To buy your own sailing yacht or to charter? That is the question.
To buy your own sailing yacht or to charter? That is the question.
Unless you are lucky enough to be regularly invited along to crew on a friend’s yacht, you have two choices for your sailing holidays: to charter a yacht or to buy your own.
Below, Dirk Agter, co-founder and CEO of Yacht-Match, reviews these choices and introduces a way to turn boat ownership into an investment.
To Charter:
Many sailing enthusiasts choose chartering over ownership. A charter client has the freedom to choose any yacht type and destination. Each sailing holiday can be on a different yacht, offering a great way to experience a variety of boat sizes and styles.
In addition, the charter client pays a fixed charter fee. This includes use of the yacht for the agreed period as well as support during the charter if needed. The charterer has no worries about unexpected maintenance costs, annual berthing fees or insurance.
For those who sail just a few times a year and don’t mind sailing in someone else’s boat this is a perfect option.
To Buy:
Buying Pre-owned vs a New Yacht
There are thousands of sailing yachts for sale around the world. You can easily find them by visiting marinas, brokers or by simply searching on line.
Buying a pre-owned sailing yacht has an obvious financial advantage, although older second-hand sailing yachts may have experienced a period of neglect before being put up for sale, often resulting in relatively high upfront maintenance or upgrade costs.
New sailing yachts have the advantage of a warranty, reduced maintenance costs and the option to choose your own specifications. Although naturally this comes at a higher initial price, and depending on the yacht you choose, there may be a frustratingly long wait for production, commissioning and delivery.
Turning Your Yacht into an Investment
Owning a yacht is attractive to many people; especially those who intend to live onboard or sail so regularly that they want to be able to leave everything on board.
For many others, despite a desire to sail regularly, the reality is that they may only sail a handful of times throughout the year. This makes it hard to justify the cost of owning a yacht.
However, if you fall into this latter group and are prepared to share your yacht with other people, then there are ways to turn your yacht into an investment.
Charter Investment
Charter investment programmes aim to generate enough income from charters on your yacht to cover your running costs and even provide a positive return to offset depreciation. With a charter investment programme, you may have limited access to your yacht within the first few years, or peak sailing season in order to maximise the returns.
Charter Management
A reliable and reputable charter management company, such as Hamble Point Yacht Charters, will also aim to generate charter income from your yacht, but the emphasis is on ensuring your yacht is well maintained and available for you to use, rather than just focussing on financial returns.
The charter company looks after your yacht for you; this includes overseeing and managing the annual maintenance, any repairs or replacements required, cleaning, berthing, insurance and coding (ensuring the boat meets the safety requirements for chartering) as well as promoting your yacht to an audience of charterers.
All potential charterers are vetted to ensure they have the relevant sailing qualifications or experience to be able to safely sail the yacht and return her undamaged.
As the owner, you are able to pre-book your own yacht for your own sailing use, although the more weeks you take, the fewer weeks are available for generating a charter income.
Maximising Charter Appeal
Finally, some layouts of yacht are more popular than others for chartering. So, before purchasing a yacht that you plan to charter out , it is wise to consult with an experienced charter management company who can offer advice on the optimum configuration of your yacht to generate the greatest return on your investment.
Would you like to know more?
Hamble Point Yacht Charters has partnered with Yacht-Match, who offer unbiased information about (inter)national charter investment and management opportunities for privately owned sailing yachts. If you are considering buying a yacht, Dirk and his colleagues can match you with the best yacht charter investment or yacht management solution.
Yacht-Match offer a completely free-of-charge initial consultation to all Hamble Point Yacht Charter clients, so you can find out more about the options that might work for you at no cost. Simply contact Hamble Point Yacht Charters and ask for your free consultation with Yacht-Match.
