10 min read …
Yachting and sailing in general are an amazing sport, a hobby, indeed way of living. Such exhilarating getaways increase all the time with standard beach holiday from 1960’s now being replaced with an active and adventurous experience. This is where new adventures such as long-term luxury charter and transatlantic crossings come in. The changing business environments and improving lifestyles that were influenced by a number of factors, yet accentuated with covid-19 pandemic, have contributed enormously to uptake in numbers of those keen on yacht charter in particular. Rise in flexibility of working from home, work from abroad as a digital nomads in sunny destinations, or even achievement of financial independence by some of the new type of professionals such as international sport stars, bloggers and vloggers, crypto or stock and forex investors or simply financially independent individuals and families, new or old money successful and happy people, have created a need for ever more new ways of spending time on the water.
Long-Term Charter
One of the usual ways, chartering a superyacht or a luxury yacht for a week or two or even a special weekend getaway is already well saturated and catered for. With more time, and frankly more resources, there is also a growing need for new type of yachting adventures. SuperSailYachts.com see an increase in enquiries for long-term superyacht charters, and so its worth knowing what’s on offer. For example, one can in fact charter a de-luxe gullet from 70-200ft for as long as 3-6 months in most cases and during a summer season in the Med. To get a suitable yacht for longer periods, it’s best to consider a stylish sailing yacht such as Southern Wind 90 or Oyster 125 or maybe a CNB 76 and a Discovery 60. Best of all though, a number of luxury 50-70ft sailing catamarans can also be hired for periods up to 18 months.
With an immense increase in sailing catamarans popularity since early 00’s when Sunreef 74 ”Che” was launched and Lagoon introduced their 440 model with flybridge, these type of charter boats have become the most popular nowadays. The same applies to potential long-term charters with crew whereby the guests expect to sail very extensively and spend all summer or all seasons, sometimes full year sailing the Mediterranean, the Caribbean or different oceans. Indeed, subject to budget and various other considerations, SuperSailYachts.com yacht charter clients can indeed book luxury catamarans and other type of boats including motor yachts such as Sunseeker or mega yachts from various shipyards such as Heesen, Azimut or Sunreef Yachts for as long as 12-18 months. Itinerary for such sabbatical sailing holidays cannot be set for the full period, yet most luxury crewed boats will have a good idea of what sailing area can be covered in a safe yet adventurous manner during a set period of time.
Transatlantic crossings:
Some of the above named type of yachts are also available for simple 5 weeks transatlantic crossing with start in Gran Canaria in October or November each year. The arrival in a location within the East Caribbean, for example St Lucia or Antigua is then usually during the first half of December, just before the peak season when these boats are booked for NEW YEAR and Christmas family charters. Cabin charters on luxury yachts are rare, but could be arranged. In most cases, sailing yachts in the range of 70-125ft can be made available at a cost from around 40,000 – 125,000 Eur with big majority of charter yachts on offer being sailing catamarans from 50-70ft where prices range from 25,000 – 125,000 Eur for the duration of the sailing. In case your family, crew or friends would like to embark a bit earlier and in the Mediterranean, and start from somewhere like Dubrovnik in Croatia or Porto Cervo in Sardinia or Ibiza within the Balearics, such a sailing adventure can be extended to last 10-20 weeks, yet the costs will inevitably increase too.
Combining the two:
If your family is one of the lucky ones, and can indeed afford the luxury of sailing away for 12 – 18 months, there is in a way no limit to what you can do. It is indeed possible to arrange circumnavigation too or one way charter around all of the East Caribbean as some of our clients have already done, going one way from somewhere like Panama to Tahiti or even from East Caribbean all the way to Australia or New Zealand. On the other side of the world, a more interesting itinerary would indeed be 3-6 months sailing across both East and West Mediterranean with a one way crossing from somewhere like Turkey or Greece to South of France or the Balearic islands. The same luxury yacht charter adventure can than be extended on the same boat by crossing the Atlantic across locations such as Canary Islands and Cape Verde and heading towards East Caribbean in most cases, but also towards Brasil on request. If Brasil is the choice, going all the way to Rio and Angra dos Reis and even Patagonia could be possible. If East Caribbean, visiting Cuba, ABC Islands and the Bahamas could be the next adventure. Going across to Panama and Pacific side is unlikely as it will depend on the future plans of the boat booked in most cases. Alternative is to buy:
In case a solution for longer term luxury yacht charter cannot be found, there is always an option to buy. Bespoke sailing catamarans such as O Yachts Class 6 for example is one of those boats that are of high quality, capable and well designed to cope with single-handed sailing adventures when other members of the family only care about book reading, cooking or simply chilling. Where outright purchase is not possible, either due to budget constraints, financing issues or simply a desire not to have a burden of yacht ownership after the adventure ends, we can either discuss a buy back option, yacht management or central agency arrangements whereby your boat is offered for yacht charter after you go back to work or on land or even during some legs of your extended yachting adventure.
Summary:
Whatever your sailing adventure plan is, its worth knowing that there are no limits and all possibilities can be discussed. Budget constraints are likely to be the biggest obstacle indeed, as any type of yacht in this range will be luxurious, fully equipped, properly registered and insured and crewed by some of the best professionals in the business. In some cases, you will also have a choice of at least two different boats on offer, although most of the time there will only be one boat that will fit your requirements and choice will be very limited therefore. When buying, budget is likely to have to be at least 500,000 Eur and in order to secure a luxury boat. To get a superyacht, 1 million Euros and more will be required. Mega yachts are likely to cost well above 5 million Euros yet for those able to afford such vessels, considerations described here are probably not that important we can mostly agree.