Charlie Cary My project “Building the Wave” began in 1988 soon after I moved to the (British) Virgin Islands. Inevitably this meant that some of the people who would fall into my category of ‘builders before the wave’ were no longer available for interview because for a number of reasons. Once such person was Charlie Cary, who died in 2007. In such cases I have endeavoured, for the sake of completeness, to include something about these people. Fortunately some good obituaries were published two of which are reproduced below. In addition, an article from BVI News Online is reproduced (http://www.bvinews.com/tourism/9836.html). It announces that SAIL magazine (http://www.sailmagazine.com/) has named Charlie and Ginny Cary, company founders, in “SAIL’s Top 40 Sailors Who Made a Difference.”

The Moorings Founder Charlie Cary Passes Away
June 14, 2007

CLEARWATER, Fla., June 19 /PRNewswire/
It is with deep sadness that we share the news that the founder of The Moorings, Charlie Cary, passed  away on June 14, 2007 in Vero Beach, Florida where he had resided for a number of years. Charlie was 89 years old upon his passing.

     Charlie and his wife Ginny (also deceased) founded The Moorings on July
 4, 1969 in the British Virgin Islands with six 35-foot Pearson yachts. The
 Cary's vision and passion for sailing successfully provided the opportunity
 for hundreds of thousands of people to realize their dreams of cruising in
 exotic locations. With his leadership, the company grew to over 850 yachts
 in more than 30 locations and operating in over 20 countries worldwide.

     "Words alone cannot do justice to the impact that Charlie has had on so
 many lives all over the sailing world and particularly for us at The
 Moorings, his genuine love and caring for people from Tonga to St Lucia and
 particularly the British Virgin Islands is unmatched. His love of the
 ocean, his incredible wit, but above all his easy demeanor is what we will
 always remember. He has left an indelible mark on the sailing world and a
 legacy that we at The Moorings intend to carry forth and know will be
 enjoyed for perpetuity among sailors all over the world." Commented The
 Moorings CEO Lex Raas.

     The Moorings Legacy
     Charlie earned a degree in industrial engineering from the University
 of Maryland, completed his graduate work at the Harvard Business School,
 and joined the Navy in 1943. By this time he had married his junior high
 sweetheart Ginny who accompanied him when they deployed to Bermuda.

     For recreation he started sailing, which was to lay the foundation for
 his lifelong love of the water and boats. He was discharged in 1946, and
 it's reported that they bought a boat -- Lightning -- before even acquiring
 their first house. They moved to New Orleans and rejoined his former
 employer, Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Inc. He moved up the corporate
 ladder while always staying involved in sailing, moving through a
 succession of boats: 28- foot Gulf one-design, Knarr a 40-foot wooden yawl,
 to an Alberg 35 called Flying Ginny. The first of many Flying Ginny's to be
 owned and enjoyed by the Cary's.

     His corporate career was moving as fast as his progression through
 yachts and just prior to his 50th birthday he was faced with a decision
 that proved to be the most fortuitous for The Moorings. He was offered a
 promotion to a position in his company located in the Northeast. After
 watching a blizzard outside the hotel of his potential new location he made
 a firm decision to decline the promotion. In Charlie's words "I knew it was
 the end of the line. That's when we decided to look into making our hobby
 our vocation."

     They left to sail throughout the Caribbean on their 44-foot yawl and
 followed their dreams to the British Virgin Islands, having been captivated
 by pictures of a famous yawl anchored in the BVI's captured in a major
 yachting magazine. Upon arriving they immediately began looking for
 opportunities with the intent of opening a charter business. Out of this
 journey The Moorings was officially started on July 4, 1969 with a fine
 fleet of six 35-foot Pearson Yachts.

     The Moorings Grows
     Over the next decade Charlie collaborated with Florida yacht builders
 such as Charlie Morgan of Morgan yachts and Vince Lazarra of Gulfstar
 yachts, and in the 1980's with Beneteau, a world class yacht builder in
 France, to produce the best charter yachts in the industry. Over these
 years the company purchased a prime piece of waterfront property in
 Tortola's Road Harbour which remains the flagship base for The Moorings.

