fractional yacht ownership europe

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Yacht Share Network – as featured in the Sunday Times – is the world’s largest yacht brokerage dedicated to co-owned yachts representing over 200 yachts in the best global boating hotspots.

We are purposefully not tied to any particular yacht brand as we recognise that our range of differing yachts from all the leading brands offers potential co-owners much more choice, which simultaneously translates to more competitive offerings.

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We have 3 teenage lads, and they just didn’t want to come on holiday with us anymore. However, once there was a yacht on offer that suddenly changed. Now they love to come along and we have wonderful family times together. The boys are great company and we have created lots and lots of new family memories that will remain with us forever.

The yacht share idea always appealed to us, finding a professional and reliable syndicate was harder. I am happy to vouch for Yacht Share Network, they are truly the masters of the universe and make it work incredibly well.

Boating was never my dream however it was my husband Robert’s ultimate goal in life. Sharing meant we managed to achieve a of this and more with a fraction of the cost. We could still take the children skiing and do all the other things a busy family wants to do. When you see your 7 year old swimming in the sea and in the tender shouting faster whilst laughing and screaming you know that holidays are back to being magical. This has been the making of us as a family thank you so much.

I’ve known William for many years and he knew that our boat sat empty in Cannes for most of the time. He suggested we sell some shares instead of just burning cash on moorings and maintenance. Yacht Share Network took her into their fleet and we got ¾ of our capital back. Now we just have ¼ of the running costs, and don’t feel so guilty that we only use the boat about 6 weeks of the year.

I have to admit, I probably love boating more than my wife does so buying a boat was unlikely to ever happen. A boat share however… I got the boss to approve, and a happy wife is a happy life lol!

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Fractional Yacht Ownership : Everything you Need to Know

Fractional yacht ownership is one of the way to own a yacht that might suit your needs.

For most people, owning a luxury yacht means the freedom to move whenever and wherever they want with maximum comfort. However, it is rare to be able to use it 100% of the time. There are options to counteract the time the boat is not is used, and one of the most profitable and comfortable is fractional ownership.

Shared yacht ownership may be for you. But do you know exactly what it means and entails?

Let’s review the pros and cons of this ownership method to assess whether this can suit you, or whether you should continue chartering yachts or owning one fully .

What is fractional yacht ownership?

Fractional boat ownership is exactly what it sounds like. It allows you to own a part of a yacht for usage time on board. You legally own a piece of it as an asset, and like a company share or a bond, you can sell or transfer it. 

People have been sharing boats through informal partnerships with friends or family members for eons. Fractional boat ownership is simply a formalization of these arrangements which offers you more legal protection in case of conflicts. 

Each owner pays an equity stake in the vessel depending on what percentage of the purchase they want. 

In return, each owner is allotted a set number of days they are allowed to use the boat each year proportionally to their investment. 

On top of the share, the owners have to pay an annual maintenance fee to the management company taking care of managing the calendar, crew, and maintenance of the boat throughout the year.

Fractional boat ownership is different from a time-share which only gives you the rights of property used for a certain amount of time. Once your time is over, your investment also is.

To help you to decide if fractional yacht ownership is right for you, here are the pros and cons you might consider.

The Pros of fractional yacht ownership

By sharing the purchase price, but also the operating and maintenance costs between the owners, fractional boat ownership lightens your investment considerably, allowing you to make serious savings. Financially, but not only.

Fractional boat ownership will also help you to save time on managing different aspects. Indeed, the management company will take care of it – from hiring a crew to coordinating maintenance, to managing the calendar among all owners, to deal with marinas. If you don’t use the yacht, the management company will help you to charter it.

When you use your time aboard, you are free to invite anyone you want. This kind of program is often located in an area, but with the majority of other owner’s agreements, you can cruise the boat in new locations.

If you no longer wish to own a fraction of the yacht, most fractional ownership agreements allow you to easily sell your fractional shares to someone else. Since this kind of program keeps the yachts well-maintained, the value of your share will not devalue so quickly and you’ll be able to more easily change boats than with full ownership.

