Cruisers sing the blues

Trinidad was once hailed by yachtsmen as the ultimate destination for repairs and supplies. But over the last three years this view has changed. No longer is Trinidad the place to go, some cruisers (yachties) say.

Yachties have been complaining about higher prices for goods and services, the “quality” of the anchorages and the “ugly” waters (See Letter)  Those who have experienced the Chaguaramas’ dark side have been spreading the word across the yachting community, and as a result, the numbers of boats coming in have decreased since 2000. Yachties claim they can get better service at cheaper rates from the other islands like Martinique, Venezuela, St Martin, Grenada and Antigua. And now, a once flourishing industry is battling to regain its image as a boating destination. “Chaguaramas looks good on paper,” one cruiser said, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But when you get here it’s something different.” Another said with prices going up, she may look to go up the islands. In addition, the spiralling crime rate and rise in the cost of services have done nothing to improve the yachties’ view of Trinidad. The Yacht Services Association (YSATT) though has been putting measures in place to deal with the concerns of the yachting community.

According to YSATT’s Vice President, Christopher Marshall, people are only seeing the cruisers’ perspective.  He said because a few yachties have spoken out against Trinidad, the association and the contractors have been feeling the negative backlash. “We get the feeling that because of the voices of a few, the situation has been blown out of proportion,” said Marshall. Cruisers dismissed this view, saying that they are just telling it like it is. “Is Chaguaramas losing its appeal ? asked one cruiser, who had been coming for about five years. “I would say that it is.” One cruiser noted though that the area still has a lot to offer, but that perhaps the YSATT had become complacent. Marshall said YSATT recently conducted a survey and over 80 percent of the boating population visiting Trinidad said they loved it and would come again. He added that like with any other industry, there will be some who have bad experiences, but since the yachtsmen are a travelling community, the words of a few can spread like a brushfire.

According to Marshall, YSATT has been working diligently to calm their fears and trying to increase the number of active boats on the dock. Active boats are those with repairs being done to them while docked. He said YSATT is also aware of the yachties’ concern about crime in the area. One or two have been directly affected with their dinghies being stolen of their boats and a few were mugged while traveling into Port-of-Spain. This has left others feeling unsafe. To quell the fears of the cruisers in this regard, YSATT is organising a water taxi service for them. “The water taxi will be commissioned in the next few months. It will go from yard to yard via the water so that at night the yacht men can move around without having to use the main roads where they feel unsafe,” said Marshall. The water taxi will also have a communication system on board in case of emergencies. Also, YSATT has approached the Coast Guard and the police to help secure the area with patrols at night. But this may be a bigger task than the association can accomplish in the near future.

Marshall said the Carenage police station has only one police car and the facilities are deplorable. “The toilets are horrible and there are fowls and rats running about. And the building is up a side street and not in the public view,” said Marshall. So concerned is YSATT that the organisation recently met with Prime Minister Patrick Manning.  Marshall said YSATT has been in talks with the PM for the last few months trying to arrange better facilities for the police station, but so far they have had no real progress. The yachties also claim that contractors’ prices have sky-rocketed over the past few years. According to Marshall, prices have gone up but with good reason. “When we entered the market ten years ago to develop the local yachting industry, we tried to get market share with competitive pricing,” said Marshall. He said the industry was made of up a lot of inexperienced contractors trying to gain a foothold and compete with more developed yachting industries throughout the Caribbean. The word spread through the yachting community that Trinidad offered cheap rates for good work, “and they came to expect this over the years,” he said. “This has had a negative impact on us,” Marshall said, noting that the larger contractors are now in a position to increase the cost of their services.  “Ten years later, yachties feel it is unfair. They come expecting to get something for nothing,” said Marshall.

The cruisers have grown accustomed to being spoiled in Trinidad and now that things have changed, they feel they have been cheated. But that is not the case, said Marshall. “If you do a survey of pricing throughout the Caribbean and the rest of the world, you will realize that our pricing is still very competitive as far as labor rates go,” he said. But some of the concerns of the cruisers may be justified since pricing on some of the land facilities are high. By law yachties are allowed to bring goods into Trinidad duty free, as long as they are consigned to their boats. But when they need to purchase supplies, cruisers have to incur duty and Vat on all items, and as a result they pay higher for goods here than in other islands. This, said Marshall will encourage them bringing in their own goods and not patronize the local stores. Marshall said Trinidad’s major competitors, St Martin, Antigua and Grenada all have duty free and tax free status for goods sold within the industry and competing against this is turning out to be a hard task for the local yachting businesses. “We have recognized this as a valid complaint and are currently working on gaining the support of the Government to enforce a duty free status for us,” said Marshall. YSATT has been trying to change the image of Trinidad from the land of cheap labor.  Marshall said their main goal right now, apart from ensuring those docking in Trinidad feel safe, is to create an image of quality work at reasonable prices. He said in order to build a viable, dependable industry this perception of “something for nothing” has to be eliminated even if it means facing negative repercussions from a small percent of the market. The task for YSATT is not to increase the number of boats that visit our docks, but to increase the amount of money the boats that do come, spend here, he added.