Staying Ahead of the Charter Stakes on Trending

On the market with Camper & Nicholsons, we discussed the experience; from kite surfing to distinguished dining…

We began our interview comfortably seated inside the main saloon’s pristine interior; freshly updated in crisp white and silver, yet somehow still welcoming of sandy feet. Instantly at ease with one of two Captains, Yan Kunst, we asked what it was about M/Y Trending that appealed on the inside. He confirmed, “The interior is super modern refit, you see all the flooring in here, the marble, the upstairs sky lounge is all super light… a lot of the guests really appreciate that.”

Yes, Trending is extremely modern, but unsurprisingly, the Donald Starkey-designed Westport has her target market well mapped out; “The exterior is pretty much traditional Westport which especially for the American Charter Market, they're very comfortable with that - a slightly more conservative build with nothing too outlandish.” 

So with the American market booming, where better to indulge in a charter than across the waters in Trending’s favourite playground; the Caribbean.

We moved up-deck, where Chief Stewardess, Sophie Bell took us up into the sky lounge: the perfect backdrop to discover more about Trending’s most appealing features fit for tropical destinations.

She begins, “We have a really nice Boston Whaler as a ‘Trender’, so we can set that up to go fishing and also scuba diving... two stand up jet-skis, two regular jet-skis, paddle boards, windsurfing, kite-boards, four seabobs… so really anything you want to do, we can do.” The list really is exhaustive, “oh and also have a hover pack,” she adds.

Adding to the picture, Captain Yan notes a particularly memorable on-the-water moment; “We’ve already had 2 owner trips so the season is well underway, we went all the way down to Canouan and dropped off in Bequia down in Mustique and had a fantastic kite-surfing session next to the runway down in the anchorage. So the owners could see the Trending-branded kites flying while they were taking off in their jets,” and it’s clear that this is one of many memories to be made when chartering Trending.

Finally, we closed the morning speaking with Trending’s Chef, Charlie Blacker, whose enthusiasm for local ingredients and curbing his cuisine-creativity was nothing short of inspiring (and mouthwatering). Watching him at work in the galley, he remarked, “I wish I could say I had one dish; a signature dish… but it’s the bain of my life my own creativity. I seem to just do new things every time!”

And so ears filled with anecdotes of magical charters, we departed Trending and leave her ready for guests this season in the Caribbean and a summer spent exploring the Med.