Charter Agreement

Mediterranean and most international charters use the MYBA Charter Agreement(Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association). Caribbean and U.S. charters typically use the CYBA (Charter Yacht Brokers Association) or AYCA(American Yacht Charter Association) form, or the Bareboat / Bahamas Charter Agreement where appropriate. The Owner's central agent specifies the form for each yacht; we send the exact contract before any payment is made.

The signed parties are the Charterer (you) and the Owner(the yacht-owning entity), with the Stakeholder (usually the central agent or escrow account) named to receive funds. Blue Ocean Club is identified as the Retail Broker introducing the Charterer.

The contract states the Charter Fee (the price for hiring the yacht and her crew) and the APA (Advance Provisioning Allowance) — typically 25-35% of the fee, used by the Captain to pay for fuel, dockage, provisioning, communications and other running costs. APA is the Charterer's money: a full accounting is provided on board and any unspent balance is refunded at the end of the charter. Applicable VAT, sales tax, delivery/redelivery fees and cruising taxes are listed separately.

A detailed explanation lives in our Yacht charter cost & APA guide.

Standard MYBA terms require 50% of the Charter Fee on signing and the remaining 50% plus the APA approximately one month before embarkation. All funds are paid into the named Stakeholder / escrow account — Blue Ocean Club does not hold client funds. Receipts and wire confirmations are provided for every payment.

Cancellation terms follow the chosen contract form. Under MYBA, cancellation by the Charterer typically forfeits the deposit and may forfeit the balance depending on the notice period. Force majeure (war, civil unrest, named storms, government restrictions, loss of the yacht) is governed by the contract clauses and, where applicable, the CharterGuard / YachtPool insurance the client elects to take out.

See also our cancellation policy.

The Owner is required to maintain Hull & Machinery and P&I (Protection & Indemnity) insurance covering the yacht and crew. The Charterer is strongly encouraged to take out separate charterer's liabilityand cancellation & curtailment insurance; we can introduce specialist brokers on request.

The Captain has final authority on all matters of safety, weather routing, itinerary and conduct on board. Maximum guest numbers are set by the yacht's flag-state certificate (typically 12 guests overnight under SOLAS). Pets, smoking, water-toys, helicopter operations and special diets must be agreed in writing in advance.

Governing law and venue are stated in the contract — usually English law and London arbitration for MYBA, or the law of the yacht's flag state. The retail broker relationship between you and Blue Ocean Club LLC is separately governed by our Terms of Service under the laws of New Mexico, USA.

We provide the full draft charter agreement and the yacht's specification sheet before any payment is requested. To review a draft for a specific yacht, please contact us.