What is a Boat Share Club?

by Keith McGregor

Boating Members pay a fixed annual fee which gives them access to a range of boats. Boats can vary from high performance cruising yachts like Sunseeker, Beneteau, Dufour and Bavaria, high performance power boats, sailing yachts and exhilarating Ribs.

These fractional ownership schemes, many modelled on the well established market in the USA, are attracting increasing numbers of sailors looking to cut costs in current markets.

Advantages

* Easier than ownership
* Less expensive that yacht charter
* No long term commitment, normally 12 months.
* Varied fleet performance cruising yachts
* Good opportunity to test before buying
* Opportunity to sail in a variety of locations
* Can provide training, crew finder and free advice
* Pay for fuel used only.

Disadvantages

* Location of yachts may not be suitable
* Must book in advance for use
* Need to be flexible on choice of boats

Cost

One Boat Share Club, Pure Latitude operates a scheme through a points-based system, with annual subscriptions from £2,995 to £6,995. The club takes responsibility for capital outlay and all the costs usually associated with ownership including marine fuel costs.

Global leader in Fractional Sailing ‘SailTIme’ break costs down to monthly membership fees and with the fees all inclusive of insurance, maintenance and marina fees you won’t have any nasty surprises. With over 50 sailing locations worldwide, the SailTIme mission is to make luxury sailing, practical, cost effective and simple.

The well documented credit crunchArticle Search, the end to marine red diesel derogation in the U.K. from the 1st November 2008 plus other inflationary costs will mean some boat owners are going to look for cheaper alternatives to 100% boat ownership. As the market tightens U.K. Boat Share Clubs are increasing in number.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Keith McGregor is a partner of Strawberrysoup, a web design
agency with offices in Chichester and Bournemouth. Strawberrysoup specialise in creative web design, content managed websites, search engine optimisation, search engine marketing and graphic design