Furthermore, some fractional ownership organizations maintain fleets that allow you to use a different yacht, enjoy another location, or make up for time lost because of weather or maintenance issues. 

The Cons of fractional yacht ownership

The main drawback of fractional yacht ownership is obviously that you have to share your boat with other owners

Some downsides include that even if you own a part of the yacht, you can’t do whatever you want with it. For example, You can’t personalize a fractionally owned yacht. In fact, you probably won’t have a say on the outfitting or the decoration at all.

You don’t have a lot of flexibility either to use your yacht whenever you want. The yacht isn’t at your disposal all the time and itineraries are planned in a way that you choose your slot in advance. Your last-minute getaways are therefore compromised. 

It also means that the boat might not be available for the particular dates you would like to use it. Read properly the agreement, as some of them allow first come – first served during the unscheduled time if no maintenance is required.

When it comes to moving the yacht, most of the owners have to agree on the destination, so you can be stuck with one area, which can be an issue if you are planning on moving a lot. To relocate your yacht for an extended period of time, you will usually need every owner’s approval. 

On the other hand, most owners may decide to move the boat to an area you don’t particularly like. If you were to charter a boat, you would simply pay a moving fee, but in this case, you are stuck!

Depending on the contract, it is possible that if the majority of the owners want to sell the ship, it can get sold out from under you. So read it carefully!

In fact, the main disadvantage of fractional yacht ownership lies in its name: you only own a portion of the yacht, which means you are not in full control of your property.

Is Fractional yacht ownership for you?

To know  if fractional boat ownership is for you or not, answer these different questions:

• Is it important for you to be in total control of your yacht?
• Do you have time and funds to deal with your yacht’s maintenance costs?
• Are you planning to sail in one area or to explore the world?
• Is having a customized yacht important to you?
• Are you flexible on dates?

Depending on your answers, fractional yacht ownership can be, or not a good option for you.  If you want to save on costs, if you are likely to use it several times throughout the year in one particular region, if you know which boat you want or if you want to invest in a yacht to charter it, then go for shared boat ownership.

For people who don’t want to deal with the hassles of single-ownership, it is also a solution to consider.

On the other hand, people who like changes, whether it’s to try out numerous yachts or to change regions often, are better off sticking with yacht chartering.

For those who don’t want to share and can’t stand the idea of being a co-owner, buying your boat is likely your best option if you can afford it. 

Keep in mind that most fractional yacht ownership programs concern large yachts, like superyachts and mega yachts which require crew. If you enjoy captaining your boat and your friends and family enjoy being the crew, you may lose that aspect of yachting in some way.

The costs of Fractional yacht ownership

You pay your share at the beginning to purchase your portion of the yacht. 

There are no traditional yacht ownership expenses in fractional ownership programs like dockage, moorings, insurance, or boat maintenance costs. But depending on the program you go for, either you will have to pay a certain amount every year to the management company or it will be covered by the charter revenues or a mix of both.

As an example, for a 63-foot yacht with four cabins, some programs offer the cost of the eighth share in the Mediterranean around $180,000 with annual costs for maintenance, crew, insurance, and anchorage around $24,000. Owners will be able to use the boat 4 weeks a year. Another management company offers a California program from $300,000 to $735,000 plus operating costs for quarter shares of vessels ranging from 52 to 82 feet. At this price, the four owners will each be able to use the boat 72 days a year.

The main regions in the world for fractional yacht ownership

Fractional yacht ownership can be done everywhere. 

Popular destinations include Europe, in particular, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, especially the Bahamas.

Among the main regions in the US for fractional boat ownership, you have Miami and Fort Lauderdale, but also Cape Cod and Nantucket.

Some programs also offer Asian destinations mostly in Hong Kong, Thailand, and the rest of South-East Asia.

Read also : Sustainable Yachting: How is the Boat Industry Becoming more Eco-Friendly?

About to buy a yacht?

Were you thinking about Fractional Yacht Ownership? Our professionals will be happy to help you in your endeavors.

