What happened to Jung Charters in southwest Florida?

I am planning my next trawler charter for this coming June and although I have chartered twice with Southwest Florida Yachts (42 Krogan & a Gulfstar) and also with Chitwood Charters (36 GB) I have seen Jung's name and ads for many years so thought I'd give them a try. But their website is gone, their Facebook page hasn't had any entries since last summer and although their phone is answered by a machine no one has returned my message. Does anyone know what's going on with them?

Ken

i believe the owner died last year and the boats are all on the market at this point.

That is correct. Wes Jung passed away suddenly and his family does not wish to continue with the business. The boats are for sale at almost liquidation prices.

I worked with and was friends with Wes for well over twenty years. He is missed as will be his charter company.

Thank you both Capt. Bill and Newbie. I kind of assumed that something like that may have happened. Discovered the same situation when I tried to book with Blue Goose Charters on the Chesapeake for October.

A real shame that the family isn't interested as Jung Charters had great reviews and reputation built over many years serving the trawler charter market. They should probably put a notification on their voice mail and Facebook page.

Aside from the one's I mentioned can you recommend any other options in the area?

On a related note I see on Passagemaker's website that Southwest is advertising to get more yachts into their charter fleet. I like SWFY but I find them somewhat high priced compared to Chitwood and they are another hour drive for us to get there from Atlanta.

Further followup .. I found the listings not only for the individual boats in the fleet but also the whole business is for sale by the estate ... the yachts, the Jung name and the existing bookings at a place called Sarasota Yacht Brokers.

KenF said:

Further followup .. I found the listings not only for the individual boats in the fleet but also the whole business is for sale by the estate ... the yachts, the Jung name and the existing bookings at a place called Sarasota Yacht Brokers.

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That is, to me, a sad thing. Up to the family, of course. Still sad, though.

The family may have had to sell the business to pay estate taxes. There could be any number of reasons.

Moonstruck said:

The family may have had to sell the business to pay estate taxes. There could be any number of reasons.

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It has nothing to do with taxes. It's basically that the surviving members of the family have other full time jobs that preclude them from devoting the kind of time it takes to run a charter business full time.

If you've never done it, it might be hard for some to understand how much of a 24/7 business chartering can be.

KenF said:

Thank you both Capt. Bill and Newbie. I kind of assumed that something like that may have happened. Discovered the same situation when I tried to book with Blue Goose Charters on the Chesapeake for October.

A real shame that the family isn't interested as Jung Charters had great reviews and reputation built over many years serving the trawler charter market. They should probably put a notification on their voice mail and Facebook page.

Aside from the one's I mentioned can you recommend any other options in the area?

On a related note I see on Passagemaker's website that Southwest is advertising to get more yachts into their charter fleet. I like SWFY but I find them somewhat high priced compared to Chitwood and they are another hour drive for us to get there from Atlanta.

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Fort Myers is over an hour South of Sarasota.

There are pros and cons to both operations. Some people like the fact that you start further south with SW. But the waters between Sarasota and Fort Myers offer great cruising.

As a side bar I managed Chitwood Charter for about 15 years.

Capt.Bill11 said:

Fort Myers is over an hour South of Sarasota.

There are pros and cons to both operations. Some people like the fact that you start further south with SW. But the waters between Sarasota and Fort Myers offer great cruising.

As a side bar I managed Chitwood Charter for about 15 years.

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We certainly had a good trip with Jerry Chitwood on the GB36 and of course drooled over the Selene's he keeps at Jack's. He was the first one I thought of for this trip but wanted to move up to his GB42.

It seems that Jung has a bit of a following so perhaps someone will pick up the whole business. I wonder who is handling the fulfillment of the existing bookings... the boat still have to be checked in and out and maintained at least until the last one.

They are not actively seeking any charter business at this time from what they have told me. But may be whiling to do a charter or two for previous clients or very experienced boaters.

I could call Holly (Wes's daughter) who is handling most of the business and let you know if you'd like? You are interested in a 42' correct?

That would be great! Although I'm pretty sure they have a 42, I don't know what other options they have but am certainly open to others options keeping in mind that we are trying to get experience on liveaboard (by my wife's definition) size trawlers and the GB36 was too small for her. And I would like the twin engine experience since Jerry's GB36 and the SWFY KK 42 were single screw.

I checked. She said thanks for the interest but they are no longer chartering any of the boats.

