toroa sailing yacht

Wood, carbon fiber, foam and epoxy: her name is Toroa

Launched the 22-meter yacht designed by botin partners.

Toroa is 22-meter yacht designed by Spanish firm  Botin Partners.  The modern sloop was launched by Brooklyn Boat Yard in summer 2017. She is built of wood, carbon fiber, foam and epoxy composites.

In hull shape and sail plan Toroa ia very similar to many of today’s modern racing boats with extended bow sprit, plumb bow, wide beam running well aft, T-bulb (lifting) keel and twin rudders.  Unlike today’s stripped-out racing yachts, Toroa has interior accommodations and cruising amenities to allow her owner, family and guests to cruise the world’s oceans in comfort, style and speed.

Toroa is as innovative below the waterline as she is above. The helm controls linked twin rudders set well aft. Most impressive, perhaps is the hydraulically controlled lifting keel that increases the boat’s draught from about 8 feet to just under 15 feet when lowered.

The hollow, stainless steel keel fin is fitted into a carbon box that extends from the boat’s bottom to the underside of the deck. At the top of the fin is a milled stainless steel plate that fits against the deck when the keel is raised and the bottom when it is lowered. The box contains several Teflon “cutouts” shaped to fit the fin and guide it on its journeys up and down.

Sailing for Beginners: A Guide to Ensuring the Safety of Guests on Your Boat

A complete guide to teak maintenance on your sailboat, the new sw96 liberty splashed down in cape town, us debut of the sunreef 80 eco zeahorse at palm beach international boat show 2024, live your passion, subscribe to our mailing list, one comment.

What a beautiful yacht. I love the classic lines blended with lightweight construction and modern rig and foils. She looks fast enough to sail around most weather systems. Congratulations to all involved in creating Toroa. An excellent choice of name also Toroa/Albatross. Graceful in flight, spending most of the time at sea, gliding over the oceans.

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US couple whose catamaran was hijacked were likely thrown overboard and died, Grenada police say

Police in Grenada said the U.S. elderly couple Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, whose catamaran was hijacked a week earlier, were likely dead. (AP Video: Kenton X. Chance)

Relatives stand nearby as investigators from Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines stand aboard the yacht “Simplicity,” which they say was hijacked by three escaped prisoners with two people on board, now anchored at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard Calliaqua Base, in Calliaqua, St. Vincent, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. Authorities in the eastern Caribbean said they were trying to locate two people believed to be U.S. citizens who were aboard the yacht that was hijacked by the three escaped prisoners from Grenada.(AP Photo/Kenton X. Chance)

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The yacht “Simplicity”, that officials say was hijacked by three escaped prisoners with two people aboard, is docked at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Coastguard Service Calliaqua Base, in Calliaqua, St. Vincent, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. Authorities in the eastern Caribbean said they were trying to locate two people believed to be U.S. citizens who were aboard the yacht that was hijacked by the three escaped prisoners from Grenada. (AP Photo/Kenton X. Chance)

Investigators from Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines stand aboard the yacht “Simplicity”, that they say was hijacked by 3 escaped prisoners with two people aboard, now anchored at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Coastguard Service Calliaqua Base, in Calliaqua, St. Vincent, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. Authorities in the eastern Caribbean said they were trying to locate two people believed to be U.S. citizens who were aboard the yacht that was hijacked by the three escaped prisoners from Grenada. (AP Photo/Kenton X. Chance)

Read the latest: Here’s what to know about a US couple missing in the Caribbean

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A U.S. couple whose catamaran was hijacked last week in the Caribbean by three escaped prisoners were presumed dead and likely had been thrown into the ocean, police said Monday.

The accounts by police in Grenada and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines were a blow to those who were independently helping search for Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel and had hoped they were alive.

Don McKenzie, commissioner of the Royal Grenada Police Force, said at a news conference that the three prisoners escaped on Feb. 18 from the South Saint George Police Station. They hijacked the catamaran Simplicity on the following day and then headed to St. Vincent, where they were arrested last Wednesday, he said.

“Information suggests that while traveling between Grenada and St. Vincent, they disposed of the occupants,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie said he had no conclusive proof that the couple was dead but cited a “low probability” they were alive.

Hours later, the main spokesman for the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force posted a video saying that while no bodies have been found, the couple is presumed dead based on the investigation so far.

The suspects were being investigated for several criminal acts, including “bodily harm to the couple,” spokesman Junior Simmons said in the brief recorded statement. There were signs of violence on the couple’s boat found abandoned in St. Vincent, he said.

“Several items were strewn on the deck and in the cabin, and a red substance that resembles blood was seen on board,” he said.

The nonprofit Salty Dawg Sailing Association has said that Hendry and Brandel were “veteran cruisers” and longtime members of the association, calling them “warm-hearted and capable.”

It said the couple had sailed the yacht in last year’s Caribbean Rally from Hampton, Virginia, to Antigua, and were spending the winter cruising in the eastern Caribbean.

A son of Hendry and a son of Brandel did not immediately return messages for comment.

A GoFundMe page created to raise money for the couple’s family noted that Brandel had recently become a first-time grandmother, and that the sailing community was “shattered” by what happened.

“Kathy and Ralph, experienced adventurers, spent their retirement sailing aboard Simplicity, spending summers in New England and embracing the warmth of Caribbean winters,” the page stated.

McKenzie, Grenada’s police commissioner, said a five-person team was sent to St. Vincent to help with the investigation.

After his brief announcement on Monday, McKenzie and other police officials took questions from local media, including one reporter who asked, “Who is really to be blamed for this massive failure to keep these prisoners under the control of the (Royal Grenada Police Force) which has now resulted in this tragedy?”

McKenzie said police have launched an investigation into the escape and are looking into whether it was “a system failure” or a case of a “slip up.”

“All aspects of that investigation are on the table,” he said, adding that the police holding station where the three men were being held has “sufficient safety to prevent an incident like that (from) occurring.”

When the reporter asked why the three men who were arrested remained in a holding cell instead of prison, Vannie Curwen, assistant police commissioner, said the men first had to see a magistrate who would decide whether to grant bail or order them remanded.

The escaped prisoners, Trevon Robertson, a 19-year-old unemployed man; Abita Stanislaus, a 25-year-old farmer; and Ron Mitchell, a 30-year-old sailor; were charged a couple of months ago with one count of robbery with violence. Mitchell also was charged with one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape and two counts of indecent assault and causing harm, police in Grenada said.

Simmons said the three men appeared in court in St. Vincent on Monday and pleaded guilty to four counts each of immigration-related charges, including entering the island as a “prohibited immigrant” with no passport. They are scheduled to be sentenced on those charges in March.

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Prison Escapees Hijacked Boat of Missing American Couple in Grenada, Police Say

Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry were traveling on their yacht when three prison escapees took control of the vessel and “disposed” of the couple, the authorities said on Monday.

By Johnny Diaz

The authorities in Grenada said on Monday that they believed an American couple who had been traveling in their catamaran in the Caribbean were hijacked by three escaped prisoners who “disposed” of them last week.