Fractional yacht ownership means that you legally own a portion of a yacht, along with co-owners. Therefore you are entitled to use the yacht based on your ownership agreement and must share revenues and costs with other owners.

It depends on your desires and your personality. If you like changes, try out a different yacht model every year and change frequently of destination, then go for yacht chartering. If, on the contrary, you have a crush on a yacht, want to start owning it at a lower cost, and avoid the management requirements, fractional boat ownership is ideal. Unlike chartering, fractional ownership means you can invite as many guests as deemed safe and as long as you have proper safety equipment on board.

The costs include the purchase price of your ownership share and yearly exploitation and maintenance fees to pay to your management company.

Hard to tell. This depends on your availability if you have time or not to take care of your boat, and your budget. If you don’t want to worry about the management aspects and only have a small budget to invest, go for fractional ownership. If you want to have perfect freedom, use your boat anytime and wherever you want, go for full ownership.

Yes, you can. As long as the share belongs to you, you can sell it whenever you want as long as the agreement doesn’t stipulate anything against it. Be aware that the other owners can also do so.

The most popular regions for fractional ownership are the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. But also, the US and some Asian areas.

You can buy a fraction, or a share, of a yacht. You will be the co-owner, or the fractional owner of the yacht and its cost will be spread among all owners.

Yes, fractional ownership and yacht sharing or even co-ownership are all synonyms. You still become the co-owner of a yacht regardless of how you decide to call it.

A yacht sharing program allows you to co-own a yacht, so that you spread its maintenance cost among all owners. It is also known as fractional ownership or co-ownership programs.

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SeaNet SuperYachts is your expert in yacht co-ownership. We offer new and experienced yacht owners various yacht co-ownership models (yacht shared ownership) to better serve each owner’s individual needs and preferences.

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• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

How shared ownership can get you more boating with less stress

• January 9, 2020

The sharing economy is booming, even on the water. Sam Fortescue looks at the new ways to own a boat

Sharing a boat with other like-minded owners may mean you could afford to sail a bigger yacht

Traditional boat ownership is broken and outdated. At least, that’s the bold message coming from a shrewd and hardy collection of entrepreneurs who say there is no longer any reason to simply buy a boat and keep it waiting in the marina for the occasional foray.

They are trying to drag boating into the modern digital economy with fractional ownership, sailing time-shares and peer-to-peer charter – all of which can reduce the cost of sailing dramatically. It’s a brave new world of apps, bundled services and sharing.

“I think this is part of a societal shift we are seeing in multiple industry sectors away from longer term asset ownership, and towards quicker consumption of experiences, or access to services,” says Matt Ovenden, founder of Borrow a Boat .

Families keen to get on the water no longer need to make the large one-off financial outlay to buy their own boat

It is a generational issue, agrees Todd Hess, managing director of Sail Time . “Millennials aren’t ready to own today, but they will pay to rent an experience. Our vision is that many will age and will become buyers.”

Fractional ownership

Fractional yacht ownership is not new, of course. As long as there have been watercraft, there have been part shares. But the manner in which you meet and deal with partners is changing.

The three founders of Boat Share Finder  reckoned that they could improve people’s chances of getting afloat by setting up a kind of online exchange, where boaters can offer part shares in existing syndicates and register to receive alerts on suitable new listings.

Article continues below…

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“With people no longer having the money or time to warrant buying a boat for themselves, BSF gives the best of both worlds, allowing people to keep their costs down while still being able to spend time on the water and hopefully meet some likeminded friends along the way,” says co-founder Alex Waldron.

“We have over 400 boats currently listed on the website and that number is steadily growing with more boats being added each month. Over half are sailing boats.”

Typical costs are around £45,000 for a one-third share of a Najad 391 in the Solent or an Oceanis 50 in the Adriatic, but the site also lists commercial syndicates and time-shares.

Uniquely the service is run on a non-profit basis, with users simply asked to donate at least £50 to selected charities when they find a share. “An ever growing number of boats listed [are] in Europe and further afield,” adds Waldron.