     During the ensuing years Charlie led The Moorings to expand into St.
 Lucia, St. Martin, Martinique, Bahamas, The South Pacific with Tahiti,
 Tonga, Australia, New Zealand and into the Mediterranean with locations in
 Greece, Balearic Islands, The French Riviera and Corsica. Charlie had the
 vision to drive this growth through several mergers with strong local
 partners while always retaining The Moorings culture and brand. Charlie was
 always adamant about this focus as recounted by a past CEO Arthur Warshaw
 about his time with Charlie in the late 1990's. "I first met Charlie in
 1996 ... we became closer when I took over as CEO of The Moorings in 1997.
 In many ways, Charlie was a beacon for me ... his caring for the company
 and love of the people always remained a guiding principle for all of us!"

     "Over the next decade Charlie's original passion for introducing
 sailors from around the world to the wonders of exploring a new land from
 the deck of a sailboat, provided the foundation for The Moorings to
 continue to grow throughout the world, lead the industry in the development
 of catamarans for a charter sailing vacation, while always focusing on
 enhancing the communities in which we operate. We are deeply indebted to
 his vision and leadership and he will be greatly missed," commented Lex
 Raas.

     The Moorings is the world's premier yacht charter company, with
 bareboat (sail-it-yourself) and crewed charters (with professional captain
 and chef), in some of the most desirable locations in the Caribbean, South
 Pacific, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and North America. The Moorings has
 800 employees, more than 850 yachts in over 30 locations and offers the
 largest catamaran charter fleet in the world. Customers are served from
 direct sales offices in the United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom,
 Australia and an exclusive broker network.

     For more information, contact The Moorings at 1-800-368-9991 or visit
 www.moorings.com.
 
 SOURCE The Moorings

(http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-moorings-founder-charlie-cary-passes-away-58170762.html)

CHARLIE CARY, FOUNDER OF 'THE MOORINGS' AND AN ICON IN THE CHARTER INDUSTRY.
by Ed
August 2007

Charlie, who sadly died this summer, first came to The Virgin Islands in the late 60’s to retire. To keep busy, he bought four Pearson 35's with Tony Reynold and some other friends from the oil industry back home in New Orleans, with the idea of starting a bareboat charter company.

He called his company The Moorings.

I met Charlie and his wife, Ginny, in 1972, when I had just sailed in to Road Town, Tortola from England. I was a young man of 25 and was desperately looking for a job. Charlie had just taken delivery of 15 Morgan Out Islands 41s. I eventually convinced him to hire me and I worked for him for just over a year, before running another bareboat company and eventually starting my own.

Charlie was a wonderful man. Looking at The Moorings empire today, with 32 bases worldwide, in every conceivable cruising ground from New Zealand to The Pacific North West, it is easy to forget how this company began.

Charlie and Ginny rented an office and dock space in front of the 'new' Waterfront Condominiums in Road Town, next to the Francis Drake Pub. This was a smart move, as it looked like they owned the whole complex, as the picture shows. Charlie always did have big ideas! Having such a small staff, he and Ginny were very much involved in the day to day activities.

In the bareboat business, you learn to expect the unexpected, but I remember him being so disappointed when two of his brand new boats collided – they were the only two boats sailing that afternoon in the whole of the Drakes Channel and they managed to hit each other! If I remember correctly, one was being delivered from the US, with the delivery crew still on board. We could all fill books with stories like these!

On a personal note, I owe an enormous amount to Charlie, as do many of his early staff.

He never seemed to mind that his managers moved on to other companies. In the mid '70s, when bareboating was less competitive than today, the heads of all the BVI companies used to meet for lunch at Treasure Isle Hotel, to share stories and supposedly discuss policy, etc. I remember Charlie looking round the table and realizing that he had employed and trained every single manager except one! It was to his credit that he accepted this as an enormous compliment!

