| In this climate of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers of the USVI Charter Yacht Show, the Virgin Island Professional Charter Association (VIPCA), are taking the matter of protecting its show attendees, exhibitors, vendors, and staff very seriously. In preparation for the November 12-15th 2020 show, VIPCA has developed a revised schedule of events and protocols for a safe, hygienic, productive, and high-quality organized event. VIPCA carefully developed the following protocols to provide charter brokers and yacht crew with the necessary assurance that they will be able to safely connect with one another at this year’s show.
1. COVID-19 Testing: All charter brokers, yacht crew and their managers, VIPCA staff, plus any individual that will be onboard any of the yachts during the show, are required to provide a negative COVID-19 test result, or positive antibody test, received within 5 days of their initial arrival to St. Thomas*. Should any participants fail to produce a negative Covid-19 test at registration, then they must schedule an appointment 72 hours in advance through the Yacht Haven Grande Marina Office (340) 774-9500 before show admittance will be granted. Additionally all vessels must complete the marina’s questionnaire form prior to arrival to confirm passenger health status and previously visited locations that may be on the Federal and/or local government’s watch-list. The only exceptions to the requirement to provide a negative COVID-19 test would be that the participant has just come out of quarantine (e.g., having delivered their yacht directly to Yacht Haven Grande from a 14 day passage subject to applicable and current policies in effect by both Yacht Haven Grande and local government as it relates to travel restrictions and testing requirements).
2. Thermal Screening: VIPCA staff members will be located at the marina dock gates and will be conducting daily forehead temperature scans of all participants prior to entry. Participants are asked not to attend if they are feeling unwell and temperatures must be below CDC recommendation of 100.4 F (38.0 C) or participants will be denied admittance.Exhibitors whom remain within the marina shall also have their temperature taken daily onboard their yacht.
3. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Participants including charter brokers, yacht crew and their managers, vendors, plus marina and VIPCA staff are required to wear a face mask at all times except for when eating or drinking. Further items of PPE such as gloves and eye shields are optional and may be used in line with local government and health authority advice.
4. Cleaning & Hygiene: All yachts, event spaces and marina facilities shall follow the guidelines provided by the Centers of Disease Control & Prevention the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the American Cleaning Institution, and the World Health Organization. This includes complete overnight disinfection and continuous sanitation by 60%+ alcohol. Ashore event spaces’ (including the business Wi-Fi lounge and restrooms) cleaning shall be subcontracted to a 3rd party cleaning service. Yacht crew are requested to use 60%+ alcohol to wipehigh-touch areas such as handrails, door handles, restrooms, and food and beverage areas hourly throughout the course of the Yacht Show.
5. Personal hygiene: Entrances to the marina, event spaces, marina facilities and embarkation gangways on yachts will have hand sanitizing stations. There will be additional hand washing facilities provided onboard yachts (upon the crews’ consent) with a restroom provided by obliging exhibiting yachts allocated to charter broker use, encouraging all participants to regularly wash and disinfect their hands and to reduce use of public restrooms ashore.
6. Registration physical distancing: Yacht Show registration for attendees and yacht crew will be held outdoors under a tented area with three separated registration tables reached by three separated lines, each line to have six foot distances marked for social distancing. Registration documents, such as dock maps, show information, etc. shall be provided in clear plastic sleeves so that they may be easily sanitized with wipes. Yacht Crew registration shall be open 8am – 6pm on November 10th and Charter Yacht Broker Registration shall be open 8am – 8pm on November 11th and 8am – 3pm on the 12th, 13th and 14th.
7. General physical distancing: Participants are requested to maintain proper distance and to use alternative ways to greet each other and to avoid physical contact such as handshakes and embraces. Digital alternatives to printed materials such as business cards and sales brochures are strongly recommended. Four (4) charter brokers are permitted to be onboard any yacht at any time, in addition to its yacht crew. This includes the “Progressive Dinner” event. Shoes should be left at the gangway, with yacht crew shoes carried inside so that four (4) pairs of shoes as a maximum are ever visible when boarding any yacht. Ashore event spaces and facilities shall have a one-way traffic system, onsite signage and floor markings, and onsite social distance ambassadors.
8. Food and beverage stations: Food shall be pre-packaged in compostable take-out containers and served with compostable knives and forks. Packaging of the food containers shall take place in the commercial kitchen of our exclusive caterer, Moe’s Fresh Market. If any queuing is anticipated, food shall be distributed from multiple stations reached by lines with six foot distance floor markings with the assistance of onsite social distance ambassadors who shall discourage crowds from gathering.
9. Evening and lunch events: No events shall occur as a gathering ashore. Instead, there shall be broker lunches and dinners hosted onboard exhibiting yachts with a maximum of four (4) brokers per vessel. Lunches and Evenings shall be as follows and will always be inclusive of all Brokers in attendance:
10. Crew competitions: Judges of the Culinary and Cocktail Competitions shall have provided a COVID-19 negative test within five days prior to their judging, and these competitions shall proceed as usual.
Please Note: Show protocols and its schedule are being adapted as the COVID 19 situation evolves in accordance with official government and local authority guidance. All events shall comply with current local ordinances as it relates to COVID-19 measures including any imposed curfews, alcohol restrictions, crowd gathering sizes, etc. |