The couple, Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, had departed from Virginia and were spending the winter cruising in the Caribbean, where they went missing while sailing off Grenada. On Feb. 21, their boat turned up empty in neighboring St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

On Monday, the Royal Grenada Police Force confirmed that three prison escapees in Grenada made their getaway after they hijacked the catamaran, called Simplicity, with Mr. Hendry and Ms. Brandel aboard.

“Information suggests that, while traveling between Grenada and St. Vincent, they disposed of the occupants,” Commissioner Don McKenzie of the Royal Grenada Police Force said at a news conference on Monday.

The police would not say explicitly that they believed Mr. Hendry and Ms. Brandel were dead but that they were still considered missing.

“We have nothing conclusive to say that the individuals are dead,” he said.

“What I can say to the family is my condolences,” adding that he was “still hoping for as what I consider a positive outcome which is, we still have the hope that a worst-case scenario will not be a reality.”

According to the Salty Dawg Sailing Association , a nonprofit that brings together sailing and cruising enthusiasts, a skipper notified it on Feb. 21 that a member’s yacht, Simplicity, was found anchored and abandoned off a beach on the southern coast of St. Vincent.

The skipper boarded the catamaran and noted that its owners were not onboard, the association’s statement said. The missing boat owners were identified as Mr. Hendry, 66, and Ms. Brandel, 71, by the association and Ms. Brandel’s son, Nick Buro.

Mr. Hendry and Ms. Brandel, who were married for 27 years, were experienced sailors who lived on their boat.

They recently completed their sailing club’s “Caribbean Rally” — cruising from Hampton, Va., to the island of Antigua to end 2023 with a celebration — and they were spending the remainder of the winter cruising the Caribbean, according to a statement from the club.

The association said that it had a tracking map to follow members’ boats and that it showed that Simplicity was anchored in Grenada before docking off St. Vincent.

Separately, the Royal Grenada Police Force said in a Feb. 22 statement that three men who escaped from a prison in Grenada on Feb. 18 made their way to St. Vincent using a yacht that had been docked in the St. George area of Grenada.

The prisoners were recaptured on Feb. 21, the same day that the couple’s vessel was found.

The authorities identified the prisoners as Trevon Robertson, 19; Abita Stanislaus, 25; and Ron Mitchell, 30.

They had been previously charged, jointly, in a violent robbery case in December. Mr. Mitchell also faced various separate charges that included causing harm, indecent assault and rape, the Grenada police said.

It was not immediately clear on Monday what charges they may face regarding the couple’s disappearance.

The police commissioner said a team of investigators from Grenada and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard were dispatched to St. Vincent to help in the investigation.

In a joint family statement on Saturday, Mr. Buro and Bryan Hendry, Mr. Hendry’s son, thanked the cruising community for its support and help in the search but asked them to stand down.

“We also want to applaud the St. Vincent authorities for their quick actions in securing Simplicity and their brave, swift response that led to the apprehension of three dangerous fugitives,” according to the statement.

Bob Osborn, president of the sailing club, described the couple as warmhearted and capable and called their disappearance “a very upsetting event.”

A GoFundMe page started by a family friend described Mr. Hendry and Ms. Brandel as “experienced adventurers” and said they had “spent their retirement sailing aboard Simplicity, spending summers in New England and embracing the warmth of Caribbean winters.”

Johnny Diaz is a general assignment reporter covering breaking news. He previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel and The Boston Globe. More about Johnny Diaz

Watch CBS News

Virginia couple missing in Grenada and feared killed after yacht allegedly stolen by escaped criminals

By Nikki Battiste, Tucker Reals

Updated on: February 27, 2024 / 4:48 PM EST / CBS News

Two Americans who planned to spend the winter on a yacht in the Caribbean were officially missing Monday, but feared to have been killed  after their boat was stolen by prison escapees in Grenada. Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry were last seen a week ago near a beach in the small island nation. Police found their sailboat, and captured three escaped criminals whom they believe stole it.

The couple was likely thrown into the ocean and died, police in Grenada said Monday. "Information suggests that while traveling between Grenada and St Vincent, (the suspects) disposed of the occupants," Don McKenzie, police commissioner of the Royal Grenada Police Force, said at a news conference .

Grenadan police were still searching for the couple, who are from Northern Virginia, and they told CBS News' Washington, D.C., affiliate WUSA that no bodies had been found.

Family and friends have described the couple as seasoned sailors who just last year sailed their yacht, named Simplicity, from Hampton, Virginia, to Antigua. They confirmed that the pair had been vacationing in Grenada, where their boat was docked.

In a statement Tuesday, the couple's family said that Hendry and Brandel sailed the eastern coast of the U.S., living on their yacht, "making friends with everyone they encountered, singing, dancing and laughing with friends and family."

"It's just really sad," said longtime friend K.C. McAlpin, who added that Brandel and Hendry had planned to make this their "last grand trip" on Simplicity.

Instead, things may have taken a very tragic turn. The couple went missing on Feb. 19, one day after police in Grenada say three convicted criminals escaped from custody. 

The three men — identified as Ron Mitchell, 30, Trevon Robertson, 19, and Abita Stanislaus, 25 — were arrested in December over an alleged violent robbery. Mitchell also faced one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape and two counts of indecent assault and causing harm.

All three were recaptured Wednesday, Feb. 21. The yacht was also found that same day, Brandel's 71st birthday, abandoned on a beach on the nearby island of St. Vincent.    

The police believe the men hijacked the couple's yacht in Grenada and then traveled to St. Vincent.

Police said they found evidence suggesting the pair were killed, but the Americans' deaths have not been confirmed and the investigation was still in its early stages, they stressed.

"Several items were strewn on the deck and in the cabin, and a red substance that resembled blood was seen on board," said police spokesman Junior Simmons 

Over the weekend, family members released a statement thanking officials and those who had helped gather information, saying it "means so much to us that so many people care for Ralph and Kathy."

"We live in world that at times can be cruel, but it's also a world of profound beauty, wonder, adventure, love, compassion, caring, and faith," the family said on Tuesday. "Our parents encompassed all those values and so much more. If we have learned anything from this tragic event, it's that we know they left this world in a better place than it was before they were born."

McAlpin said the couple always made friends easily and he hoped they would be remembered for their big hearts.

"They were just a delightful couple and a real blessing in my life, and the lives of so many other people," he said.

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Nikki Battiste is a CBS News correspondent based in New York.

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American Sailing Couple Disappears in Caribbean. Their Yacht Is Found 80 Miles Away

Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry were sailing in Grenada when they went missing Feb. 18. Police allege three local prison escapees may be responsible for their disappearance

Jessica Mause/GoFundMe

A sailing captain was paddle-boarding along the Saint Vincent shore when he noticed a ransacked yacht with a broken sail.

Concerned, he boarded the abandoned SV Simplicity. Its deck was covered in blood. Then the captain found two American passports belonging to Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry .

The captain took photographs of the yacht, sending them to an email address he found in a note onboard.

“The ship inside is very messy,” he wrote in the email to Salty Dawg Sailing Association. “Can you contact them?”

But Association President Bob Osborn says he could not reach the couple, who had lived aboard the yacht for a decade and who had last been spotted Feb. 18 docked in St. George, Grenada, about 80 miles from where the yacht was later found.

Courtesy of Robert Osborn

Speaking by phone Thursday as they prepared to leave for the Caribbean in search of their parents, Nick Buro and Bryan Hendry tell PEOPLE that they last heard from the couple Feb. 18, noting that the lack of contact is unusual.

