Mr. Bobo

To begin, I offer up this little video of me admiring the water’s-eye view out my stateroom porthole.

Stay tuned for more exciting scenes from my Costa Rica trip!

In observance of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, we will not publish Thursday, Nov. 25, or Friday, Nov. 26. We will return to our regular publishing schedule Monday, Nov. 29.

We saw two rainbows next to one other sailing away from Taha’a on August 21. The one on the right is a little faint, but it was a great experience.

Rachel & Bryan Gavini

From left: Mikael, Anne, Marie and Eric Krafft.

To hear Star Clippers founder Mikael Krafft tell it, he never thought his entire family would work at the line, but that’s what has happened over the years. Krafft’s wife Ann looks after quality control and manages the hotel directors and shipboard entertainment, son Eric, 34, supervises finances and daughter Marie, 30, is a director of sales.

“It’s an extra benefit that I didn’t expect,” said Mikael Krafft. “It was not intentional, but has been a pleasant surprise that my family has been interested in working in the business.”

When he started the company 20 years ago, his children were young and the family lived in Brussels. When the kids completed their baccalaureate studies, they were packed off to Stockholm to attend college and get back in touch with their Swedish roots. With the children out of the house, Ann — who Mikael describes as “a very keen sailor” — could turn her attention to the cruise line.

She began by handling the bookings of several hundred Krafft family friends who sail every year with Star Clippers, then gradually got more involved in the hotel and food and beverage operations. Today, she oversees hotel management and entertainment, going on board the ships to check everything from uniforms to food and service.

An interest in rocket engines resulted in an engineering degree for Eric Krafft. Following business school in London, he worked as an investment banker in London and New York, before becoming the Managing Owner of a China-based dry bulk shipping business.

Since 2006, Eric, a vice president in the Monaco headquarters, splits his time between Star Clippers and a real estate business.

Marie Krafft came to the company by way of the ships. She started working on board in the sports department and as a dive instructor, then worked her way up to purser, on to cruise director and finally as hotel manager.

“Marie was always sailing with me,” said Mikael Krafft. “When she started working on board, I never presumed that she would end up working with me.

“When she was 15, Marie told me that I was old and senile,” he continued with a laugh. “When she was 19 she told me, ‘You are still a little bit senile, but you’re improving.’ ”

Marie got an economics degree in Stockholm and then went to work for hotel chains Accor and Rocco Forte in Germany, before asking to return to the ships as cruise director.

“Somehow I had always had in my mind that I wanted to be a cruise director,” said Marie. “I like languages and working with many people — it’s good for your personality to stand in front of 170 people and speak to them in three different languages.”

In June 2008, an internal restructuring of the line’s sales and marketing department created an opportunity for Marie to translate her work on board into a sales position at the line’s Monaco headquarters. Her ability to speak English, Swedish, French and German comes in handy, as she is in charge of sales in the Benelux region, France, Spain, Italy and Scandinavia.

The Krafft family not only works together, they live together, sort of. Star Clippers’ headquarters is in a remodeled old hotel. Mikael and Ann have a penthouse on the top floors, while Eric and Marie each have an apartment in the building.

Asked whether there are challenges to working and living so closely, Mikael Krafft waxes philosophically.

“When I started Star Clippers, it was not the only company I had,” he said. “But over the years, Star Clippers became not so much a company as a lifestyle for us. It’s not just a company, it’s something we like to do; we’re all interested in sailing and shipping.

“I really think about it more as a hobby than a business, which is why it’s hard to separate the business from the lifestyle,” said Mikael Krafft.

The rest of the family agrees.

“We enjoy the work and especially sharing our passion for sailing,” said Ann Krafft.

Marie echoes that sentiment: “It always comes back to the point where you love this product. I grew up sailing and even taught it in Sweden,” she said. “I have sailing in my blood, and I’m used to working together with my father on sailboats. It’s actually quite fun.”

There were so many beautiful things to see, and such rich culture to explore — we are looking forward to going back!

Bora Bora lagoon

Bora Motu

Outriggers race the tender.

Guests in the Crow's Nest

Cook's Bay

More Tahaa surf

Raitea channel marker off Motu

We look forward to hearing about the Herringtons’ adventures in the Far East.

Cathy and James relax in the bowsprit netting.

Attached are two photos taken on the Star Clipper Andaman Sea cruises this past January/February (we did two back to back cruises of the North and South Islands).

We really enjoyed seeing the sailors on the mast the day we were able to take photos of the ship from the tenders.

The monitor lizards were a big surprise when we had a beach barbecue on one of the uninhabited islands. The lizards came out of the bushes and were eating off people’s plates and knocking over cans. The crew kept throwing shovels of sand on them to no avail. One lizard even licked a friend’s bare back! Another gave my husband a big whack on his leg with its tail. They were up to five feet long! Quite an experience.

Since this is a new blog, I’m not really sure what you are looking for, but I’m attaching a couple of our photos from our trip to French Polynesia back in Oct. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been!

Brian & Karen Summerson, Stan & Esther Summerson get ready to explore Bora Bora.

Bora Bora lagoon.

Shopping on Bora Bora for pareos.

'Captain' Stan Summerson sails the ship.

One of the dancers at our lunch on the island of Motu.

Our view from lunch on Motu (my very favorite picture from our trip).

This picture was taken on Bora Bora while on our honeymoon trip aboard the Flyer.

When you operate the world’s largest sailing ships that really sail, you reap some benefits from using wind power to supplement your engines. For Star Clippers, that means burning less fuel and emitting less exhaust.

“At Star Clippers, we always try to maximize the amount of time we are under wind power so that our guests can experience a true tall ship sailing experience,” said Captain Farhat Shamim, vice president of operations for Star Clippers. “Of course, this also reduces the amount of fuel we consume and therefore is much easier on the environment.”

Shamim said that in the Caribbean where the wind is most predictable, the ships operate under wind power up to 60 percent of the time. But even when sailing before the wind, the ships run their engines to power the air-conditioning and provide electricity to the vessels for refrigeration, etc.

“In other destinations, it really depends on weather conditions, but we also use our sails whenever possible to motor-sail, which reduces fuel consumption,” he added.

But when they do burn fuel, Shamim says it’s a less-polluting grade.

“All our vessels are supplied with high-quality low-sulphur fuel and were awarded the International Air Pollution Prevention Certificate,” he said. “Star Flyer was the first ship in the world to receive this certificate. Later, Star Clipper and Royal Clipper received the same certification.”

Since it has been deployed to Tahiti — a particularly environmentally fragile region of reefs — Star Flyer had a new water-treatment system installed to treat both gray (water from sinks and showers) and black (sewage) water.

“After treatment from this Membrane Bio Reactor system, the water plant is so clear that you can use it for deck wash, but we simply pump it overboard,” said Shamim.

But that’s the only thing that goes overboard at Star Clippers. Shamim says oily bilge water from the engine room is offloaded to a shoreside facility and all waste materials and garbage also are put ashore for disposal.

“We dump nothing in the water — not even a cigarette butt,” said Shamim.