Yacht Captains Association Announces New Member Benefits

Non-profit association dedicated to professional yacht Captains initiates programs with respected travel, hospitality and financial management companies.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida: The Yacht Captains Association (YCA) is pleased to announce the release of its first range of affinity programs and services for member Captains.

“One of our goals in forming the Yacht Captains Association was to deliver tangible benefits to Captains by negotiating discounts on a broad range of global goods and services,” said Captain Ian Bone, co-founder and Board Chair of the association. “We are pleased that only two months after our launch, we can announce an initial set of valuable discounts and services.”

YCA President and co-founder Captain Michael Schueler added that successful negotiations on behalf of the YCA with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and Sixt Rent A Car have resulted in positive and meaningful agreements which will benefit Captains in the conduct of their daily lives. “Captains regularly book hotel rooms and rental cars for themselves and their crews around the world. It made perfect sense for us to find ways to coalesce meaningful discounts for Captains while, in turn, helping them defray the modest annual cost of their membership in YCA,” said Schueler.

In addition to these affinity programs, YCA also recently announced that it will hold a financial planning briefing on May 19th for Captains and spouses/partners. The session -- “Building a Portfolio for any Weather” -- will be provided by Fidelity Investments in their Fort Lauderdale Investor Center. The session is limited to the first 25 guests and will include lunch. YCA members and Captains interested in YCA can RSVP at yca@yachtcaptains.org. YCA Board members also will be on hand to answer questions about the association after the program.

“In addition to our ongoing initiatives designed to forge a global, peer-to-peer network of professional Yacht Captains who will collaborate on priorities and help each other address the challenges inherent in a rapidly growing industry, our affinity programs quickly will demonstrate the value of a YCA membership to every Captain’s financial bottom line,” said Bone.

In addition to Bone and Schueler, Captains Wendy Umla, Chris Lewis and Mike French are members of the YCA founding Board of Directors.

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Formed by and exclusively for professional yacht captains, the Yacht Captains Association, Inc. (YCA) is a non-profit association dedicated to providing a wide range of services to a global membership, including: advocacy, regulatory monitoring, career development and educational training, and peer-to-peer networking opportunities. For more information, visit: www.yachtcaptains.org