The SV Simplicity was reported as “an unoccupied sailing vessel,” with “visible blood stains” on deck to the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard Service at 11:15 a.m. Feb. 21, per an internal memorandum obtained by PEOPLE between Commanding Officer Deon Henry and the country's Police Commissioner Enville Williams.

Courtesy Nick Buro and Bryan Hendry

“The entire interior of the vessel and its decks were ransacked,” the commanding officer wrote, naming the missing couple.

The following day, the police commissioner forwarded the memorandum to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, noting: “It is imperative that the families are promptly and compassionately informed of the incident.”

Automatic Identification System data, collected by the U.S. Coast Guard, shows SV Simplicity leaving a Grenada harbor around 10 p.m. Feb. 18 and arriving in Saint Vincent around noon the next day.

Royal Grenada Police Force

The Royal Grenada Police Force links the couple's disappearance to the escape of three prisoners from their nearby holding cell Feb. 18, per a press release Thursday, alleging the men may have killed the couple.

“Preliminary information emanating from investigators in St. Vincent suggests that the three men made their way to St. Vincent via a yacht which was docked in the St. George area,” police said in the release, which did not name the couple, but added that the two Americans "may have been killed in the process.”

Police identified the Grenadian prisoners as Trevon Robertson, 19, Abita Stanislaus, 25, and sailor Ron Mitchell, 30. 

They were previously arrested in December, charged jointly in a violent robbery case, per police. 

Mitchel was additionally charged with one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape, two counts of indecent assault, and causing harm.

Police re-apprehended the prisoners Feb. 21.

Video of one arrest, published by local media , includes shouts of “Gun! Gun! Gun!” and an escapee in his underwear, blood streaming down his legs as an official rounds him into the back of a pick-up truck. 

A source close to the investigation tells PEOPLE that two of the men have confessed to killing the couple. The third – hospitalized for a gunshot wound to the leg – had not been interviewed as of Friday.

The men have not been formally charged in the case.

Will Knoll, a longtime friend of the Alexandria, Va., couple, remembers Kathy, a retired real estate agent who would have turned 71 Wednesday, and Ralph, a financial advisor, as a loving, Christian couple who were happily married over two decades.

Knoll — who had been sailing with them in December — says he is frustrated that more is not being done to locate them.

“Where are the U.S. citizens and what is being done to find them?” he asks. “There are still a lot of unanswered questions.”

Americans whose yacht was hijacked in Grenada were likely thrown overboard and died, police say

Two Americans are presumed dead after they vanished from their yacht in Grenada , leaving behind evidence of a bloody struggle, police in nearby St. Vincent and the Grenadines said Monday.

While loved ones of Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry are hopeful that the American retirees and sailing enthusiasts could still turn up alive, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Superintendent Junior Simmons offered a more somber assessment.

"Based on the investigation thus far, it is presumed that Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel are deceased," Simmons said in a video statement Monday afternoon .

Hours earlier, police in Grenada said there's still hope to find the couple.

But Royal Grenada Police Commissioner Don McKenzie also said he's offering “condolences” to the family of the two American boaters, who were most likely “disposed of” at sea by escaped prisoners. McKenzie said there's a “low probability” Brandel and Henry might be alive.

Three accused criminals escaped from jail on Feb. 18 before they "commandeered" the couple's boat, called Simplicity, and headed north, McKenzie said. Police have said the escapees boarded the boat while it was docked in the St. George area of Grenada.

"They headed to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Information suggests that while traveling between Grenada and St. Vincent, they disposed of the occupants," McKenzie told reporters.

Asked whether investigators have an idea where the "missing" Americans might be, McKenzie flat-out said, "No."

"We have nothing conclusive to say that the individuals are dead," he added. "We still hold out hope that, in spite of what might be a low probability, they will turn up alive somewhere, that they're alive."

Simmons in St. Vincent and the Grenadines left little doubt of his opinion in the probe “into the disappearance and presumed death of two United States citizens ... Ralph Hendry and his common law wife Kathy Brandel.”

In an interview that aired Monday on NBC Nightly News, Rob Maher, a friend of the couple who acted as their emergency contact, said that the situation was “like a bad Hollywood movie.”

“It’s hard to think of their last moments with the idea that they might have been thrown overboard alive. It’s difficult to conceive for a friend,” he added.

Couple's sons are in the Caribbean

The couple’s sons called the pair’s disappearance “the rarest of the rare occurrences.”

Brandel’s son, Nick Buro, and Hendry’s son, Bryan Hendry, told NBC Washington that they first learned the couple were missing after U.S. consular officials in Barbados contacted them.

A good Samaritan who found the pair’s abandoned boat contacted the Salty Dawg Sailing Association , whose flag was flying on the mast, and word made it to the two sons, too.

They said they were told the couple vanished after three men escaped from police custody Feb. 18 and boarded their boat in Grenada the next day, Buro said.

Buro said they were told an “altercation of violence took place" on the boat, adding that there was evidence of the violence and that the couple’s possessions were "strewn around all over." Items had also been stolen.

McKenzie said, "What I can say to the family is my condolences and we are still hoping for what I consider a positive outcome, which is we still have the hope that our worst-case scenario will not be a reality."

The scene on the couple's boat was "consistent with signs of violence," Simmons in St. Vincent and the Grenadines said.

"Several items were strewn on the deck and in the cabin, and a red substance that resembled blood was seen on board," he said. "There was no discovery of bodies on board the yacht."

The escapees were caught by police in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Wednesday and are in custody there, according to Buro and officials.

Police told Buro that they have questioned the suspects multiple times, and he said the family expects charges soon.

Buro and Hendry are in the Caribbean and have been speaking with authorities, including the St. Vincent and the Grenadines police and coast guard, and they expressed their appreciation.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said it is aware of the reports involving two citizens missing in the vicinity of Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines but did not identify the couple. The official added that U.S. authorities are coordinating with local law enforcement officials as they carry out their search efforts.

“We are monitoring the situation and seeking additional information,” the spokesperson said. “The Department of State has no higher priority than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad. We stand ready to provide appropriate assistance to U.S. citizens in need and to their families.”

Life on the water

The couple met in Virginia and have been married for 27 years. They raised the boys together in the state, where they lived until 2013, selling their home in Alexandria to trade it in for Simplicity and life on the water.

"They wanted to see the world. They wanted to experience life. They wanted to see what the world had to offer outside of their small window of living in one place and being mobile and being able to have a different adventure every day — that’s like the definition of living," Buro said.

Buro said that the family has always been close and that they talk often. He considers Ralph Hendry his father and Bryan Hendry his brother, and he said he knows Hendry feels the same way about him and Brandel.

The couple “lived with a sense of wonder and love,” Hendry said.

“They loved immersing themselves in different cultures and meeting people and spreading their love wherever they could,” he said.

Buro echoed his stepbrother’s sentiments.

“You’ll never meet more beautiful people than Kathy and Ralph,” Buro said. “They were there for people when they needed it most, and I just, they’re my inspiration for everything, and I can’t express how much I love them, and I know everybody else who knows them feels the same way.”