Run as a charity, Boat Share Finder is relatively hands-off, leaving people to get on with sorting out the details and contracts by themselves.

But at the other end of the shared yacht ownership spectrum you can find a much more luxurious service that offers to take on many of the more onerous elements of boat ownership, including maintenance.

A shared ownership scheme could allow you to become a partner in a Lagoon 42 catamaran

Well-known Solent-based yacht broker Ancasta saw a gap in the market here, launching its own fractional ownership programme for new boats at the 2018 Southampton Boat Show . The Beneteau, Lagoon and McConaghy dealer had been mulling over the idea for some time in response to falling boat ownership.

“The shell for our programme was there, but we had to go out and do the research, getting feedback from those who have been part of similar schemes,” says sales manager Scarlett Sykes.

“There are fewer and fewer people getting into boating, all with similar reasoning such as lack of time, being unable to justify the cost of ownership, or charter boats being of a low standard.

“We want to give that group of people the ability to get on the water, owning a brand new boat, without the hassle of maintenance, where their costs are in proportion to their usage – we wanted to tick all the boxes.”

Photo: Nico Krauss/Hanse Yachts

Ancasta says that the programme has appealed to younger sailors, as it had expected. But it has also resonated with older sailors, too. “Retirees who want to avoid managing and maintaining their own boats would be a big chunk of our enquirers,” says Sykes.

Lichtenstein-based Smart Yacht is another example of a high-end service, but it has no brand affiliations and specialises in good quality second-hand boats.

Having headquarters in one of Europe’s most landlocked countries has not stopped the company from signing up more than 3,000 prospective yacht co-owners, for whom it acts as a kind of marine dating service.

It can be a slow process to get right, admits head of marketing Verena Brünings. “Due to high personal efforts in consulting our clients we cannot sell more than 15-20 shares (about five new yachts) per year.”

Matching up similar expectations in terms of yacht size, maintenance cost and so on takes time. Current offers on the sailing side include a Bavaria 44 Vision and an Oceanis 45 based in Italy, plus a First 45 in Croatia.

Co-owners book time online and can have as much or as little to do with each other as they want – they may not know each other at all, in fact. “Your anonymity can be provided upon request,” says Brünings.

The company also offers a €450 per year membership option which allows you to book days on owners’ yachts for a fraction of the market rate.

Yacht membership

The membership route to getting out on the water has proved hugely successful in its own right. Market leader Freedom Boat Club runs more than 2,000 boats across the US, while Sail Time has been at it for 18 years, and is now expanding into Europe.

The company sets out its stall on ownership immediately: “There are very few reasons for owning a boat in a traditional manner any more,” says Todd Hess.

The premise is a simple one, akin to short-term charter. Club members choose how much sailing they want to do, and pay a monthly fee accordingly. So-called Lite packages start at around $485 for a one-year-old Beneteau Oceanis 35.1.

Photo: Guido Cantini/seasee.com

This includes three uses per month, with a single ‘use’ running from 10am to 6pm or overnight – enough for a weekend per month. Other options run to seven and 15 ‘uses’ per month.

You book in advance using the Sail Time app on your phone, and higher-paying members can take a slot for free if it is still available within 36 hours of its start time. With bases across Spain, Italy, Australia and the US, its reach is fairly limited now, but new European locations are on the cards.

“There’s a lot of space for growth in Europe, and a lot of room for competition,” says Hess, although he sounds cautious about returning to the UK. “At this moment Brexit is a real factor in opening up locations in the UK.”

The model becomes really interesting for owner-members, whose boats are used by other members. They receive a good discount to list price on their new boat, and have all their berthing, insurance and maintenance costs covered. Average net earnings are around $15,000 per year for a 38-footer, plus they get guaranteed monthly usage.

A former Sail Time licensee in the UK now runs Flexisail along very similar lines, with 18 boats between Poole, the Solent and Woolverstone, near Ipswich.

