Amy Wachmann
Amy Wachmann was a perfectly happy 16-year-old when her father announced he was moving the family from Texas to Alaska. She remembers being packed into the family truckster, pounding along the Alaska-Canadian Highway before it was paved. There weren’t potholes; there were craters. “We lost windshields. We lost tires. The rocks were just flying,” she says. After a year of refusing to speak to her dad, she came to love her adopted home. Now she works in Florida, but she goes back as often as she can to enjoy Alaska’s grandeur and scenery.
How did you get into yachting?
I spent summers in Juneau working on a day-cruise catamaran. We took cruise-ship passengers to see glaciers.
And now you manage the three largest charter yachts based each summer in Alaska.
I have the 122 Shogun Talos, the 130 Westport Serengeti and the 115 Christensen Ocean Pearl. I wanted to corner the Alaska market. I know what I’m talking about, I’m passionate about the area, and I want people to be blown away.
How is business in Alaska this year?
Incredible. Before the end of the 2015 summer season, I was getting calls for Alaska for 2016. By this past December, Serengeti only had two weeks of availability left.
That sounds unusual.
It is. Business went nuts last year, and people were booking too late to get boats, so they’re booking in advance now. Is it already too late to book Alaska for the coming summer? This year, there might be some last-minute holes, but, right now, I don’t see it. If you want to charter in Alaska, you have to book now for 2017.
Alaska Options
Wachmann manages these three yachts that offer charters in Alaska each summer.
Talos
Serengeti