The couple had been planning the trip down to Grenada — their first to the Caribbean island — for “years and years and years, training themselves, preparing the boat, preparing themselves ... to make the trip,” Hendry said.

It was going to be a “very long trip, not to be taken lightly,” and the couple felt they had “prepared themselves adequately,” Hendry said.

They made the voyage down with the Salty Dawg Sailing Association, and everyone arrived safely, Buro said.

Bob Osborn, the association's president, said the situation was upsetting and tragic.

“In all my years of cruising the Caribbean, I have never heard of anything like this,” he said in a statement.

Yacht 'was their home'

Buro thinks his mother and stepfather could still be alive.

“We still think there’s a chance that they’re out there," he said. Because the investigation continues and St. Vincent and the Grenadines police were "quick to apprehend the suspects and are searching," there is hope.

"We still hope that they are OK and that we can bring them back," Buro said.

He said that the entire situation "is something that is completely unexpected" and that they are trying to understand the "senseless act of violence against two people that were just living their lives in their home."

Buro said the couple worked hard on their dream and had become seasoned sailors. Simplicity “was their home,” he said.

He said the couple’s top priorities were always safety and security, “to make sure everything they did was safe and was going to keep them safe.”

“To have that turn out in a way where something out of their control took that away from them is what’s so horrific about this and so sad, because they were just, this is just something that they’ve always wanted to do, and they did it, and it’s just, it breaks our hearts,” Buro said.

Rebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.

Mauricio Casillas is a reporter for NBC Washington.

David K. Li is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

US couple whose yacht was hijacked by prisoners were likely thrown overboard, authorities say

An American couple who was feared dead after their catamaran yacht was hijacked by three escaped prisoners were likely thrown overboard in the Caribbean Sea, authorities said Monday.

Ralph Hendry, 66, and his wife, Kathy Brandel, 71, were last known to be near Grand Anse Beach in Grenada. Their catamaran, named "Simplicity," was found abandoned in St. Vincent and there were signs of violence at the scene, according to Royal Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force spokesperson Junior Simmons.

Although family, friends, and members of the sailing community had hoped the pair was still alive, police in St. Vincent and the Grenadines said Hendry and Brandel were likely thrown into the ocean when their vessel was hijacked. "Based on the investigation thus far, it is presumed that Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel are deceased," Simmons said in a  video statement Monday .

Don McKenzie, police commissioner of the Royal Grenada Police Force, said at a news conference Monday that the three prisoners escaped on Feb. 18 from the South St. George Police Station. They hijacked the catamaran on the following day and traveled to the nearby island of St. Vincent, where they were arrested last Wednesday, he said.

Police: Prisoners 'disposed' occupants of Simplicity

After escaping from the South St. George Police Station, McKenzie said the three prisoners "commandeered" the catamaran, which had two U.S. citizens on board, Hendry and Brandel. The couple were likely thrown into the ocean and died, police in Grenada said.

“Information suggests that while traveling between Grenada and St Vincent, they disposed of the occupants,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie added that while police have "nothing conclusive" to prove that the couple was dead, he cited a "low probability" they were alive.

The suspects are being investigated for several criminal acts, including "bodily harm to the couple," according to Simmons. Authorities discovered signs of violence on the couple’s boat after it was found abandoned, he said.

"Several items were strewn on the deck and in the cabin, and a red substance that resembles blood was seen on board," Simmons said.

Stay in the know: For more updates, sign up for USA TODAY's Daily Briefing.

Police investigating prisoners' escape

According to the Royal Grenada Police Force, the escaped prisoners were identified as Ron Mitchell, 30; Trevon Robertson, 19; and Abita Stanislaus, 25.

All three were arrested and charged in December with one count of robbery with violence. Mitchell also was charged with one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape, and two counts of indecent assault and causing harm, police said.

McKenzie said police have launched an investigation into the escape and are looking into whether it was "a system failure" or a case of a "slip up."

"All aspects of that investigation are on the table," he said, adding that the police holding station where the three men were being held has "sufficient safety to prevent an incident like that (from) occurring."

The three men appeared in court in St. Vincent on Monday and pleaded guilty to four counts each of immigration-related charges, including entering the island as a "prohibited immigrant" with no passport, according to Simmons. They are scheduled to be sentenced on those charges in March.

Simplicity discovered by paddle-boarder near St. Vincent

The Salty Dawg Sailing Association said it was alerted by a cruising skipper about Simplicity, which was found "anchored and abandoned" off a beach on the island of St. Vincent. The association added that its live member’s tracking map showed the vessel anchored in Grenada before it moved to its last anchorage off St. Vincent.

"The good Samaritan had boarded the boat and noted that the owners … were not on board and found evidence of apparent violence," the association said in a statement. 

People reported that a sailing captain was paddle-boarding near St. Vincent when he noticed the catamaran with a broken sail. When he boarded Simplicity, he found the deck covered in blood and two passports belonging to Brandel and Hendry, according to People.

The St. Vincent Coast Guard took possession of Simplicity and local police are investigating with the U.S. Embassy and the Grenada police, according to the association.

Family, sailing community mourns couple's disappearance

According to a GoFundMe page raising money for the couple's families, Hendry and Brandel were "seasoned sailors who lived on their beloved catamaran." The pair spent their retirement sailing, the GoFundMe page states.

"This heartbreaking tragedy has left not only the sailing community, but also their families, shattered," the GoFundMe page states, adding that Brandel had recently welcomed her first grandchild.

The couple had sailed their yacht in last year's Caribbean Rally from Hampton, Virginia, to Antigua, and were spending the winter cruising in the eastern Caribbean, the Salty Dawg Sailing Association said. The association noted that the couple were veteran cruisers and longtime members of the association from its earliest days.

"Warm-hearted and capable, they both contributed to building the SDSA and Kathy sat on the association’s board for two years," the association said.

In a statement from the couple's families on Saturday, they thanked authorities and those who helped gather information.

"It means so much to us that so many people cared for Ralph and Kathy as friends and fellow cruisers that they are willing to stop and help in whatever way possible," the couple's sons, Bryan Hendry and Nick Buro, said.

Travel advisories near the Caribbean

Both Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are listed under a Level 1 travel advisory, according to the U.S. State Department. A Level 1 travel advisory urges U.S. citizens to take normal precautions in the area.

Other Caribbean islands are more dangerous, with Level 2 and 3 advisories in effect for the Bahamas and Jamaica, respectively. The advisory for the Bahamas was issued last month , warning travelers to "exercise increased caution" due to crime in some areas.

A security alert posted by the  U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas also advised U.S. citizens to be "aware that 18 murders have occurred in Nassau since the beginning of 2024." The alert warns that murders have occurred at all hours including in broad daylight on the streets.

Contributing: Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

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Designed for Fast Cruising

One of the more intriguing sailing yachts built this year in Maine is the newly launched 72-footer Toroa . As interesting as any other fact about her is that she was built in Maine, mostly out of carbon fiber, epoxy, and rigid foam, by Brooklin Boat Yard, a company that built its reputation on classic wooden boats. 

Designed by Spain’s Botin Partners and launched last summer, Toroa will be based in Europe, but her owners plan to cruise in New England, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. The extremely high-tech vessel is designed to go fast, but also features comfortable accommodations and cruising amenities.

