Welcome to the TradeWinds Group.

Let us take you on a close-up tour of the world's first company to make luxury, crewed catamaran cruising, available not only to the rich and famous, but to everyone. Our core business is to provide superior yachting experiences, onboard luxury catamarans, located in some of the worlds most attractive destinations.

The concept of TradeWinds was born, back in the mid 90's, with a dream and a vision. A dream of cruising in turquoise, warm and shallow waters; of scuba diving at breathtaking coral reefs among innumerable species of fishes; and "liming" at sunset on beautiful catamarans anchored at tranquil islands.

The dream became reality a few years later when we started our first crewed charter operations, with one catamaran, at Bobby's Marina, Sint Maarten, in the Netherlands Antilles. Our driving force was then, and still is, a firm belief that, by exceeding our guests' expectations when they are cruising with us, we would pave the road for a successful business venture.

Today, over a decade later, more than thirty five thousand people have cruised with TradeWinds at our ten bases stretching from Central America and the Caribbean islands to the Mediterranean and Ionian Seas.

Welcome aboard.

Shared charters onboard luxury catamarans The majority of privately owned yachts are moored at their home marinas more that 90 percent of the year - a time that otherwise would be available for cruising. However, all costs of maintaining and operating these yachts are still payable, making the few sailing opportunities substantially expensive. This is where the idea of shared charters originated - all fixed costs for sailing, maintaining, and operating a luxury yacht could be shared proportionally with others, dependent on their actual usage.

In order to make life onboard as pleasant and comfortable as possible, stable and spacious catamarans were selected. TradeWinds fleet today encompasses more than twenty yachts ranging from 41 to 70 feet in length, all fully owned by the Group.

TradeWinds offers both club memberships (with an extensive benefit programme) as well as industry standard, crewed, all-inclusive charters. Guests are free to book one or more private cabins (comprising of queen size beds and private bathrooms) on shared charters, or alternatively, the entire yacht for their family or private group.

TradeWinds Destinations

TradeWinds operate all over the Caribbean, at several locations in Central America, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. At the time of publication, we have operations in the British Virgin Islands, Sint Maarten, Antigua, Guadeloupe, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Tobago, Panama, Belize, Greece and Turkey.

At each destination, our TradeWinds management and staff are on-hand to welcome and assist our guests - ensuring a smooth and hassle-free check-in service to their yachts. The local TradeWinds offices may also assist guests with local transportation, hotel and restaurant reservations, or sales and membership queries.

We are always on the lookout for new and exciting destinations to join our growing variety of options on offer to our members and guests. Destinations in exotic and far-away places must, however, meet our requirements for safety, accessibility, and sufficient infrastructure to provide sustainable operations, before we may offer it as a permanent TradeWinds base.

Land based staff and offshore crews

At each of the TradeWinds bases, operations are handled by our nationally registered companies, with locally employed staff.

Crews and other non-land based personnel, are responsible to, and employed by, our offshore registered companies.

Recruiting only licensed and experienced captains and first mates, together with our initial and ongoing training programmes, ensure our high standards and customer satisfaction excellence.

Logistics and maintenance

A challenging aspect of the yacht charter business by all accounts, logistics and maintenance at TradeWinds is spread over 11 countries, and innumerable tropical waters and oceans. Our operations back-up office in St. Maarten ensures the quality of our charters, as well as smooth logistics service to the local bases. Purchasing of charter-related goods is completed centrally - mitigating the cost of operations in our more remote bases.

Yachts at TradeWinds Caribbean destinations will undergo periodic overhauls at our own shipyard in Sint Maarten, giving us the means to plan and undertake, not only the scheduled annual work, but also any additional maintenance and repair work, in a streamlined and economical manner.

However, there is more to TradeWinds than simply maintaining and operating a catamaran fleet. Onboard each catamaran is a mini-hotel operation, including first class cuisine, requiring centralised purchasing of commodities such as wines and other beverages, cleaning materials and non-perishables, while fruits, vegetables, and fresh victuals are purchased on a daily basis. All of the above ensures competitive pricing, and the ability to maintain quality control.

TradeWinds Associates

Through the exclusive benefit programme available to TradeWinds members; "TradeWinds Plus"; we offer not only discounted sailing adventures, but also direct access to our affiliate and associate resort partner programme. A number of these resorts have been conferred the title of "worlds' most attractive resorts" in Asia and Europe, and all are available to TradeWinds members.

Administration office in Bequia

Our administration - including member services, booking and reservations - is performed at our office at Bequia Marina in Port Elizabeth, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Today, the majority of bookings are done via email or directly on our interactive members website. The site has also become a forum for our members to share advice and experiences, vacation photos, and explore cruising opportunities with other members.

Investing in a brand new fleet

The very first TradeWinds catamaran was Turquoise Dreams; a custom designed, comfortable and reliable, Royal Cape 45, built in South Africa. The yacht sleeps ten comfortably, and she became a truly appreciated yacht among both guests and crew.

The fleet was grown with subsequent Royal Capes, as well as French built Privileges and Marquises, ranging in size from 45 to 56 feet, before the introduction of TradeWinds Explorer in 2003; a custom built 70-foot catamaran currently sailing the coast of Panama.

In collaboration with the renowned French yacht builder, Fountain-Pajot, TradeWinds has, in 2010, launched a major investment programme consisting of adding to, as well as replacing, some of the older fleet with new top-of-the-range catamarans, all with fantastic interior and exterior volume.

The Flagship brand of this new fleet of yachts is the 70ft S/Y Galathea; the largest production cruising catamaran ever built by Fountaine-Pajot. Fully airconditioned and consisting of 6 guest suites, all with island beds and private en-suite bath and showers. The investment plan also includes specifically designed, 59 ft, luxury, sailing catamarans, to be introduced into the fleet in early 2012; the TradeWinds 59; as well as power catamarans.

Stepping up to TradeWinds Experience

Continuing to expand our model under the name "TradeWinds Experience", our fundamental and core business will remain the same - personal, luxury, crewed all-inclusive charters, offered with the same commitment as we have demonstrated to date. "TradeWinds Experience" will be a great leap forward in offering an even higher level of luxury and comfort onboard our new fleet, advancing the TradeWinds Group, and its' vision of delivering excellence, into the future.

TradeWinds Fractionals

With TradeWinds Fractionals, you can now enjoy the pleasures of a luxury yachting lifestyle at only a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the commitment! You get all the freedom that comes with owning a yacht, without the problems that ownership often brings. With TradeWinds Fractionals you do the dreaming, we do the work! www.tradewinds-fractionals.com

Guests

Since the very first charter back in 1999, more than 35 thousand guests have been cruising aboard our luxury yachts.

Destinations

We always look for new and exciting destinations to offer our guests a variety of choices. Today TradeWinds has eleven destinations where guests can cruise with us.

Associated resorts

TradeWinds members also take advantage of our partners landbased resorts. Europe and Asia are the most frequent places visited.