I co-own Compass Rose Yacht Charters. I started the business about 12 years ago with a yacht I had for private use at the time. I had no plan to create a charter business, but then my first yacht, Camelot, proved to be very well received by my friends and clients. They asked to use my vessel for their own functions.

So, I would refer them to charter companies on the Bay. Invariably they would come back to me after looking at those other charter companies and say they were looking for something a bit more intimate, more upscale, more personalized. So, being an entrepreneur, I started thinking, is there a way to make a business out of this. That’s how I started the charter business.

Two years ago, I merged with another charter business called Castaway Yacht Charters. That’s how today Compass Rose Yacht Charters is comprised of Camelot and the Voyager.

Camelot is more like entertaining in one’s private home. You have couches, nice tables, chairs, and wool carpeting. Voyager is a nice compliment to Camelot; it is intimate; has a dance floor, a nice bar area. It’s consistent with the Compass Rose theme, which is being a bit more personalized, more intimate and a bit more upscale.

We do a lot of private functions, like birthdays and anniversaries. Weddings are perhaps our most popular activities. Our captain is a licensed minister so he can do the honors with weddings. A wedding and reception on a yacht becomes a memorable event not only for the bride and groom but for the guests as well. And it also simplifies the planning effort.

But then we also have a lot of corporate functions, usually staff off-sites, client appreciation get-togethers, where companies will go out for an afternoon or an evening.

We will board most anywhere on the Bay, even though we are home based in the East Bay here in Alameda. Perhaps the most popular boarding location is San Francisco Pier 40, which is next to the new Pac Bell Park. But we also board in Berkeley, Sausalito, Tiburon, we’ve picked up in Redwood City.

One area in which we do really distinguish ourselves is that we have a lot of staff and offer very fine dining. We want the guests to feel as though they are pampered. We like to spend some time along the San Francisco waterfront, Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Pac Bell Park, McCovey Cove. Angel Island, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge are always exciting viewed from the water. If it is an evening program, the lights of the City are coming on, the bridges are illuminated, it’s really beautiful.

I’ve always been a boat guy. I started out sailing, racing, and teaching sailing during my college years at Berkeley. My sailing buddies took some exception when they heard I was entertaining on a stink pot. But after they had enjoyed a few cocktails and beers and some hors d’oeuvres on Camelot, no one ever gave me any more grief.