Andrew Ball

Biography

Andrew was born in France, spending his childhood in England, and his secondary school and university years Canada. He studied a BFA in Technical Theatre, and later a BComm in Business Management. After university education in Toronto, Canada, Andrew went back to the UK to pursue a career in the maritime industry. After completing his MCA 200 ton Master’s license, he found himself traveling through the western Mediterranean and then on to the Caribbean whilst also pursuing an FdSc in Operational Yacht Science. Among his recreational and commercial operating qualifications are PADI DiveMaster, RYA Powerboat II , RYA Diesel engine, GMDSS, STCW, and others.

While passing through the British Virgin Islands in 2009, he was asked to run a few charters for a local charter company and ended up making the BVI his home. After working with numerous charter companies, he found a private yacht with a great owner and spent six years running charters throughout the Caribbean and US East Coast.

Eventually, Andrew felt that it was time to become a little more land-based and put down some roots. It was at this point he joined a Caribbean engine and power generation distributor as their Service Manager (representing brands such as Yanmar, Volvo Penta, Kubota, Perkins, Northern Lights, Cummins/Onan, Dometic, JCB, John Deere, ZF Hurth, and others), however this just wasn’t quite close enough to his passion; boats.

Andrew joined a leading Caribbean Marine Surveying firm in early 2016. While still occasionally filling in as a relief Captain for large yachts to keep his feet wet, Andrew performed thousands of purchase, insurance, and stability surveys, among others, throughout the Caribbean from Panama to Florida, and a few in Europe. The majority of Andrew’s work involved damage surveys, claim management, loss adjustment, and accident investigation. He also has significant experience in Catastrophe Response, leading assessment teams in the field in the BVI after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas in 2019.

New build projects are one of Andrew’s many passions. He enjoys bringing his collective knowledge of a wide variety of vessels and designs, combined with his extensive operating experience, together to give new builds improvement. This takes him far and beyond the Caribbean, most recently and most often to the Sunreef Catamarans factory in Poland, where he has worked on multiple new build projects.

Andrew is empowered to conduct inspections such as SCV and tonnage surveys for the MCA through MECAL and is also a QI for the Marshall Islands Shipping Registry. He performs inspections and measurements for other flag states and registries on a case-by-case appointment basis. He is International Association of Marine Investigators #4122 and is Certified Marine Surveyor #0565 with The Association of Certified Marine Surveyors.

Andrew founded Mainstay Consulting Group in 2023 to provide management and consulting services to the marine industry in the BVI and wider Caribbean.

Andrew has been on the Board of Directors of the Marine Association of the BVI since 2019 and has been Chairman since 2020. He also serves on the Virgin Islands Economic Advisory Counsel and previously served as a Member of the BVI Tourist Board. He was a 12-year veteran volunteer responder with Virgin Islands Search and Rescue. In addition, Andrew is a sworn police officer, working with the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force on projects in the marine space.

Mr. Ball spends much of his spare time helping to shape legislation regarding the BVI Marine Industry and assisting the industry to give back to the community.