Quick: Name the location of this sandy-beach vista. Do I hear Hawaii? A Caribbean island, maybe? Somewhere in the South Pacific?

All good guesses – but all wrong. Believe it or not, it’s China. Specifically, it’s Hainan Island, also known as Sanya, at the southernmost end of the country. Hainan has been popular with wealthy Chinese nationals and is increasingly attracting high-net-worth Koreans and Russians, too. The island additionally has a favorable visa-free policy for nationals of the United States, Canada, and a few European countries, with more expected in the coming months.

The Chinese government wishes to further develop the island as a luxury tourism destination, along the lines of the French Riviera, with yachting as a focus. To that end, the 2010 Hainan Rendez-Vous will introduce an expected 3,000-plus people from all over Asia to the soon-to-be Chinese Riviera.

From April 2 to 4, the Visun Royal Yacht Club, the region’s first international-standard marina, will host the event. It will feature a private-jet show and luxury lifestyle and property showcase, in additional to a megayacht-only show. Still in the first phase of construction, Visun Royal Yacht Club anticipates having a few dozen out of several hundred slips devoted to megayachts when completed.

Builders such as Royal Huisman, Blohm + Voss, Lürssen, and the Azimut-Benetti group have confirmed participation, along with production builders like Sunseeker and Ferretti Yachts. While yacht names and models haven’t been released, the organizers say this marks the first time that superyachts exceeding 50 meters (164 feet) will be displayed in China. They also state that this will mark the largest number of yachts ever exhibited in the country’s waters. Engine and equipment manufacturers are expected to join the participating builders, as are several companies offering yachting-related services. The Hainan Rendez-Vous organizers further plan to hold a discussion forum about legal and environmental issues as well as nautical tourism.

“Hainan is determined to grow its marine and yachting industries as a key component of a wider tourism strategy,” says Luo Baoming, governor of Hainan Province. It’s interesting to note that Hainan already has sister-city relationships with 32 regions worldwide, including Hawaii here in the States, Prince Edward Island in Canada, the Balearics and Canary Islands in Spain, and Phuket in Thailand.

Cruising and the general yachting lifestyle are natural fits for the region, according to Du Living, the director of the Sanya Tourism Board. “Hainan is blessed with thousands of kilometers of beautiful coastline, a multitude of islands and a rich marine life. We will leverage these assets while at the same time conserving them for the benefit of this generation and for those to come.” The chairman of Visun Real Estate Group and co-organizer of the Hainan Rendez-Vous takes it a step further: “Hainan has the best coastline and the most beautiful waters in China, and the island has a truly unique maritime history.”

Half down, half to go: Only about a dozen entry slots are left for the 15th-annual The Superyacht Cup Palma.

Held in the same location as last year, the race takes place June 23 to 26. Twenty-five megayachts, ranging from racers to cruisers, are expected to furl their sails and compete for bragging rights. They’ll do so under the same Superyacht Racing Protocol rules that were used for The Superyacht Cup Antigua in January. Jim Teeters, renowned for his work with bucket ratings, developed those rules, which created some pretty close races to the finish last month.

The social activities are as big of a highlight as the actual daily races. The welcome cocktails the first night should see some friendly trash talking, as should the crew party the night of the 25th. There will also be a yacht hop that same night, plus a theme-oriented dress-up party on the 24th. Hopefully when the prizes are awarded on the 26th, the camaraderie will still be high.

Interested owners and captains should This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for details and an entry form. Sponsors such as Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Slam, Ship Equip, Astilleros de Mallorca, and Pantaenius help make the race possible. New this year to the list is Elvstrom Superyacht, which will hold a sail-trimming seminar in its new sail loft near the race docks prior to the Cup.

In the meantime, if you can’t get enough of these sailing beauties, click to enjoy this slideshow showcasing the participants of the recent Cup race in Antigua.

The annual Antigua Charter Yacht Meeting, a boat show for charter brokers, wraps up today, after several days of onboard tours and meetings with crews. The goal is to help brokers better learn which yachts and teams suit their clients’ preferences and personalities.

Kim Kavin, the leading charter writer and editor and the founder of CharterWave, has also been touring the yachts and interviewing people at the show this week. I asked her to be a guest writer for Megayacht News; here's her report, with exclusive news about the Feadship Charter Division.

Feadship Charter Division, which was quietly created in January 2008 and publicly announced six months later, is preparing to double the size of its in-house charter fleet in time for the summer 2010 Mediterranean season.

I learned this tidbit from division director D.J. Kiernan as we enjoyed a lunch of iced gazpacho, roasted mini-racks of lamb, and more Wednesday afternoon at the Antigua Charter Yacht Meeting. We were aboard the 214-foot Feadship Trident (above), whose weekly base rate in the Caribbean this winter is $495,000 for 12 guests with 14 crew.

The F45 Harle was the first yacht that Feadship launched into its charter fleet. Trident, which launched this summer, is the second. Kiernan told me the next F45, which is yet to be named, and the SL39 Go are scheduled to launch in April and May and become available for charter through Feadship in the Mediterranean next summer.

Kiernan said that, though he is happy to be expanding from two yachts to four, he does not expect the growth to affect the way his division operates in general.

“I do a very small amount of retail bookings,” he said. “That’s just the honest truth. We tend to charter to people who are building a Feadship and who want to go cruising before their own boat launches.”

