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The scenario is all-too
familiar.
You and your crew depart
your homeport for the tournament you’ve been looking forward to all
season—the one that’s on the other coast of the country, maybe
even down Mexico way, thousands of miles from your usual fishing grounds.
The adrenaline’s pumping, but between the stirred-up seas being thrown
at you and the fatigue that’s inherent in making such a lengthy trip,
by the time you arrive at your destination, you’re all worn out—or
worse, you’ve missed the Bimini start.
That’s it,
you think; I’m never doing this again.
If you decide to stick
closer to home from now on, you’re missing out on an alternative
way to hit the tournament trail without beating up yourself and your boat:
a yacht-transport ship.
But wait a minute—aren’t
those just for the megayacht set? The answer, in a word, is no. In fact,
Sevenstar Yacht Transport, one of the companies providing these services,
is specifically targeting owners of boats like yours.
Sevenstar opened its
doors in 1999 to address the yacht market, working with companies ranging
from Sunseeker to Rodman and Azimut to ship their midsize yachts to dealers
and boat shows worldwide. It’s been growing steadily since then;
according to Richard Klabbers, Sevenstar’s managing director, the
company saw a turnover of $8 million last year compared to $1.8 million
its first year. Sevenstar has a total of 118 staffers, five of whom do
nothing more than fly all over the world overseeing the loading of boats.
In addition, within
the past two years, Sevenstar has seen an increase in interest from owners
of battlewagons; in fact, Klabbers says that 50 percent of its bookings
are for sportfishing boats these days, with a number of them heading to
marquee tourneys like the ones in Baja California and Cabo San Lucas sponsored
by Bisbee.
Next page >
Part
2: Sevenstar’s agents
will double check that you have the proper insurance and that everything
onboard is secured. > Page 1, 2,
3
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