Luxury Yachts - Now & Then

The term ‘Luxury Yacht’ refers to a very expensive privately-owned yacht which is professionally crewed. There has been a big change in the long history of luxury yachts and these have been transformed from something simple and classy to a high-tech rich asset.

BEFORE

Also known as a super-yacht, a luxury yacht may be either a sailing or motor yacht. This term began to appear at the beginning of the 20th century when wealthy individuals constructed large private yachts for personal pleasure. Early luxury sailing yachts include Americas Cup classic J class racers like S/Y (sailing yacht) Endeavour and Sir Thomas Lipton’s S/Y Shamrock. The New York Yacht Club hosted many early luxury sailing yacht events at Newport, Rhode Island, during the Gilded Age.

NOW

More recently, over the last decade or two, there has been an increase in the number and popularity of large private luxury yachts. Luxury yachts are particularly bountiful in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, although increasingly luxury yachts are cruising in more remote areas of the world. With the increase in demand for luxury yachts there has been an increase custom boat building companies and yacht charter brokers.

Some yachts are used exclusively by their private owners, others are operated all year round as charter businesses, and a large number are privately owned but available for charter part time. Weekly charter fees range from a few tens of thousands of dollars a week to nearly a million dollars a week. This covers the wages of the crew, but not fuel, food and drink, or other incidental expenses.

Yachts from 23 meters (75 feet) and up qualify for design awards from the Superyacht Society, but at the bottom end of that scale yachts will not necessarily be crewed and many set the minimum length for a superyacht considerably higher. From around 30 meters (98 feet) and up yachts are always crewed. A 45 to 50 meters (148 to 164 feet) yacht, the smallest with a generally accepted claim to superyacht status, will usually be a three decker with cabins for 12 guests (that is a preferred number, more common than either 10 or 14, and is found on yachts across quite a wide size range), and for a crew of a similar size. A 50 meter yacht has one or two tenders for reaching shore and other “toys” which may include a speed boat or sailing boat, jet-skis, windsurfing and diving equipment and a banana. Up to date yachts have multiple flat screen televisions and satellite communications.

THE BIG YACHTS The number of really large yachts has increased rapidly since the 1990s and increasingly only yachts above around 65 meters (213 feet) stand out among other luxury yachts. Yachts of this size are almost always built to individual commissions and cost tens of millions of dollars (most super-yachts cost far more than their owners’ homes on land, even though those homes are likely to be among the largest and most desirable). A yacht of this size usually has four decks above the water line and one or two below. It is likely to have a helicopter landing platform.ADD-ONS

Apart from additional guest cabins, which are likely to include one of more “VIP suites” besides the owner’s suite, extra facilities compared to a 50 meter yacht will include some or all of indoor jacuzzi, sauna and steam rooms, a beauty salon, massage and other treatment rooms, a medical centre, a discotheque, a cinema with a film library, plunge pool (possibly with a wave-maker), a playroom, and additional living areas such as a separate bar, secondary dining room, private sitting rooms or a library. There will be more boats and “toys” than there are on a 50 meter yacht.

It’s only something to wonder - how yachts of the future would be and what directions would they take in terms of their design, purpose and to what different aspects of our lives would they touch.