Charlie and Ginny always owned a boat in their fleet, which they named ‘Flying Ginny’. It was always the best kept boat in the fleet. Their last boat, ‘Flying Ginny VII’ is indeed still chartering (privately). She’s a very popular Lagoon 55, run by an English couple, Simon and Joanna.

Charlie also enjoyed fast powerboats and it was no accident that The Moorings chase boat (‘Windchaser’) was a nice new Bertram 28. On my weekly trips to St. Thomas to pick up supplies, I was always instructed to cruise at the rated rpm, but when Charlie was aboard he loved to ‘red line’ it. The two of us had some thrilling rides together!

The Moorings was eventually sold to a European travel group – a fact that was not widely broadcast in the US. For most people chartering in The Caribbean, The Moorings was as American as apple pie.

Relatively recently, a group of American investors bought the company back and Charlie, once again, became a figurehead. While not as involved in the day-to-day business, it was great to see him at boat shows and Moorings events. Ginny’s health failed and he retired (once more) in The Bahamas and Florida. He died June 14th at Vero Beach, Florida.
Source The Charter Connection, August 2007 (http://www.ed-hamilton.com/charter-connection-Pastfeatures/articles/2007.08.ed1.html)
 

The Moorings Founders,
Charlie & Ginny Cary,
named “SAIL’s Top 40 Sailors
Who Made a Difference”
By Oyster Global Marketing Group

Clearwater, FL (March 1, 2010) – The Moorings, the world’s premier yacht charter company, proudly announces that SAIL has named Charlie and Ginny Cary, company founders, in “SAIL’s Top 40 Sailors Who Made a Difference.”
To mark SAIL’s 40th anniversary, the editors sought to highlight those 40 sailors who have had the greatest impact on the sport throughout the last four decades. As the magazine describes, “Charlie and Ginny’s Tortola-based bareboat company was not the first of its type, however, The Moorings took bareboat chartering and charter yacht ownership to a whole new level.” Other illustrious sailing figures joining this influential group include media mogul Ted Turner, skipper of the 1977 America’s Cup defending boat Courageous and America’s Cup Hall of Fame inductee, as well as Tania Aebi, the youngest female and first American woman to complete a solo circumnavigation.

The Cary’s founded The Moorings on July 4, 1969 in the British Virgin Islands with six 35-foot Pearson yachts. Years before, Charlie and Ginny began sailing recreationally, and this hobby established the foundation for their lifelong enthusiasm for the water, exploration and boats. Before his 50th birthday, Charlie’s career was advancing and he was offered a promotion in the Northeast. After visiting their prospective home during a blizzard, Charlie declined the opportunity to build the company he and Ginny always imagined. In Charlie’s words, “I knew it was the end of the line. That’s when we decided to look into making our hobby our vocation.”

Sailing the Caribbean aboard their 44-foot yawl, the Cary’s followed their dreams to the BVI. Upon arriving, they sought opportunities to open a charter business and soon after, established The Moorings.

Through the next decade, the Cary’s collaborated with respected Florida yacht builders and Beneteau, a world-class yacht builder in France, to produce the industry’s best charter fleet. They also purchased a prime piece of waterfront property in Tortola’s Road Harbor, which still remains The Moorings flagship base.

Reflecting on his years of friendship and work with Charlie and Ginny, Lex Raas, President and CEO of The Moorings, commented, “The Cary’s were passionate sailors who sought to share their love of the ocean with others. More importantly, they aspired to build a company that created unforgettable customer experiences by providing both the utmost in service, and a means for charterers to explore the exotic locales across The Caribbean, North America, Mediterranean, South Pacific, Far East, and Indian Ocean.

Their vision and leadership plotted the course for The Moorings to become the industry-leading Bareboat Sailing, Power, and Luxury Crewed Yacht charter company with yachts in over 25 global destinations. Their legacy is one that we at The Moorings will proudly carry forth to ensure on-the-water enjoyment for charterers worldwide and generations to come.”

Source: BVI News Online (http://www.bvinews.com/tourism/9836.html).
 
 
 

Draft of February 15th 2010, revised March 11th 2010.

Builders of Tortola Guide

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