Daniel AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
It depends on your contract, so we make sure the right terms are in it before you sign. For June through November bookings, hurricane season, we add a hurricane addendum, which sets out what happens if a named storm affects your dates: typically rescheduling or credit rather than losing your fee. Do not book a summer BVI charter without one.
Day-to-day weather is a different matter, and it is the captain’s call; on questions of safety the captain’s decision is final, and that is written into every charter contract for good reason. In practice, BVI weather days are rare and mild: the Drake Channel keeps things sailable even when the Christmas Winds blow, and a windy afternoon usually just means a more sheltered mooring, not a lost day.
For protecting the fee itself, pair the contract terms with cancellation insurance.