Just three boatbuilding companies in the world were selected to bid on construction, according to Brooklin Boat Yard owner Steve White; one in Europe, one in New Zealand, and his yard in Brooklin, Maine. The choice to build in Maine made perfect sense early in the process, when the yacht was scheduled to be built out of wood veneers inside and out, over a foam core. BBY had just completed Frank Gehry’s varnished architectural tour-de-force Foggy , using identical methodology. When Toroa ’s designers arrived to evaluate the yard, they took Foggy as evidence that here in Maine was a company that could accomplish the near impossible. But after a contract was signed, the decision was made to switch from using mostly wood in the hull construction, in favor of more carbon and the strongest kind of epoxy resin, which has to be “post-cured” by heat in order to reach full strength. 

I used the word intriguing for this project because the expanded capabilities of this once-humble boatshop are mind-bending. This was the first complete hull that Brooklin Boat Yard built using above-room-temperature, thermo-setting resin. A few other yards in Maine have built small boats in tight buildings that can be overheated; two have specially constructed oven rooms specifically for post-curing. 

BBY had neither, but... no problem. White and his talented chums invented a large insulated blanket heated with hot water running through a matrix of tubes. The blanket could be draped over the hull, and concentrated heat exactly where it was needed, while the work crew monitored the process with—pardon the pun—no sweat. White admitted his gizmo might be patentable, but evidently he prefers to earn his daily bread by building boats.

The boat, designed by Botin Partners for open-ocean cruising at the highest possible speed, is an engineering marvel. In addition to America’s Cup challengers, the Spanish company has designed many of the fantastic ocean racers that we sailing anarchists delight in watching on YouTube—boats with canting keels and huge asymmetrical reaching sails and, in the very latest incarnation, hull-flying hydrofoils.

There was a time, not so long ago, when yacht designers could configure a new boat using previous experience, mechanical instinct, scantlings rules of their own invention, rules from insurance companies and classification societies, and confidence in boatyards that guaranteed their product would be well built. Those protocols worked fine when ocean yachts only smashed across the bounding main at speeds long believed incapable of exceeding 1.34 times the square root of their waterline length. 

But “box-rule” racers designed by the likes of Botin Partners have overwhelmed that old wave-making barrier, to the point where they commonly go faster than the speed of the wind driving them, with the boats sometimes reaching 20 to 30 miles an hour. At sea, this means that they repeatedly fly through a drenching cloud of their own spray and, more to the point, they crunch down on waves with shock loads that scream for accurate and difficult computation.

The goal of all this engineering for speed is light weight, great stability, and extreme strength. This hull doesn’t use a canting keel, which moves a ballast bulb up to windward. It gets extra stability by virtue of a 15-foot 15,000 pound lifting T-bulb keel and twin rudders. (When the boat comes back on-soundings, the keel can be raised using hydraulics to a mere nine feet.) There is also water ballast. A total of 1,100 liters of water, most of it scooped up out of the ocean, some of it in the fresh water tanks, can be pumped sideways to tanks in the windward bilges. In the world of fast sailing, providing that nothing structural fails, stability equals speed.

There is so much physical loading of the many parts and pieces in Toroa that nothing is left to chance. When workmen drilled a hole for a wire or a hose, they often found that the engineers had specified extra reinforcement to account for that. The carbon-fiber bowsprit, which is expected to account for the strain of multiple thousands of square feet of sail, weighed in at only 45 pounds. Granted, a Nitronic steel bobstay will take the major vertical load.  

While the systems are complex, the owners wanted a boat that did not require a huge crew. The vast spread of sail with tons of pulling force will be tended by a small complement of humans. This is accomplished by hydraulics. Hydraulic winches control the sail trim, while hydraulic rams provide the power to raise and lower the keel, move the traveler, and adjust the backstays and boom vang. Toroa ’s hydraulics, custom-built by the Italian firm Cariboni, feature an unusual configuration. A relatively small diesel donkey engine, rather than the ship’s batteries, drives the hydraulic pump. This engine will need to be running whenever sails need to be trimmed or the mast tune adjusted. 

Building Toroa involved many subcontractors. The carbon rudder was built by  North Shore Composites of Bristol, Rhode Island; the deck, from Teakdecking Systems in Sarasota, Florida, was installed by Larry Murray of Teakdecking Services in Union, Maine. Addaero Aerospace Manufacturing in New Britain, Connecticut, fabricated the titanium deck fittings, and the carbon bowsprit and anchor arm were built by Steve Hassett at Bath, Maine-based Custom Composite Technologies. The spars were imported from Southern Spars of New Zealand. The boat’s luxurious interior was by Wallace Interiors of Trenton, Maine. La Bastille of Savanna, Georgia, cast the custom pewter countertops in the galley.

All the parts came together in a vessel that reveals a remarkable amount of owner-defined customization. For example, extremely commodious cockpit storage lockers were designed to accommodate surfers’ longboards, plus Scuba equipment and much more.

Beyond just performance, any yacht must meet the highest aesthetic standard, which Toroa surely does. While featuring the vertical stem and stern of a speed racer, the boat has a distinctive look overall. The cabin, coamings, and cap rails are fashioned from Sipo, one of the many African mahoganies, and feature top-of-the-line workmanship. Spacious accommodations below feature white-painted bulkheads and mahogany trim. In an unusual touch, the galley countertops are pewter. The navigation station is at deck level, but is open to the galley below, allowing both good views of the surrounding seas as well as the action inside.

If you ignore the carbon fiber boom and space-age attributes like black carbon standing rigging on the 92-foot tall mast, the boat reads as somewhat classical. I loved the extra bow sheer and round portholes in the topsides. To my eye at least, it evokes a Cornwall pilot sloop and I don’t doubt for a minute that this was intentional. Maybe someday the owners will elect to earmark a couple of weeks to blast across to that region’s Falmouth Classics Regatta and reign in majesty over the fleet. Toroa would not be in the slightest out of place.

Contributing Author Art Paine is a boat designer, fine artist, freelance writer, aesthete, and photographer who lives in Bernard, Maine.

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Va. couple missing in Caribbean likely killed, thrown off boat, police say

A Virginia couple missing in the Caribbean for more than a week were probably killed by three escaped prisoners who hijacked their catamaran in Grenada and threw the pair overboard as they sailed to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, authorities said Monday.

Junior Simmons, superintendent of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, said at a news conference that Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, a retired couple, are presumed dead, but that the search for them continues by air and sea in the roughly 100-mile stretch of the Caribbean between the islands of Grenada and St. Vincent. Public records show that two people by their names shared several addresses in Alexandria and Fairfax County over the past two decades.

Simmons said the joint investigation by his force and the Royal Grenada Police Force, aided by U.S. Embassy personnel, indicates that three men being held at a Grenadian jail on charges that include rape and robbery escaped Feb. 18 and kidnapped Hendry and Brandel, who were on board their 48-foot sailboat Simplicity, moored at a beach on the small island.

“While sailing from Grenada the suspects committed several criminal acts including bodily harm to the couple,” Simmons said. Don McKenzie, commissioner of the Grenada force, said at a separate news conference Monday that it is believed the suspects “disposed of the occupants” on their way to St. Vincent.

