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Catamaran Central Sponsors Cutting-Edge Crew Training at 2022 USVI Charter Yacht Show

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. New in 2022, the USVI Charter Yacht Show, set for November 12-15 at Yacht Haven Grande St Thomas, will introduce cutting-edge training for captain, mate, chef, and deck crew leading to a ‘Charter Yacht Professional Excellence’ certificate. This half-day course, plus the wrap-up Q&A and Crew Party, will be sponsored in part by Catamaran Central. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida-headquartered company specializes in multihull yacht sales, both new builds and brokerage, and project management. Catamaran Central also has been named the show’s official yacht sales company by the event organizer, the Virgin Islands Professional Charter Association (VIPCA).

“We consider every aspect of the VIPCA Charter Yacht Show extremely important and invaluable, but we especially enjoy our involvement with the crew and crew training aspect of the show,” says Wiley Sharp, co-owner with Laura Jagielski of Catamaran Central. The two also regularly attend yacht shows in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Annapolis, Maryland; La Grande-Motte, and Cannes, France. “We’re thrilled to have brought many new clients into the charter yacht space, as well as helped clients with their exit strategy. Clients purchasing a yacht often require our guidance in finding the right crew. Sponsoring and attending the VIPCA Charter Yacht Show allows us to nurture our relationships with senior crew and get to know the up-and-coming ‘greener’ crew. We feel honored and fortunate to have helped crew move up to the next level of their charter career, by introducing new owners to the right crew.”

  Multis A Majority

Multihulls number among many yachts showing in the 2022 USVI Charter Yacht Show. This accurately mimics a trend of charter guests’ preference for the space and stability two or more hulls provide. As such, the catamaran brokerage and sales industry has seen tremendous growth.

“While industry-wide the overall volume of units sold fell from last to this year’s show, we did see the average number of days on the market reduced by just over 26%, and the average selling price rise 16.44%, according to data reported on soldboats.com . These percentages are a clear indicator of the market’s strength. While there are rumblings in the news about an economic correction, we have not seen that in our business. We’ve seen continued growth, including Q3 2022, which is shaping up to be a record quarter for us,” says Sharp.

Catamaran Central is the North American dealer for C-Catamarans, built by Comar Yachts in Fiumicino, Italy. The C-catamaran is a semi-custom, performance, cruising catamaran, which ranges from 37-foot to 62-foot.

  New Certificate Training

The new ‘Charter Yacht Professional Excellence’ certificate training will be taught by Orlando, Florida-based Seven Seas Preparatory Academy. The training will take place the afternoon after vessel viewings end, i.e., November 15, from 1:30-5:30 p.m. at Yacht Haven Grande St Thomas. A Q&A and Crew Party follows, starting at 5:30 p.m. A bonus is that crew who register for this course are eligible for a 10 percent discount on future training with the Seven Seas Preparation Academy.

“Captain Wendy Ulma, who holds a USCG 3000 ITC license and has run superyachts worldwide, will be the chief instructor. Captain Ulma will share simple and inexpensive ways to maintain professionalism in the face of adversity by offering ‘superyacht’ hints, ideas, and tricks of the trade. When implemented, these can increase gratuities and boost the number of repeat charter clients. A bonus is adding this certificate to a resume,” says Oriel Blake, Executive Director of VIPCA.

More specifically, topics include advice on how to share responsibilities between crew members seamlessly while setting boundaries with colleagues as well as boundaries with guests; providing guests with realistic expectations; ways to maintain your well-being; things to always have on board; mechanical preventative maintenance; and preparation and safety. 

Blake adds, “This opens the door as a way for our members to give and receive information, with the goal of a booked charter season, with repeat guests and stable crews.”

Registration is open to all term-charter yacht crews of VIPCA Vessel Members, available as a membership perk valued at $125 pp. Spaces are limited and on a first-come-first-serve basis. Register now at usviyachtshow.org/training/

  Calling Yachts & Brokers – Register Now!

Over 70 exhibiting charter yachts are anticipated for the 2022 show. One of these is the Sunreef 80, Relentless II.