**Southampton Boat Show 2018**
Dirk will be available on the Hamble Point Yacht Charters stand J089 at the Southampton Boat Show at 4pm between Wednesday 19th – Saturday 22nd August to introduce the Yacht-Match concept and answer any questions you may have.
m: +31(0) 6 4644 0794
w: www.yacht-match.com e: [email protected]
s: live:djagter
WHAT CLIENTS SAY
This is truly a 5 * service. The team really looked after us both ashore on arrival and also while at sea. We were a relatively inexperienced crew but always felt the team ashore had our backs. Thoroughly recommended.
I just wanted to say Thank-you very much for the weekend charter. It was exactly what we were after (albeit cold!) plus Andy was an awesome teacher and great company. We’ll definitely be keen to book again soon!
We had a fabulous four days. Marina is ideally placed for the Solent, boat was in great condition, well equipped and a joy to sail. We were well briefed and the shore side team including the dog very friendly.
We charted one of the sailing yachts for a fantastic weekend cruise in the Solent. The boat was in superb condition and well equipped, the staff was very helpful explaining how things work on the yacht and there was also a video available with all the important information. 10/10 would recommend!
Had a fantastic week chartering Blue Otter, Alex was incredibly helpful and sent loads of information and date checking prior to booking. There was a handover video and both the handover and return were really smooth. The boat was lovely and well maintained and Lee was really helpful in recommending places to visit (and helping identify the steering issue as an autopilot takeover - doh!). Definitely will be back and would fully recommend!
Just back from a lovely week in the Solent. Great service from HPYC from first inquiry through to return handover. Very straightforward to deal with, and the yacht was in excellent condition. We've chartered from many companies in the UK and abroad and the attention to detail (and flawless inventory!) was second to none. Everything about the yacht and equipment had clearly been well looked after and was in immaculate condition. Great service, will use again.
Always very friendly service, and well-maintained yachts. Easy check-in and checkout. Will be back...
We had a great time and were very happy with everything. Your team were genuinely friendly and were very helpful when we needed it. Is a big contrast to many charter companies I have dealt with in the past.
Watching the sun go down with a glass of bubbly on the deck of a sparkling yacht was unbelievable. What a treat, and a much needed change of scenery in these troubled times. We will be back for sure
Fab service, nothing too much trouble, including my daft questions. I'll be a repeat customer for sure!
We had a great time sailing with Lee for a few days at the beginning of September. Hamble Point Yacht Charters supplied us an impeccable 45 ft Hanse yacht, which was handled with complete mastery by Captain Lee. It was a privilege to sail with Lee, who is clearly a highly skilled professional taking great pride in his work ... but who is also a fantastic character with a great sense of humour and plenty of fun stories to keep the whole family entertained. He balances the serious side of safety and learning about sailing with a whopping dose of amusement and good cheer. We sailed the Solent in some decent seas, visited Bucklers Hard on the banks of the Beaulieu River and learned lots about British nautical history. Our boys started somewhat of a fishing trend catching bass off the back of the boat in Portsmouth and we would love to sail with Lee again in the future. The man truly knows his stuff, maintained the boat impeccably and went to every effort to ensure that we had a great time. Many thanks to “Shippers” and Hamble Point Charters. We’ll be back.
Chartered bareboats with HPYC on numerous occasions most recently in Sept 2020. Always helpful and accommodating. Highly recommend.
We had a fantastic weekend sailing on Loxley B. Boat in super condition and spotlessly clean, Alex. and the team very thorough and always on hand to answer any questions. A great experience. We will be back. Thank you!
Lots of information from office with a friendly service. We selected a one of the cheaper yachts and was please with find everything work and was cleaned and tidy. We will definitely be back
This was the first time we had tried chartering and as experienced racing sailors we didn't know what to expect. Covid has closed down all our events this year so this was a chance to get afloat at least once in 2020. What a great experience and Alex and all the Hamble staff could not have been more friendly or helpful. We had a great three days and we will be back !! We would have no hesitation is recommending Hamble Point Yacht Charters.