Monthly membership plans start at £478 for 18 days per year on a weekday-only basis and work up to around £950 for 42 days afloat. It also organises a range of social events on and off the water, with training available.

With nine sailing boats from 32ft to 46ft LOA, Pure Latitude is another growing UK scheme, based on the Hamble. MD Ian Bartlett is planning to grow the fleet further after a surge in membership last year.

Having a little over 100 people means that “it’s very rare that there isn’t a sailing boat and a motorboat available on the pontoon,” according to Bartlett.

Monthly plans start at £200/month if you are putting yourself up to crew other boats, or £350/month if you want a boat exclusively. You earn points depending on your subscription rate, and those points can then be spent to secure time on board different boats.

At the basic £350/m rate, you could expect between eight and 12 days aboard per year. For £750/m, you could have up to 36 days aboard over the year.

“Sailboats in the mid-30 feet are the sweet spot,” says Bartlett. “We are about the quality of the boats and the locations that they’re in. We all know you can run an old Westerly on the river and row about in your tender for £3,000 per year.”

Pure Latitude has found that one of the key draws for members are its social events, which allow people to meet and sail together. It also offers a popular £650/month training membership, which includes bespoke one-on-one training days aboard, including the RYA Day Skipper practical.

Bartlett is keen to stress that membership is not just a question of paper qualifications – something for which he criticises the peer-to-peer model.

“When members join, we run a full-day interaction and assess their competence off that,” he says. “They could have been sailing for 40 years and not have a single piece of paper, or have just passed the Day Skipper the day before.”

Boat share and subscription services are attracting a younger generation of sailors

Boatbuilding behemoth Beneteau is also getting in on the act with the launch of its own Beneteau Boat Club . The company sees it as a way to get more people out on the water and build brand loyalty before they get to the stage of buying a boat themselves.

A growing network of dealer-serviced bases in France, Spain and Norway give members access to small sailing and motor boats.

Once you’ve chosen between a weekday or anytime subscription (€1,000/€1,500 per annum), there are no usage limits. Monthly charges run from €249 for a First 18, to €690 for a First 21 and an Oceanis 31.

“So far, the Beneteau Boat Club has attracted members who are younger than our average owners, mostly male,” says Beneteau’s director of communications Jean-Francois Pape.

“[They] want to enjoy boating without any hassle, and are more focused on experience than on ownership at the time when they join. One day, they want to go sailing, and the next they want to go fishing or wakeboarding on an outboard boat.”

App charter

Pulling all these strands together is the British start-up Borrow a Boat. Founder Matt Ovenden launched the company three years ago as a peer-to-peer charter company, but it has grown to include a boating club and an ownership arm.

Most of its business now comes from finding commercial charters for users, who can search and book via an app, or online.

Ovenden is convinced that his model reaches new sailors. “It is part of a societal shift we are seeing in multiple industry sectors away from longer term asset ownership, and towards quicker consumption of experiences, or access to services. This is reflected in the long-term trend away from boat ownership.”

He sees huge potential because the online model is reaching new customers. “British Marine’s Futures Project revealed that as many as one in three people want to go boating in the UK, but the industry is not currently getting close to that many people out on the water.”

Borrow a Boat’s club provides another way in to its online charter brokerage, which now lists more than 20,000 boats across 80 countries. Members pay a minimum monthly fee of £50, which they can then use to buy charter time at a discount of up to 15%.

It’s a sum that goes further than you’d think with, summer charter prices as low as £70 per day (for a First 21 in Croatia). “It’s for regular boaters who know they are going to go boating, and want to get the savings,” says Ovenden.

With charter alone worth £50 billion annually, there is plenty of scope for sales growth in this market. Boatsetter is probably the world’s largest and best known, but there are plenty of others including France’s Click&Boat .

Changing participation

Taken together, all these services add up to a much cheaper way of getting out on the water, and perhaps the results are starting to tell.

The latest research by British Marine shows that the number of 16- to 34-year-olds getting out on the water is at last starting to rise again. As commercial director Dean Smith says: “Boat sharing looks to make boating as accessible as possible to a new generation of boating fans.”