“Our objective with the Relentless brand is to be the best in design, amenities, and crew and this is why it has been important for us to show at the USVI Charter Yacht Show,” says John Chenciner, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Surf 9, in Bonita Springs, FL, and brand creator . “Two years ago, we introduced Relentless  I , which was immediately lauded as the nicest 60-foot catamaran in the VI.  This year, we’ll  introduc e  Relentless II, an 80-foot Sunreef catamaran , which  we expect will garner a similar reception. We do n’t  build standard catamarans, we challenge Sunreef to think outside the box. On Relentless II, for example,  there’s  a custom Jacuzzi on the flybridge open to the sky, a unique cockpit garage for water toys, and a multi-position sun pad on top of it.  With  $200 ,000 of  lithium batteries, we can run without generators (silently) during meals and in the evening. ”

Yachts can register now at  usviyachtshow.org/register . Yachts showing in the 2022 USVI Charter Yacht Show pay only $1.65/foot/day for berthing in Yacht Haven Grande Marina from one week before to one week after the show. In addition, there is a 5% fuel discount on arrival for showing yachts.

Charter brokers can register at usviyachtshow.org . Charter brokers can join VIPCA at  vipca.org/brokers-associates- vendors-membership  to receive one free broker show registration in addition to many other membership benefits. Brokers can receive a 20% discount on accommodations at Bluebeard’s Castle by booking by phone at 340-774-1600 and giving the discount code ‘VIPCA Yacht Show’.

  Strong Sponsor Support

Sponsors of the USVI Charter Yacht show include the USVI Department of Tourism; Yacht Haven Grande; IGY Marinas; the Gowrie Group representing Trawick and Cigna; Parts & Power Ltd., distributor of Northern Lights; Mango Media; Offshore Marine; Catamaran Central;   Moe’s Fresh Market; Grey Goose, distributed by West Indies Company; Veuve Clicquot and Captain Morgan, distributed by Bellows International; Maho Apparel; VIYA Business Solutions; Cardow Jewelers; Harbor Shoppers and the Charter Yacht Broker Association.

For more information about the USVI Charter Yacht Show, visit usviyachtshow.org . For information about VIPCA and its programs, visit  www.VIPCA.org , Email:  [email protected] , or call (340) 642-0656.

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DeLand power boat builder indicted in Ohio, sued for $270K by New York man for fraud

Terrance Weber wanted to repower his 30-foot Spectre performance boat so he reached out to a DeLand company that builds the "go-fast" water vessels. But three years later he's still in "paradise without his boat" and out more than $270,000, according to a lawsuit.

It doesn't look like he will be getting any relief anytime soon, either. In July, owners of the boat-making company, Todd Allen Lamb, 50, and his wife Karen Nicole Lamb, 42, were each indicted in Ohio on nine counts, including felony charges of grand theft.

And in a bizarre twist, Weber is also in trouble with the law. On December 24, 2022, he allegedly paid a man to steal a boat from Lamb's DeLand shop and faces charges of burglary and grand theft of more than $100,000, according to court records.

It is a complex tale that is playing itself out in courtrooms in Bellefontaine, Ohio, and Volusia County, Florida, with no obvious takeaways other than to "let the buyer beware" when it comes to high-speed boats and that it doesn't pay to take the law into your own hands, even if you feel like you've been stiffed.

Who is Todd Lamb?

Todd Lamb and his family got a warm welcome when he relocated his high-performance boat company, Spectre Powerboats , to a 26,000-square-foot space at DeLand Municipal Airport from central Ohio, according to a December 2021 press release.

“We are very happy to be in Florida, closer to 85 percent of our customers,” he said in the Team Volusia Economic Development Corp. release. “And we are especially glad to have landed in the DeLand area of ​​Volusia County. The area offers an exceptional quality of life and an excellent business climate. “

The release says Lamb is a veteran of boat building and racing, starting in 1992 at the age of 18 when he built small racing boats out of crashed boat parts.

“I couldn’t afford to build new ones, so I built new boats from recycled and discarded boats. In a way I sneaked into the industry," he said.

Government officials welcomed Lamb and his wife Karen, who worked at the company, as well as their teenage daughter.

“The addition of Spectre Powerboats to our corporate roster. . . underscores DeLand’s role in hosting sports-related activities," said Nick Conte, DeLand's economic development manager at the time.

