{"id":76874,"date":"2024-02-20T13:23:44","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T18:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=76874"},"modified":"2024-02-20T13:23:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T18:23:51","slug":"rib-charter-made-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/rib-charter-made-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"RIB Charter Made Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\" <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Lindsay and Alfredo Lopez, owners of startup Club Boat Charter, started their RIB \u00adcharter business to support local youth events and clubs. With high demand, their fleet continues to grow. <\/span>\n Walter Cooper<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

As with most things in life, a necessity called for a solution, and for Lindsay and Alfredo Lopez, that need was a RIB for their home-port Hampton YC. That need then quickly transformed into a full-time family-run RIB-rental business, a fast-growing fleet, spiking demand and a dealership to tie it all together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of summers ago, Lindsay says, Hampton couldn\u2019t raise the capital to buy a new RIB, so they considered chartering one at a daily rate for the entire summer. \u201cThe rate was astronomical,\u201d Lopez says. \u201cSo, we said, \u2018Why don\u2019t we just buy a boat and charter it back to the club for way less.\u2019 It was really about doing something to help out our program, and hey, we get another boat. So that\u2019s a win-win. We very quickly realized that there are never enough boats for events, coaches, spectators and parents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, one became two, two became three, and their new company, Club Boat Charter Company, was formed. They\u2019re now moving eight RIBs with an insane schedule of charters already lined up for youth sailing events in the \u00admid-Atlantic summer and Florida regattas all winter long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we looked at what was out in the industry, we realized it was a great opportunity,\u201d Lindsay says, \u201cbut our model was to see if we could get boats at a lower cost and pass those savings along.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They connected with Highfield Boats, which makes award-winning aluminum-hulled RIBs, and Alfredo says that\u2019s where the business took off. \u201cWhat they were trying to do with the brand and competitive sailing and what our goals were aligned really well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intent with their \u00adcharter business, Lindsay says, is not about getting rich off the sport, but rather to make it more affordable for parents and families in the youth space and be an asset resource for organizations, regattas, and wherever else there\u2019s a need. \u201cIt\u2019s about keeping it reasonable for host clubs, PROs and everyone who\u2019s involved by lowering the market price to charter a RIB.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, she says, they\u2019ve \u00admanaged to keep their rates below $400 per day, depending on the location. \u201cI think keeping it as affordable as we can is important because sailing is already an inexpensive sport, and I hate seeing kids unable to do something they love or enjoy because they can\u2019t afford it. That is unacceptable, so we want to keep it as affordable as we can in the spaces where we have control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Dave <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The \u00adcompany provided a RIB for Sailing World<\/i>\u2019s Boat of the Year tests in Annapolis. <\/span>\n Walter Cooper<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

And as they say, and the pun is intended, the charter experience is turn-the-key turnkey. \u201cWe provide what we call a white-glove service,\u201d Alfredo says. \u201cBring your life jacket, and the boat is in the water when you get there. It\u2019s clean, it\u2019s gassed up, keys are in the ignition, and it\u2019s ready for you to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Same goes for the return. \u201cIt\u2019s as simple as leaving it at the dock; we\u2019ll recover it and take it to the next place,\u201d he says. \u201cWe make it as painless as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seems too easy to be true, but Alfredo says that\u2019s the point. \u201cIt is logistically difficult in many ways, but personally, I saw this as an opportunity to be on a boat more, which I love. It is tough and it requires a lot of capital, but the market and the demand are growing. We will grow the fleet as much as demand allows and is \u00adappropriate for the market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s plenty of cleaning boats, as well, Lindsay adds. And driving, which they\u2019ve been doing less of since onboarding their first operations manager, Brian Fox, a former college sailor and active coach. \u201cHe actually taught our daughters when they were Opti Green fleeters,\u201d Alfredo says. \u201cHis perspective is good because he knows what coaches want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now three years into the biz, things are humming along for the parents of two young daughters, and both Alfredo and Lindsay see the potential of more. Partnering with Highfield Boats was the critical relationship to jump-start the company, and Alfredo looks longingly at the fact that Highfield is the official RIB sponsor of the Paris Olympic regatta next summer, which means Los Angeles could<\/em> fit perfectly into their long-term business plan (they both have MBAs, by the way). \u201cI would love to do LA in 2028 and support that initiative,\u201d Alfredo says. \u201cBut next year will be one of sustainability. I think that we\u2019ve hit a pretty good number in our fleet. We\u2019ll focus on turning it around and refreshing it, and then just continuing to break into new events however we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How one’s couples problem of sourcing RIBs for junior events became everyone’s solution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":76880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Dave Reed","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[159],"tags":[920,232,2930,177,2936,178],"class_list":["post-76874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-charter","tag-one-design","tag-print-january-2024","tag-racing","tag-rib","tag-sailboat-racing"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}