The couple had sailed from Hampton, Va., to Antigua for a boat rally in November and were spending the winter cruising the eastern part of the Caribbean, according to their boating group, the Salty Dawg Sailing Association. The two lived on the boat and were seasoned sailors, and Brandel had recently become a grandmother, according to a GoFundMe page.

The Salty Dawg Sailing Association said in a statement that a cruising skipper contacted the group on Feb. 21 to report that the Simplicity was moored and abandoned off the south coast of St. Vincent. The skipper also alerted the St. Vincent coast guard, and police were notified in turn.

“The good Samaritan had boarded the boat and noted that the owners … were not onboard and found evidence of apparent violence,” the statement said.

Simmons said that when investigators boarded the vessel, they found items strewn on the deck and in the cabin, and a red substance that appeared to be blood was found on the catamaran. The GoFundMe campaign organizer wrote that the catamaran had “chilling evidence of a violent struggle.”

Police launched a manhunt for the escaped prisoners and said the men were recaptured the same day the skipper found the boat.

Simmons said the three prisoners, all Grenadian residents, have been cooperating with the investigation and pleaded guilty to immigration violations in court. They are being held pending sentencing March 4. They have not yet been charged with crimes against Hendry and Brandel but are considered suspects, authorities said.

A spokesman for the Royal Grenada Police Force said an internal investigation has been launched into how the three prisoners escaped from the St. George Police Station. McKenzie said a supervisor at the jail has since been transferred.

The GoFundMe organizer wrote on the fundraising page that Hendry and Brandel were spending their retirement sailing on Simplicity. The Salty Dawg Sailing Association said in its statement that both were longtime members and that Brandel had served on the group’s board. The group described the couple as “warm hearted and capable.”

“Kathy and Ralph, experienced adventurers, spent their retirement sailing aboard Simplicity, spending summers in New England and embracing the warmth of Caribbean winters,” the GoFundMe page reads.

Nick Buro, a son of Brandel’s, and Bryan Hendry, a son of Hendry’s, said in a joint statement Tuesday that the couple “lived a life that most of us can only dream of.” Buro said in a text message that Brandel’s birthday was on Feb. 21, the day the Simplicity was found. She would have turned 71. Hendry was 66.

“We live in world that at times can be cruel, but it’s also a world of profound beauty, wonder, adventure, love, compassion, caring, and faith,” the statement said. “Our parents encompassed all those values and so much more. If we have learned anything from this tragic event, it’s that we know they left this world in a better place than it was before they were born.”

The statement said the couple made friends with “everyone they encountered, singing, dancing and laughing with friends and family.”

“While the end of their life may have been dark, they brought light, and that light will never be extinguished from the hearts and minds of the people who knew, loved and cared so deeply about them,” the statement said.

BP264 – TOROA

Specifications.

In-hull shape and sail plan the Botin 73′ is very similar to many of today’s modern racing boats with an extended bowsprit, plumb bow, wide beam running well aft, T-bulb (lifting) keel, and twin rudders. This beautiful boat is built of wood, carbon fiber, foam and epoxy composites. Unlike today’s stripped-out racing yachts, she is built with beautiful interior accommodations and cruising amenities that allow her owner, family, and guests to cruise the world’s oceans in comfort, style, and speed.

GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

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Toroa  is a rare find, a well-found compact classic cruiser with a complete and current equipment inventory. This is a boat with the equipment and condition for immediate shorthanded cruising.

Chuck Paine’s design gives the Able 34 a graceful yet stout look. The sweeping sheer and short overhangs blend into a distinctive look with modest freeboard and a relatively long waterline. Form and function work together. The masthead rig spreads more than 500 square feet of canvas and the displacement/length is under 300, so she’ll sail well even in lighter wind conditions.

As a centerboarder with on 3’5” draft with the board up, Taroa will be able to sneak into anchorages where few others dare and find a spot close to shore or amongst a crowd.

Toroa  is already a proven voyager, having sailed from Maine to the West Coast. After a major refit including a 2004 Yanmar, standing rigging, refrigeration, and sails, she was trucked to the Pacific Northwest. The current owner’s move overseas is the reason for selling.

Toroa  has been maintained and upgraded by knowledgeable sailors for their own use. Equipment includes bow thruster, windvane, watermaker, and solar panels. Toroa is not only ready to, she is ready to go with the right equipment.

• Hydrovane self steering
• 2006 Yanmar
• New standing rigging (2021)
• New refrigeration (2021)
• Bow thruster
• Solar panels and wind generator
• Repowered (2004)

Interior Accommodations

Toroa ’s cozy interior features a straightforward layout configured for serious offshore passagemaking and singlehanded or one-couple cruising. Classic joinery is used throughout the boat, conveying a warm and comfortable ambiance.

Headroom is 6 feet in the main cabin and 5’10 in the forward cabin.

Lighting is from 19 Frigast LED lights, with a mixture of domes and ones mounted on flexible, directable arms. Light and ventilation come from a mid-hatch and forward hatch. Further ventilation is provided by two large Dorade vents.

A special battery box has been built in the port side, keeping that weight low and in the middle of the boat and making the house batteries immediately accessible. The Dickinsen diesel heater sits forward next to the bulkhead, providing ample heat for the entire boat. To starboard is a sea berth complete with a leeboard that is stored for easy and immediate access below.

To starboard is a standup chart table, with storage in the locker below. The water heater is also in that locker.  The electrical panels are located at the aft end of the chart table behind closing louvered locker doors.

To port is the galley with a solid surface countertop and large sink with both pressure and non-pressure faucets. There is a four burner Force 10 gimballed stove and a Vitrofrigo refrigerator. The aft counter opens up to access the main battery switch and battery isolator.

Groco Model K house-sized head

(19) Frigast LED  lights

Force 10 4 burner propane stove with oven

Dickinson Lofoten diesel heater

Vitrofrigo 12V refrigeration (2021)

Echotec 12V DML watermaker

Nautic Quick B315 15-liter water heater

Superior Life Saving Offshore Stream 4-person liferaft (2019)

Xintex S2-A propane/cng monitor and control

(2) propane tanks

Chelsea ship’s clock

Electrical Systems

(4) Lifeline GPL 31XT AGM house batteries 630 AH (2020)

50AH Optima starting battery

Xantrex Trucharge 40+ battery charger (2021)

Balmar Model 1512 inverter (2006)

125 amp alternator

Charles Industries 3.8kVa Isotransformer

Southwest Power Air Breeze  Marine Wind Turbine wind generator (200 watts at 28mph wind)

(4) solar panels

Blue Sky Energy Solar Boost 3000i charge controller

Xantrex Linkpro battery monitor

Mastervolt battery isolator

Smartplug 30 amp power cord

Yanmar 3YM30 diesel, 29HP, 381 hours (2004)

2-blade fixed propeller

Electric oil change pump

Racor Model 500 FG fuel filter

Diesel polishing system

Wesmar bow thruster

Electronics and Navigation

B&G Zeus3 chartplotter

B&G NAIS – 500 AIS transceiver

B&G Halo radar

B&G Triton2 autopilot

B&G Triton2 multifunction display

ICOM ICM603 VHF

Deck and Hull

Toroa ’s purposeful decks are set up for comfortable and safe offshore sailing. The solid stern pulpit extends forward of the cockpit to the boarding gate. Side decks are comfortable to walk on and the handrails provide extra security. The liferaft is stored on the cabin top.