“We welcome Spectre Powerboats to our community and our growing list of marine manufacturers,” echoed Volusia County Manager George Recktenwald. “Spectre’s move to Volusia County is another indication that this is a great place to do business.”

Lamb said Team Volusia was instrumental in the site search process and made presentations to local partners who could provide services and support to Spectre. “Your advice and assistance helped us make many important decisions in a timely manner, keeping our relocation on time,” he said.

The locals may not have been so helpful if they had done a Google search on the new resident.

Prior to moving to DeLand, the Lambs were living in Bellefontaine, Ohio, a small town northeast of Dayton. According to the FBI, in October 2013, Todd Lamb pleaded guilty in the U.S. Southern District Court of Ohio to selling a Mack dump truck to more than one buyer.

Selling the same truck twice

After he delivered the truck to the first buyer, he falsely told the second buyer that the truck had been stolen from the seaport in Jacksonville. He told the second buyer, who was from Wyoming, that he would refund the purchase price but did not, FBI investigators said.

The Wyoming buyer got part of his money eight years later when Lamb pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles, and one count of wire fraud.

Investigators said Lamb and his wife, Karen, conducted consignment sales and auctions of vehicles, equipment, and other goods and merchandise under the companies Almite Services and Almite Auctions. He also stole and sold vehicles through his businesses, including a Caterpillar backhoe to the Wyoming buyer.

The Columbus News Dispatch reported in 2014 that Todd Lamb was sentenced to a year in prison.

According to the FBI, Karen Lamb pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of making false statements relating to the transfer of a vehicle title and was sentenced to six months’ probation in October 2012.

In the Ohio indictment, announced last summer, the couple was charged with three counts of fourth-degree felony grand theft, third-degree felony aggravated theft, theft from an elderly person, third-degree felony grand theft, fourth-degree felony defrauding creditors, second-degree felony telecommunications fraud, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

The indictment, provided to the Daytona Beach News-Journal by the Logan County Clerk of Courts, shows the Lambs engaged in the alleged criminal activity starting in 2017.

Between Dec. 19, 2017, and June 19, 2020, the Lambs "deprived an Ohio man of property and services" and stole $143,650 along with two Mercury boat engines, the document states.

From Feb. 9, 2018, through Oct. 10, 2018, the Lambs reportedly stole $209,339 from another Ohio man.

An elderly man from the state lost $300,462 to the Lambs who never delivered property or services to him, the court document outlined.

All the funds taken from the Ohio residents were paid to the Lambs to build boats, said Eric Stewart, the Logan County prosecutor handling the Lambs' case.

"They never got their boats and they did not get their money back," Stewart said.

The Lambs also deprived Caterpillar, a heavy equipment company, of two hydraulic excavators in March and December 2020. And, the couple also defrauded Caterpillar as creditors of more than $7,500 but less than $150,000, the Ohio prosecutor said.

"He signed a lease putting little money down, and then he sells the machines and never paid the lease," Stewart said.

Stewart said Todd was released by the Ohio court but a GPS ankle monitor was placed on him until his trial next year. Karen Lamb was released on her own recognizance, the Logan County prosecutor said.

Reached at Spectre Powerboats business telephone number, and asked about the allegations, Todd Lamb said that he had no idea what a News-Journal reporter was asking him about and that the reporter had the wrong number and hung up.

But Lamb did reach out to his alleged victims after he was arrested in Volusia County on Ohio warrants and released on $10,000 bail.

Weber provided the News-Journal with a voicemail he claims Todd Lamb left him. In that voicemail, Lamb identifies himself and says he wants to make things right with Weber and the Ohio victims.

"I'm sure you guys are very upset with me, but I'd like to see if there's a way we can work all this out," he said in the voicemail recording.

Failure to deliver

In November 2021 Weber, of New York, agreed to have Todd Lamb build him a new 32-foot Spectre performance catamaran for $340,000, including a trade-in, he said.

"When he dropped in an amazing manufacturer's discount, I was sold," Weber recalled in a telephone interview of the deal he made with Lamb.

As part of the agreement, Weber traded in his used Spectre boat for $80,000 putting down a $10,000 deposit on Nov. 1, 2021. According to a lawsuit filed by Weber, he has paid Lamb, including the trade-in value, $271,787.50.

