!
All pictures below were taken by myself in the Virgin Islands at the end of November 2008.
Blue Moons amenities are matched by the skills of its captain, Jim, if you choose the Captain Only option. Retired after 27 years as a Social Worker doing groundbreaking work with young offenders, Jim excels at quickly getting his guests to relax and feel comfortable around him. While bringing Blue Moon down to the Virgin Islands this summer, Jim and his crew received a commendation letter from the US Coast Guard for rescuing two people off a 16' Hobie Cat. The story tells:
"After a difficult passage from the Turks & Caicos Rex Koeppen (my crew) and I finally made it to Puerto Rico, in need of fuel, rest, and repairs. We stopped in Boqueron, rested and made our repairs, but we still needed fuel. The next day we headed toward Ponce, on the south coast of Puerto Rico.
Late in the afternoon of July 10, 2008, we heard an emergency distress call on channel 16. The U.S. Coast Guard had issued a report of an overturned vessel with two people on board in the vicinity of Ponce, Puerto Rico. This seemed odd to us because we rarely heard anything on our VHF, and we hadn't seen another boat for several hours. Minutes later we spotted the overturned boat about a mile offshore with two men standing on the hull, frantically waving their arms.
After relaying our position to the Coast Guard, we pulled alongside the upside-down sailboat. A Coast Guard jet swooped over our heads as we approached the panicked crew. It was difficult to communicate with the two Puerto Ricans, as our Spanish was rather limited, as was their English. We did understand that they were in serious trouble, and they were happy to see us! We decided to try to rescue the boat, as well as the crew. Rex jumped into the water to assist Juan and Jose in righting their Hobie catamaran. The plan was to have Rex right the boat, and help them sail it back to the fuel dock, and I would follow in Blue Moon. About that time, a rescue helicopter arrived on the scene.
As they attempted to right the overturned vessel, it became apparent that Juan was injured and could not swim. Neither of them had life jackets. After a bit of a struggle, Rex finally got the Hobie on her feet, only to have Juan panic and pull down the leeward bow in an attempt to get aboard. The cat immediately flipped again. All during this time, I was making large circles around the Hobie, relaying our progress to the Coast Guard, and keeping an eye on the cliffs we were drifting toward. Two rescue boats arrived, but stood off, giving us a chance to affect the rescue.
Rex again got the boat upright. He and Jose got aboard quickly, but struggled before finally getting Juan aboard. Juan was later diagnosed with a broken rib. It was beginning to get dark, my depth gauge was starting to concern me, and the rocky cliffs were within a half mile. We were about out of time. With everyone aboard the Hobie, Rex turned his attention to the steering system, which had been damaged. There were tillers, rods, and rudders pointing in all different directions. About that time, Juan again panicked and grabbed a hold of the first thing he could, which unfortunately happened to be the mainsheet.
In an instant, Juan had trimmed the main perfectly, and the boat took off at a high rate of speed. It may have worked out okay, had Blue Moon not been directly in its' path. With no steering on the Hobie, and not enough time to maneuver Blue Moon, the Hobie ran directly into my starboard side. The collision resulted in the capsize of the smaller boat, and a small hole in the hull of Blue Moon.
At this point, I advised the Coast Guard that I didn't think we could recover both the boat and the crew. They suggested, because of Juan's injury, they could get the crew off the over turned boat. That sounded like a good idea to me, so I called Rex back to Blue Moon, and one of the rescue boats came in and took Juan and Jose off their boat. We followed the rescue boat to the Ponce Yacht Club docks, where a large crowd had gathered.
Jose was a member of the yacht club, and the members had been listening to the story unfold on the radio. There were also police, Coast Guard, Ponce Search and Rescue, ambulances, and other local authorities waiting to meet us at the fuel dock.
After thanking us profusely, Jose took us into the yacht club and introduced us as "the guys that saved our lives"! We re-told the story again and again while the crowd took turns buying our drinks. A memorable day, for sure! The following day we continued our sail: next stop - Jost Van Dyke."
As Blue Moon is new into the chartering market, she offers an exceptional value now for guests, and additional specials are available. Space will not last long, so don't hesitate. Her web site is brand new, at Sailingbluemoon and I am happy to give you more details and pricing options.