Forward, there are two anchor rollers set into the bowsprit and a Muir windlass. The caprails glisten with varnish. The recently painted topsides are a beautiful deep navy blue.

The secure cockpit is big enough for comfort in port and small enough for security at sea. The collapsible wheel opens up the aft end of the cockpit. The arch for the radar, wind generator and antennae puts that equipment well above the crew’s head where they do the most effective yet are out of the way.

The full keel and attached rudder enhance directional stability and the centerboard allows good windward performance. The hull is a-hand laid E-Glass laminate and the deck is foam cored.

Toroa ’s high quality teak decks are in good condition and have been well maintained.

Stainless steel radar and antenna arch

Lewmar collapsible steering wheel

Danforth Constellation binnacle compass

Iverson dodger and full enclosure (2020)

Mainsail cover

Cockpit table

(2) opening hatches

(2) Dorade Vents

(4) opening bronze ports

Hydrovane windvane steering

Spade Model S120 galvanized anchor

Muir 1200W windlass w/ remote (2020)

300′ 5/8 anchor chain (2019)

150′ anchor rode

(2) Barient 22 primary winches

(2) Lewmar 14 cabintop winches

Barient 21 cabintop winch

Barient 8P winch on mast

Lewmar 14 winch on mast

(2) rail mounted genoa tracks with Garhauer blocks

(2) cabintop mounted jib tracks with Harken blocks

Cabintop mounted mainsail traveler

(2) stern cleats

(2) midship cleats

(2) midship chocks

(2) forward cleats

(2) forward chocks

Cabintop handrails

Uncoated stainless lifelines, solid double rails to gates

(2) 11.9-liter propane tanks

Centerboard pennant replaced (2021)

Sails and Rigging

Toroa  is set up for shorthanded sailing with all necessary equipment. A single spreader mast is stayed by cap shrouds and fore and after lower shrouds.  She is set up for heavy weather sailing with a removeable inner forestay and halyards led aft. A cabintop traveler allows control of the mainsail shape without interfering with cockpit movement. Padeyes for harnesses are conveniently placed.

Aluminum single spreader mast

Fore and aft lowers

Intermediate forestay

New standing rigging (5/2021)

New running rigging (2020)

(2) mainsail halyards

Spinnaker halyard

Genoa halyard

Intermediate headsail halyard

Garhauer solid vang

Whisker pole

Harken Mk IV genoa furling

Shattauer sand-colored mainsail (2010)

Shattauer sand-colored genoa (2010)

Asymmetrical spinnaker in sock

Safety and Miscellaneous

Cockpit cushions

The Company offers the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct his agents, or his surveyors, to investigate such details as the buyer desires validated. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice.

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Spirit of Tradition Yachts Designed In Maine

Home » Design » The DNA of the SoT: Comparative Analysis Of Various Modern-Classic Designs. » Toroa 2

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Sailing Instructors Devon Yacht Club, Inc.

Summer 2024 Sailing Instructors: Meals, Housing, Bicycles, Internet, A/C+Heat, Laundry - All FREE!

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As the capital of the British Virgin Islands , Tortola is centered in one of the most spectacular cruising areas in the Caribbean Sea and lies in close proximity to Puerto Rico and Saint Thomas . Deemed as the charter capital of the Caribbean, Tortola’s harbor is always stocked with opulent superyachts that are ready to embark on a dreamy summer vacation.

Among Tortola’s sharp peaks and bougainvillea-clad hillsides you’ll find an abundance of splendid places to explore. The hustle and bustle of the island capital of Road Town is an undoubted highlight, bursting with colorful houses dotting it’s lush undulating landscape, the walk through the town opens opportunities to view the local boutiques, bars and restaurants. 

A yacht charter is the ultimate way to explore these Caribbean waters, with a relishing cool breeze making for calm and tranquil sailing. Sports enthusiasts will adore the array of opportunities to snorkel, surf, dive and hike before heading to a beach bar for a refreshing cocktail or a bite of freshly caught seafood. Find a spot of paradise to call your own as you anchor down at Cane Garden Bay. The picture perfect cove is a popular yacht anchorage with calm azure waters and a crescent of white sand for beach lovers to relax on. 

Step away from the sand just long enough to discover Tortola's history with a visit to the Callwood's Rum Distillery, J.R. O'Neal Botanic Gardens and Old Government House Museum, each providing something a little different to see and do during your charter vacation. Nature enthusiasts must take a visit to the gorgeous botanic gardens which were established in 1979, boastin four acres of pure beauty, the gardens include a lush array of indigenous and exotic tropical plants, considered by many to be among the finest in the Caribbean. Be sure to taste rum from the oldest continuously operating distillery in the Eastern Caribbean, the perfect ending to a day exploring the history of Tortola.

If you enjoy hiking, there are an abundance of excellent landscapes that are popular on the island. Make sure you visit Sage Mountain National Park, at 1716 feet, Sage Mountain rises higher than any other peak in the Virgin Islands. The National Park also offers seven trails that crisscross the surrounding mountainous area, it is here that you can follow the luscious green paths that winde between twenty foot fern trees till you reach the top of the mountain to the picnic spot. Many nature enthusiasts love to look out for the bo-peep frogs and lizards that inhabit here and take in the impeccable surounding views.

Those on a luxury charter can also revel in Tortula’s vibrant nightlife. If you’re looking for somewhere filled with friendly, fun people and energetic, vivacious bars then you won’t be disappointed with Tortola. Every month, Trellis Bay transforms into a beach filled with lights, fireballs and hundreds of people who flock here for the island’s world-famous full moon party. Expect an evening of pure entertainment and excitement with live music, fire dancing, bonfires and an abundance of tasty Caribbean cocktails in the most luxurious of settings.

Abound with excellent yacht facilities it comes as no surprise to know that this charter destination has become one of the most popular in the world. If you are interested in a private crewed yachting vacation in the waters around Tortola, view all superyachts available for British Virgin Island yacht charters today and start planning your next vacation with a recommended yacht charter broker.  

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Jager Knights

Bocas del toro, panama catamaran sailing & yacht charter tours  , come aboard. prepare for a unforgettable day on the water.

Offering a unique, memorable, safe and fun experience exploring the beauty of the Bocas Del Toro archipelago.  Jager Knights offers the perfect day tour for all ages experiencing the magnificent marine life and crystal blue waters up close and personal!

Perfect FIVE STAR rating on Trip Advisor

Jager Knights is a 42ft French-made catamaran and has been successfully operating for over 2 years in Bocas Del Toro. We offer both private & public catamaran day tours and are fully equipped with three sails to send you on a trip that will be the highlight of your Bocas del Toro getaway.

Whether you are looking for a laid back day out on the water, or to share a few cold ones with friends - both old & new - we promise that you will return to the Main Street dock feeling refreshed and excited! Jager Knights is dedicated to make this an unforgettable experience!