For the first four months, everything appeared normal but then Lamb stopped giving Weber updates on the boat. The New York businessman then hired another boating company in Florida to handle the boat building.

"He (Todd Lamb) started becoming adversarial and I wondered why he was giving us such an attitude for simple questions he was being asked," Weber said. "Then I Googled him and found that he had served time for scamming people, that he was under investigation for fraud, and I knew I was screwed."

When Weber continuously asked Lamb to provide status reports, he eventually asked the man for his trade-in back. Then Lamb called the police on him, Weber said,

An October 2022 DeLand police report shows Lamb reported Weber's constant contact and asked the police to tell Weber to stop calling him and his employees.

Weber said he tried reaching an agreement with Lamb to get his boat "as is" but Lamb refused. In the end, Lamb did not deliver the new boat and did not return the trade-in, Weber said.

Weber, a small businessman, said the theft has had an emotional impact on him.

"I've laughed, I've cried. I've been through every emotional gamut you could go through," Weber said. "I mean, look at the amount of money they are stealing. It's like taking a house from someone."

Weber said he created a social media page denouncing the Lambs' activities and was contacted by victims in Ohio and Georgia, who have had similar experiences with Lamb.

Weber is suing the Lambs hoping to recoup what he said he paid the couple between November 2021 and July 2022 - $271.787.50 - for the boat they did not deliver, documents detail.

Victim becomes a thief?

Weber said his frustration grew even more when he tried to report Lamb's criminal activity to the DeLand Police Department. He said he made special trips to DeLand to visit the police station to file a complaint but that if "he got more than 30 seconds at the plexi glass," the front lobby's window, it was too much.

Weber said he sent DeLand police a document drafted by his New York lawyer, Mark Seidenfeld, on Dec. 25, 2022, outlining what Lamb did but police did not act on it.

"They told me that Todd Lamb was a legitimate businessman and that my issue was a civil case," Weber said. "But the police readily arrested me over my very own boat."

According to a DeLand police arrest report, on Dec. 24, they responded to an alarm at Lamb's shop. Lamb told them a boat had been taken. He told police that he had an ongoing civil issue with Weber and that Weber had said he would be taking a boat from his business, the report said.

DeLand police spokeswoman Vicki Karr said there is no record of Weber contacting the police prior to the Dec. 24 grand theft arrest.

Police noted that a bay door had been cut open. State police in South Carolina later spotted the 32-foot boat being towed north on Interstate 95 and stopped the vehicle. They arrested Ronnie Dominguez, of Pennsylvania, who said Weber had paid him to tow the boat to New York, an arrest report states.

Weber told investigators that he had paid a sum of money for the boat and that he and Lamb had reached an agreement where he could pick it up. This was outlined in a letter to DeLand police from Weber's New York attorney dated Dec. 25, 2022.

Another lawsuit filed

Weber sued Spectre Marine LLC in April. He alleges in the last five years, the Lambs have opened different boat manufacturing companies under the Spectre name and that they started Spectre Marine, LLC., doing business as Spectre Powerboats at the Summerhill Drive location in DeLand.

"They were not conducting business at that location. It was a criminal enterprise," Weber said.

Lambs depend on ill-gotten proceeds

The lawsuit filed by Weber argues that the Lambs depend on ill-gotten proceeds as their income and have engaged in racketeering activities related to custom powerboat manufacturing.

The Lambs built the boat for Weber but kept increasing the value and then claimed Weber owed them $55,000. The Lambs then sold the boat to a third party, the suit states.

"I am hoping the court will make a judgment against Todd Lamb and his Spectre company," Weber said. "I got robbed, dude. I got straight robbed."

In a statement, DeLand officials said they had a minimal role in getting the Lambs to locate in the city.

"Like any business that relocates to our community, we expect customers to be treated fairly and ethically," they said. "If the allegations are indeed true, we hope justice is served and that those wronged are able to pursue remedies available through our court system,” the statement read.

Recktenwald did not respond to an inquiry from the News-Journal asking for comment. Three Team Volusia executives also did not respond to emails from the News-Journal seeking comment.

Weber awaits his fate in criminal court.