And she said the family would like to thank anyone here who had been a customer of her fathers in the past for their business and loyalty.

I can understand that completely and thank you for reaching out to the family.

Maybe I should buy one of their yachts and put it in the fleet with SWFY. I am not ready for fulltime cruising and I think the SWFY business model is to charter owner boats rather than own the boats themselves while Chitwood's model is that he either owns them outright or has the Selene's on fractional ownership of some kind.

Sorry to hear about Wes.

I was a customer of both Chitwood and Jung. About 10 years ago I almost bought a beautiful GB 49MY that we rented from Chitwood; it was owned by someone else. Jerry supplied a very thorough proforma. We ended up buying some rental property instead and someone else bought the boat, and it left the fleet.

I think Ft Meyers or someplace like Punta Gorda are much better spots than Sarasota to start cruising from in SW Florida. We headed straight to Cayo Costa from Sarasota every time we chartered and it is a lot more economical and time saving to do that by car instead of boat. From Cayo Costa is was on down through the Ding Darling anchorage, and thence to 10,000 islands. Our only marina type stops on those trips were occasional visits to Naples and/or Venice.

KenF said:

Further followup .. I found the listings not only for the individual boats in the fleet but also the whole business is for sale by the estate ... the yachts, the Jung name and the existing bookings at a place called Sarasota Yacht Brokers.

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As a small business owner for the last 30 years I can understand why the family is not taking over the business. Self employment is not for everyone, especially in a business that is so heavily into service.

...that being said, do you have a link to the listings? Can't seem to find it, thanks

Capt.Bill11 said:

As a side bar I managed Chitwood Charter for about 15 years.

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I'd like to know what that was like, maybe one day we can talk about it over a cold one.

roguewave said:

I'd like to know what that was like, maybe one day we can talk about it over a cold one.

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Sure, anytime.

It was durning the late 70s into the early nineties. And it was very entertaining at times.

One of my best stories might be spending 10 hours or so with two of my good friends while sitting on a mattress hand cuffed to the bow rail of a CG cutter for "smuggling" cocaine that wasn't mine nor did any of us know was even on board. It turned out it was in fact a kilo that the authorities had missed during a previous search and seizure of the vessel 7 months prior.

Long day but a great life story in the end. There are even a few humorous bits to it. Like being asked to load a Polaroid camera because the coasty didn't know how to use it and then take our own mug shots.

roguewave said:

As a small business owner for the last 30 years I can understand why the family is not taking over the business. Self employment is not for everyone, especially in a business that is so heavily into service.

...that being said, do you have a link to the listings? Can't seem to find it, thanks

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Sarasota Yacht & Ship | Yachts for Sale and Charter

Ask for Chuck Royal. Tell him Bill Foster said to call.

KenF said:

That would be great! Although I'm pretty sure they have a 42, I don't know what other options they have but am certainly open to others options keeping in mind that we are trying to get experience on liveaboard (by my wife's definition) size trawlers and the GB36 was too small for her. And I would like the twin engine experience since Jerry's GB36 and the SWFY KK 42 were single screw.

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Wife and I chartered a GB42 from SWFY July 2014. Same reasons - retiring in a year and we wanted to check the size, handling & liveaboard experience. 5th time with them over the years, but first powerboat charter. Got a deal - 5 days for 3 day price. Went up to Boca & back. Anchored out every night. After the charter she agreed to give it a go; will get serious about it in 2016. Just checked SWFY site & boat is still listed for charter. The "Buena Vista".

We did the same. We wanted to experience west FL boating first hand before deciding to move there. It was a very worthwhile experience. Our objective was not to go as far as we could but learn what west FL boating was like.. We didn't go far just Sarasota to Boca grand vicinity inside and outside enjoying the scenery and the stops. But what we learned was useful in our decision.


Be sure to ask what equipment will be on the boat. Ours was very very basic but everything worked.

If anybody is interested Jung Charters has two GBs, a galley up 46' with turbo Fords and a very rare 42' sport fish or what you could call a large 32' style boat with 3208 CATs, that they want to get rid of ASAP and are willing to entertain all offers on a "as is where is" basis.

If interested contact me.

Please DO NOT waste your time or mine if you are not looking for a project boat that is NOT trashed but needs both cosmetic and mechanical TLC offered at a "bring all offers" style in a "as is, where is" sale.

To see the boats Google:

"Raffles, Grand Banks for sale" and/or "46 foot Grand Banks for sale in Sarasota"