OTHER CATAMARAN FEATURES:

snorkel gear - fins, mask and snorkel

two washrooms on board

fresh water hose for rinsingoff

large heat-protective canopy over the cockpit to provide plenty of cool shaded area

high quality net webbing at the bow to relax on & work on your tan

cooler with ice to store outside beverages and food (if desired)

propellor protectors on engine props for people & dolphins

extra strong swim ladder for embarking & disembarking the boat to swim and/or snorkel

Bose music sound system for the perfect sailing soundtrack

...and for those of you sail-savvy people who know the lingo- 4 double berths, 3 sails, a draft of 3 feet, and 8.5' x 14.5' nets

DESTINATIONS

Starfish Beach aka

Playa estrella.

Starfish Beach is by far one of the most spectacular beaches in Bocas del Toro! Its water is crystal clear and certainly very calm during most of the year. We love hanging out here for a few hours so you can snorkel, relax on the beach or enjoy a beverage from a coconut cup before we eat lunch on board as provided by our team!

Dolphin Bay

Dolphin Bay is a lagoon in Bocas del Toro that hosts bottlenose  dolphins throughout much of the year. The bay has calm waters and is surrounded by mangroves, which draw an abundance of small fish and crustaceans into the water. After we have snapped a few photos and enjoyed the company of our dolphin friends, we will eat lunch on board as provided by our team!

Coral Gardens

This site boasts some of the healthiest corals in the region and we are happy to take all of our tours here to snorkel on our way back to town!

The healthy reef is full of macro photo opportunities and hawksbill/green turtles can be seen (infrequently) at the right time of year. Depths range from four to eighteen meters, making this a great snorkel destination!

TRIP DETAILS & PRICES

Public Tour

$59 + tax per person, $29.50 kids 12 and under  *child discount only apply after 4 adults is cover., (8 adults minimum is required).

The group will meet at Boteros Bocatoreños Unidos dock for 9:30am on sailing day!  The dock is located at the end of main street, diagonal of Bahia Hotel, beside the Fruit Store. We set sail close to 10am and will head straight to our first destination - either Starfish Beach or Dolphin Bay.  After spending a few hours enjoying the beach or the dolphins, we will all enjoy a lunch on board, as prepared by our team, and then sail over to Coral Gardens for some snorkeling fun.  A light snack is shared with the guests and this is followed by a relaxing and wonderful sail back to town, returning around 4pm.

Private Tour

$645 + tax per group of 8

($59 per additional guest)  

Private charters ensure exclusivity as well as special destination & timing requests.

Lunch typically includes pasta carbonara, chicken & garlic bread or gourmet sandwiches and we happily cater to all dietary restrictions, so please do not hesitate to let us know your preferences.

We provide ice and coolers, but you need to bring your own beverages, do not forget to bring a towel and sunscreen, even though our boat is properly shaded!

PHOTO GALLERY

Day Sailing Archipelago Bocas del Toro

Bahía de los Delfines

Jager Knights Catamaran. Dolphin Bay

Friends sailing at Bocas del Toro Catamaran

Aerial Jager Knights

Jager Knights Bocassailing

RESERVATION INQUIRIES

In the message below, please include the number of people in your group and your requested date. please note all public charters depart at 10:00 am and a 8 person minimum is required., get in touch.

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CONTACT DETAILS

3rd Street (Main Street)

Isla Colon, Bocas Del Toro, Panama

Meeting Point: Boteros Bocatoreños Unidos Dock.

NOTICE: WE ARE MOVING FROM OUR OLD DOCK.  .

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +507-6664-8202

Tel: +507-6847-7288

Feel free to reach out to us over Whatsapp!

Inquiries and bookings can also be made at Toro Loco Sports Bar - ask for Robbin!

(see the map for more details)

INSTAGRAM 

YOUR PASSION

DAILY DEPARTURES 10 AM

PREVIOUS RESERVATION IS REQUIRED

$59 PER PERSON

Tax are not included

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Russia Maps Show 25% of Moscow Without Power Amid Winter Freeze 'Emergency'

R ussian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the nationalization of an ammunition plant in Moscow after a mechanical failure caused tens of thousands of Muscovites to lose heat and water amid freezing temperatures beginning last week.

On January 4, a heating main burst at the Klimovsk Specialized Ammunition Plant in the town of Podolsk, which is around 30 miles south of central Moscow. Since then, tens of thousands of Russians are reported to have no heating in their homes in the Moscow region amid subzero temperatures.

Affected areas include the cities of Khimki, Balashikha, Lobnya, Lyubertsy, Podolsk, Chekhov, Naro-Fominsk, and Podolsk, a map published by a Russian Telegram channel and shared on other social media sites shows.

Other Russian media outlets reported that in Moscow, residents of Balashikha, Elektrostal, Solnechnogorsk, Dmitrov, Domodedovo, Troitsk, Taldom, Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Krasnogorsk, Pushkino, Ramenskoye, Voskresensk, Losino-Petrovsky, and Selyatino are also without power.

That means that in total, more than a quarter of Moscow's cities have been hit with power outages and a lack of heating.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

Many residents have taken to publishing video appeals on social media to complain about their freezing conditions. In one clip, people living in Moscow say that they are left with no choice but to warm their homes with gas stoves, heaters, and "whatever else we can find." Others said they are lighting fires in the streets to keep warm.

Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, announced on Tuesday that Putin ordered the ammunition plant to be nationalized because two of its owners have been "located abroad." He didn't name the individuals.

"We received the right to take control of this boiler house within the framework of an emergency," Vorobiev said, adding that the plant's boiler room was managed "very poorly" and there was "virtually no qualified competent personnel."

Russia's Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case over Klimovsk Specialized Ammunition Plant not meeting safety requirements.

On Tuesday, the committee said that because of the incident, the deputy head of Podolsk's administration, the head of the plant's boiler house, and the general director of the ammunition plant had been detained.

Residents of Selyatino have described the situation as "some kind of struggle for survival," Russian Telegram channel ASTRA reported.

Power outages have also struck St. Petersburg, Rostov, Volgograd, Voronezh, Primorsky Territory, and Yekaterinburg.

Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via [email protected].

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    2023 El Toro North American Championships

We are planning a great year for El Toro sailors.  Plans are in the works for the Huntington Lake North American Championships. The Fresno Yacht Club, led by Dan Irwin, has worked with Susan and Tom Burden to coordinate almost all aspects of the event. The El Toro Class has reserved the Granite Group Campground (located in Rancheria). This spacious group camp has ten individual sites, available for free to regatta participants, first come, first served. 

The Lakeshore Lodge is under new owners and will have cabins, RV campsites, a general store and a saloon back in operation, or so they tell us. You can reserve your own campsite through recreation.gov , but make your reservations early because they fill up fast. There are plenty of condos, which are reserved through Airbnb ,   Vrbo or local realtors.

Regatta Chair Tom Burden is planning a tune-up event Thursday, July 27th from 9:30 am – 1:00 pm so equipment and sails can be traded to make boats go faster. Practice races will follow at 2:00 pm.

Huntington Lake is a great sailing experience.  Watches can be set by when the wind fills in.  The mornings are always still with the water flat but at exactly at 10 am the wind shows up. We can pick how much wind and wave action we want by placing the race course in different parts of the lake.  This lake’s wind generally is not very shifty. It can shift, but unlike Pinecrest or Merritt, this lake is logical. If the wind goes right it will go back to the standard direction without going into the other 350° of the compass.

Online registration can be found at             https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/25782#_home