The charter yacht industry is one defined by parity, and Charlie Birkett, the 37-year-old CEO of YCO, a Monaco-headquartered superyacht company specializing in charters, will be the first to admit that. Birkett, who cofounded the company in 2004, began his yachting career when he was 19 years old and worked his way up from crew member to captain. When he launched YCO, Birkett and his business partner, Gary Wright, leveraged that experience to separate the company from the competition. However, Birkett says that over the years, the market has caught up. And while one might think that yacht accessibility is the selling point for any charter company, Birkett says that simply isn’t the case. "We have brokers everywhere in the industry, but at the end of the day, they have access to the same yachts as 10 other companies in the industry," he says. "So, it’s what else can you add? What can you bring to provide a total experience?"

YCO’s answer to that question is a partnership with Based On A True Story, a British luxury travel company that provides one-off, customized vacations. The partnership, now in its second year, has reinvented the concept of a charter. If a client wants a yacht-based vacation providing more adventure and activity than a week sailing the Mediterranean, Birkett and his team can arrange it. "We’re coming at chartering in a different way," he says. "We’re approaching it as an experience instead of just a charter."

From access to orangutan sanctuaries in Borneo to heli-explorations of the Venezuelan regions that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 novel The Lost World, YCO has produced adventure-based charter yacht vacations that would have seemed impossible only a few years ago. But the company also can create vacations with adventures for the entire family. For example, when a group of two families chartered a 187-foot Perini Navi sailing yacht for a 10-day trip through the western Mediterranean, their request was simple: keep the seven children entertained. To accomplish that, YCO and Based On A True Story developed an intricate plot focused around a treasure hunt, complete with a hidden treasure map possessed by a Touareg nomad in the Sahara desert, and incorporating stops in Morocco, the Balearic Islands, and Majorca.

Such a personalized charter yacht itinerary can range from $25,000 a week up to $1 million for the most extraordinary requests. As part of the package, YCO makes sure that every trip has a professional photographer along to document the adventures. "A [traditional] yacht charter doesn’t need a photographer," Birkett acknowledges. "But at some point in time, when you’re swimming with tiger sharks or your kids are playing on the backs of camels and elephants, you’re going to see things that you’ll never see again. That’s what you want to capture with photography, and it’s all available at the end of the trip."