Figures published by British Marine show that although some 3.93m people took part in boating activities in 2018 – a figure only slightly lower than in 2017 – nearly half of those reported that canoeing was their main activity.

When it comes to yacht racing, a 40% nosedive in year-on-year participation has reduced the numbers taking part to just 92,000. Yacht cruising numbers have held up better at 370,000 last year, but that still represents a 17% decline on 2017.

Ownership has also declined slightly. Some 0.22% of the population owned a sailing yacht between 2016 and 2018, compared to a high of 0.26% ten years earlier. More than ever – around one in eight – are kept overseas.

“Over the past ten years there’s been an increase in small sailboat activities, while we’ve seen a small decline in sailing yacht activities,” says Dean Smith, commercial director at British Marine. “This reflects the growing desire for more accessible, flexible and affordable consumer options.”

Inside view

Mark Hammond was the first to sign up for Ancasta’s shared ownership scheme and is now one of three partners in a Beneteau Oceanis 41.1.

“I’ve been chartering for the last six years – mainly in the UK, but also in the Med. I wanted another programme with more ready access to a boat. The Ancasta scheme seemed to be the first of its particular type, and it ticked all the boxes for what I wanted to do: more regular sailing, but a stepping stone to full boat ownership in about three years’ time; knowing that all the costs were included in the management fee.”

On a three-partner basis, that fee amounts to £854 per month and covers maintenance, berthing and insurance. Just £34 of that is Ancasta’s fee. The £80,000 deposit and £1,966 monthly finance costs are also split three ways for a total monthly payment of just over £1,500. “It isn’t the cheapest option for having a boat. But if you weigh up the usage of that asset versus the cost of that asset, it works well.”

The spec of the boat was handled by Ancasta, as was the fit out – “down to the last teaspoon!” Hammond was also able to make a few personal choices in terms of equipment and sails.

He communicates with his partners via a Whatsapp group, although Ancasta’s online booking and damage reporting software means that contact can be more formalised. At present they take a ‘one week in three’ approach to divvying up time, but Hammond is hoping they can carve out some longer spells aboard and one-way trips to cruise more widely.

Photo: Nicholas Claris

Typical costs for four partners in a Beneteau Oceanis 41.1

Typical specification: £269,337.60 Deposit: £80,801.28 Deposit per partner: £20,200.32 Monthly contribution: £1,966.00 Monthly finance contribution per partner: £491.50

Berthing: £11,750.08 Insurance: £1,414.02 Winterisation ashore: £706.27 Annual engine service: £500.00 Annual boat checks & service: £1,416.00 Antifouling: £741.95 Anodes (mid-season & winter): £1,320.43 In-season monthly valet: £1,491.60 Out-of-season fortnightly washdown: £1,528.89 Hull polish: £733.99 Weekly checks: £3,432.00 Stowage solution: £1,500.00 Management fee: £1,200.00 Contingency: £3.00000

Total annual costs for boat: £30,735.23 Annual costs per partner: £7,683.81 Monthly costs per partner: £640.32

First published in the January 2020 edition of Yachting World.

This company offers ‘smart’ yacht ownership for elites who don't have time to sail year round

For 55-year old Belgian entrepreneur and sailing enthusiast Matty Zadnikar, the two best moments of his life were the day he bought his yacht and the day he sold it.

This is a common sentiment among yacht owners — while nothing beats the thrill of buying a yacht, the steep costs and effort involved involved in owning one often means they can't wait to get rid of it.

But Zadnikar is convinced he holds the answer to hassle-free and financially smart boat ownership.

Having sold his oil and gas safety services business two years prior, in 2015 Zadnikar embarked on a new kind of adventure to embrace his passion for yachting.

It is well known that yachts hemorrhage money, and based on Zadnikar's own experience, the running costs, particularly through winter, for mooring, maintenance, and crew, far outweighed the joy of owning his own boat.

