This is because most charter (i.e. rental) boats are not actually owned by the charter company but by individual owners, who are free to name and register the boat anywhere they like. In essence, a would-be catamaran or monohull owner acquires the boat using the charter company as a broker, and then immediately leases the boat back to the charter company. This helps to defray the not-incosiderable cost for the owner (that catamaran is probably right around $175-200k), and the charter company gets a constant supply of new boats -- most folks would prefer not to have to overhaul diesel engines during their vacation. At the end of the term, the owner has to pay off the lease and assume full-time ownership of the boat. So there is probably a guy in St. Louis reading this article with great interest. :)

BTW, my fiancee and I sailed in the BVIs this summer, so this brings back mostly fond memories. Nice writing, Seth.

Another additional reason that many are "documented " in the USA is because if you want to charter it out with a skipper the Jones Act requires that it be a US flagged vessel

I did a quick whip around on the costs associated with a vacation like this. I looked at a cat rental place in Tortolo. The rental is, for 10 days, going to run between $4,000 and $5,000. Roundtrip airfare for two to BVIs from where I live is $1200 (roughly). That's six grand, minimum, and I haven't left the dock or bought a beer yet. Ouch.

Yes, it's not cheap -- ironically, chartering a boat and having to do everything yourself is quite a bit more expensive than going on an all-expenses paid cruise. However, it doesn't need to be quite that dear, either:

1) A smaller monohull can be quite considerably cheaper to rent, especially during the June-November off-season (ours was ~$1500 for 7 days)

2) Even a medium-size cat can fit anywhere from 6-10 people, so you can split the cost.

3) Flights to St. Thomas tend to be cheaper due to the economies of scale, and you can then take the $25 ferry over to Tortola.

That being said, there are plenty of miscellaneous expenses (mooring fees, provisioning, ice) that can and do add up. Sailing is a rather expensive hobby. :)

For a single person - yah its expensive. But consider how much a couples vacation would cost you: $200/night for 7 nights = $1500 x2 = $3000. And then you are going to include lots of restaurants etc. Your airfare is going to be fixed no matter where you travel to.

Now if you split it with another couple the couples costs for vacationing somplace else would be $6000 + $4800 airfare. Vs. $8800 Thats a $1200 cost savings

Doesn't matter for me -- at the moment I lack a girlfriend, another couple with whom to travel with the (theoretical) girlfriend, and the time to travel or even leave town between this weekend and the end of December.