Kiernan also made clear at lunch today that Feadship has no desire to become a full-on charter agency, nor to control every Feadship that is available for charter. He pointed across the dock at the Antigua Yacht Club to the 175-foot Hurricane Run, which launched in January and, like her owner’s previous Feadship, High Chaparral, went straight into the charter fleet at Camper & Nicholsons International.

“We’re always going to be a little different at Feadship,” Kiernan said. “After all, charter isn’t our core business.”

^{photo: St. Maarten Information Portal}

After three years marked by conflict, the St. Maarten Charter Yacht Show will no longer be run by the Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association (MYBA).

The news comes from The Daily Herald, a paper in St. Maarten, which confirmed the information yesterday with both the St. Maarten Marine Trades Association and MYBA. It also comes as the trade show has just concluded its third-annual run, which began last Thursday and ended Monday.

The conflict arose the first year because its dates were – and have continued to be – too close to those of the annual Antigua Charter Yacht Meeting, which has been around for 49 years. Since both events are industry-only, many charter brokers felt it would hurt, not help, their business, to try to be present at each, thereby being out of town for a long period.

Despite MYBA intending to help the St. Maarten show grow and resolve the conflict, unfortunately neither happened. According to Frances Howorth, a fellow yachting journalist who attended the weekend’s event, 24 yachts were present, and far fewer than the 65 registered brokers actually came. “It seems like the party-givers’ worst nightmare in which they turn out the perfect party but the guests do not show up,” she writes, referring to the captains, crews, and exhibitors, who expected better results. MYBA chair Fiona Maureso told The Daily Herald that the show was smaller than expected, and despite the quality of attendees and exhibitors, it simply wasn’t profitable. Therefore, MYBA “cannot continue to lose money,” she was quoted as saying.

The future of the show seems uncertain, at least based on what The Daily Herald learned. The St. Maarten Marine Trades Association, which is now fully responsible for the show’s operation, may change the format to be more of a traditional boat show, not charter only. MYBA pledged to be present next year if it were to be held, but just as attendees.

The trade association’s desire to keep St. Maarten top of mind in the yachting industry makes sense. But another regular boat show is a questionable move, in my opinion. Much of the time the concept is raised, regardless of the region, industry representatives I speak with express, “not another boat show.” If the association has information stating otherwise, of course, more power to it. Regardless, there will be much to discuss among its members in the coming weeks.

UPDATE, DECEMBER 17: The following is part of a statement that MYBA issued this morning:

"The MYBA Board gave notice at the beginning of this year of the Association’s wish to terminate what has been a contentious and unpopular partnership since their decision was made in 2006 to invest in the St. Maarten Show. Ordinarily, the contract called for two years’ notice, but SMMTA President Jeff Boyd was gracious enough to absolve MYBA of its obligation to finance another show in 2010, since the past two years’ shows have run at a considerable loss to the Association.

"Even when the St. Maarten Show was fully sold out and easily covering its costs, charter agents and captains strongly objected to the need to attend two Caribbean charter shows running almost simultaneously. The clear consensus now is that MYBA should simply step aside and let the market determine which of the two charter shows should prevail. The Caribbean charter show controversy (2006-2009) is already well-documented and need not be revisited. Suffice it to say that this troubled chapter in the Association’s history is now over, and the MYBA Board will think long and hard before committing its members’ resources to any boat show again."

You’ve heard of trade shows and boat shows… but what about crew shows?

One does exist: CrewShow, founded two years ago to help crew and yacht-service providers better reach out to one another. After all, thousands of crewmembers worldwide are charged with acquiring everything from cleaning products to gear. Why? Because the owners have other things on their priority lists, but also because crew use these products everyday and are therefore better positioned to decide what’s needed.

While CrewShow has thus far been held in Europe, it’s now coming to North America. The Yacht Club at Isle de Sol in St. Maarten (above), near the Simpson Bay Bridge, will host the event on Saturday, January 9. Crew agencies, financial advisors, food vendors, insurance firms, fueling and spare-parts firms, and others are among the exhibitors at previous shows. Similar types of companies are expected to be on hand in St. Maarten.

“One of CrewShow’s distinguishing features is we make the event as interactive as possible,” Celia Wagstaff, the founder, explains. The goal is to make it easier and even enjoyable for crew and vendors to communicate with one another. Considering Wagstaff spent ten years as a crewmember, overseeing the interior of yachts, she knows full well how crew can and do spent thousands of dollars with suppliers.

The Sacks Group Yachting Professionals and Select Yachts, both specializing in yacht charter, among other services, are the inaugural Caribbean CrewShow’s sponsors. The Sacks Group also plans to promote its alliance with IMA Yachts, which provides yacht-management and consultancy services. Of course, the marina manager, Brian Deher, will also be on hand during the event to discuss the facility’s amenities, which include 45 slips for megayachts to 360 feet and a maximum 20-foot draft.

Today is opening day of the annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. Long considered “the” show stateside for megayachts, it (a.k.a. FLIBS) marks the debut of several notable new launches, such as Burger Boat Company’s Sycara IV, Delta Marine’s Katya, Abeking & Rasmussen’s Elandess, Christensen’s Odessa, and Hargrave’s Sassy. Trinity Yachts will have a handful of new yachts at its display, including Bacarella (pictured), Blind Date, and Wheels.

For live updates throughout the day today as well as through Sunday, you can follow me on Twitter. Of course, I’ll have longer news stories here, too. In the coming weeks, I'll additionally feature onboard reports on the yachts mentioned above as well as others; videos, too. Stay tuned.