Float your boat

Words by Juliette Guilbert

Owning a boat needn’t sink you financially. thanks to boat share clubs, more people are enjoying their own yachts with out having to splash out big time.

the best boat is your friend’s boat,” goes the old saying. Actually, there are a lot of old sayings about boats, most of them concerned with the trouble and expense of owning one. But as with other luxury items, from Lear jets to designer handbags, new, hassle-minimizing ways of enjoying the privileges of ownership are proliferating.

“I used to have my own boat, a 1988 Wellcraft,” says Paul Holstein, co-founder of Cableorganizer.com, who lives in Pompano Beach, Florida, with his wife and two young children. “I bought it for about $24,000, and I must have put another $20,000 into it. My wife and I would go out diving, and I’d be down under the water scared to come up because I th ought the engine wouldn’t start.”

the Holsteins now own a one-sixth fraction of a 33-foot Doral 330SE Express Cruiser under a program managed by American Yacht Share of Fort Lauderdale, one of a host of new companies modeled on the successful fractional jet industry. For an initial purchase price of $30,000, plus a $499 month ly management fee, the Holsteins and their co-owners get the use of the Doral for one-sixth of each year for five years (larger and smaller boats are also available). then the boats are sold and the owners divide the proceeds. Best of all, owners’ responsibilities end as soon as they hand over the keys to the dock crew.

“Quite simply, when you have the boat to yourself, it’s your boat,” says Rich May, marketing manager for American Yacht Share. “And the month ly fee includes the entire cost of looking after the boat, everyth ing from dockage to insurance, registration, sea tow, maintenance and cleaning. You get white glove service— the boat is ready to go when you take it out, and when you return it, you simply step onto the dock and we take it from there.”

“I couldn’t afford a 33-foot Doral on my own,” says Holstein, who uses the boat for day trips, scuba diving and overnight trips with out-of-town visitors. “I might be able to afford the payments, but not the insurance, gas, upkeep and docking. the other boat, when I wasn’t using it, I’d look out in the backyard and hear the barnacles starting to attach to the boat, the rust in the engine. I felt like all the pieces were conspiring against me on how they could break next.”

Because of year-round boating, Florida has led the way in fractional programs, which appeal to seasonal visitors and full-time residents. the concept is spreading: Yacht share programs are now in locations like the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River and the Great Lakes, along with programs that dock boats in Florida during the winter and up north in the summer.

the boats available for fractional purchase range from relatively modest 24-footers to the kinds of over-the-top yachts offered by Monocle Fractional Yachts of Fort Lauderdale. For $2.4 million and $100,000 a year in operating expenses, you can have the benefit of four weeks a year on a 137-foot Feadship yacht with five staterooms, a gym, sky lounge, communications center, Jacuzzi and a crew of seven, including a chef, says Monocle president Loren Simkowitz. Each group of owners decides where its yacht will go, and he says: “Some take it down to the Bahamas for six month s at a time; others go to the Mediterranean.”

there are also less costly options. When Becky and Josh Nowlis moved to Miami th ree years ago, they knew they wanted to be out on the water—Josh is a marine biologist—but balked at the idea of the hassle involved in owning a boat. So the couple joined Freedom Boat Club, a franchise operation that offers members the use of any of its fleet of bowriders, deck boats, pontoon boats, sailboats and fishing boats, and has locations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland and Virginia as well as Florida.

“We chose to buy five years’ worth of boating privileges,” Becky says. “If you go out once a month , it ends up being about $300 each time. We’ve been very happy with it.”

the Nowlises and their two small children like to take Freedom boats out on Biscayne Bay and to cruise the canals that wend their way th rough Miami. they’ve also taken advantage of Freedom’s multiple locations for outings on Florida’s West Coast.

Bob Daley, president of Freedom Boat Club, says the company offers a variety of membership packages, the most popular of which is the five-year plan—this requires a $14,900 initiation fee and membership dues of $50 a month . As with fractional programs, fees include all maintenance, insurance and dockage. the company also has four in-house captains who provide training for novices. For th ose who don’t live in boating country year-round, the club offers seasonal memberships, and members can sell the balance of their memberships at any time.

“When I bought my first 18-footer, I was petrified,” Daley says. “It sat in my driveway for th ree month s before I had the courage to back it down a public boat ramp. At Freedom Boat Club, we just want to make boating easy and fun.”

Share tips

Before investing in a boat fraction or club, keep the following in mind:

• Spend some time researching what type and size of boat suits your needs, then find a company that offers a suitable craft.
• th ink carefully about how much time you will actually spend on the boat—if you’re not going to be out on the water regularly, chartering or renting may make more sense.
• Find out what locations are available to you. Some companies limit cruising to a specific range; some have different cruising areas for winter and summer.
• Check the fine print on reservations: Find out how many advance bookings can be held at one time, how weekends and holidays are distributed, and how far in advance reservations can be made.
• Make sure you can sell your share or membership if need be, and ask if there are any fees or penalties for doing so.
• Look for plans with good member orientation programs, particularly if you are new to boating.
• Ensure that any fractional deposit is held in escrow until all shares of a craft have been purchased.