So when he heard about yacht co-ownership in the US, he identified a gap in the European market. He came across SeaNet, which was the third largest business offering the concept at that time.

Mike Costa, who founded the American-based SeaNet, wanted his own yacht, but realised he wouldn't be able to spend enough time on it to justify the extortionate investment. So, inspired by the likes of private jet company NetJets which was witnessing unprecedented growth, he came up with the idea of fractional yacht ownership. 12 years later, the company manages a fleet of 20 yachts.

SeaNet's concept is simple — up to four co-owners can enjoy the benefits of owning a yacht while splitting the cost of the vessel and its management. It's what Zadnikar and his business development director Raf Breuls, a fellow Belgian, are calling "smart ownership."

"I can guarantee the average yacht user uses their boat for just a few weeks each year but must pay for year-round mooring fees, maintenance costs, insurance, crew, and winter storage,"  Zadnikar says.

Smart ownership, he says, provides the opportunity of owning without incurring the excessive costs associated with being the sole owner.

SeaNet offers owners shares of 25%, 33%, 50%, or 75% of four Benetti luxury yachts, ranging from 28.5 metres to 40.24 metres, in five European moorings.

Four is the absolute maximum number of co-owners for this model to work, Zadnikar says, in order for there to be adequate flexibility for use during the peak summer months of July and August.

He said that people have tried and failed to bring the co-ownership model to Europe beacuse shares were divided up among too many participants, with as many as eight co-owners per boat.

Zadnikar prides himself on being "transparent" with his clients about the cost of running a yacht.

All joining fees and running costs are calaculated in correlation to the size of their share. The smallest share (25%) of a Benetti Delfino 95', for example, costs €2.4 million in joining fee, plus annual costs of roughly €125,000 depending on the size and location of the yacht. This price includes the build, supervision and coordination, owner supply, jet tender, luxury day boat, trailer, and all fees and VAT.

For context, according to SeaNet figures, full ownership of this model would cost around €9.7 million to purchase, excluding the extras listed above, plus estimated annual running costs of €500,000.

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The larger your ownership percentage, the more weeks you are entitled to aboard, and more importantly, the more peak time you get.

So, for 25% share you get seven weeks on board (including two weeks during high season), while for 75% you get 21 weeks in total, and six weeks of prime time.

However, Zadnikar is adamant that the entrepreneurs with the spare cash to buy these stakes are unlikely to have the time to spend more than the seven-week allocation that a quarter ownership offers.

The attraction of buying a bigger chunk, he says, is the peak season preference and the privilege of picking out the interior design of the vessel.

Dates are decided upon via an equal reservation system well in advance of the Mediterranean sailing season which kicks off in April. The first co-owner who signs up to SeaNet becomes "A" in the rotation, the second person "B," and so on during the first year. The next year, the co-owner who was "A" and had first choice becomes "D," Those who own a 50% share get priority in high season.

All co-owners get to pick their own soft furnishings for use during their time aboard. This includes bed linen, cushions, vases, art, tableware, cutlery, as well as family photos, wardrobes, toiletries, and wine and spirit collections to make it a "home from home." SeaNet rent containers at various marinas to store the items.

And just like sole ownership, co-owners can also charter their yacht for their weeks when they are not using it themselves, which SeaNet also offers to manage for them. Co-owners are responsible for the cost of fuel, food and drink, and transit port fees.

Even in the age of the sharing economy, Zadnikar concedes it's not an easy task he has of persuading millionaires to buy "part" of a boat. He adds that the US and European sailing communities differ in certain ways.

In his opinion, yachters in the US and Caribbean are genuinely interested in sailing, while their European counterparts are more motivated by the glitz and glamour of luxury destinations such as St Tropez.

"Quite often, in Europe, those who love to spend their time on yachts enjoy going to the Côte d'Azur for a more jet-set lifestyle as opposed to going to Croatia where the sailing is superior," he says.

If the scene is more focused on the materialistic aspect of owning a yacht, the SeaNet business model could be a harder sell for Zadnikar in Europe.

But he points that co-owners don't necessarily have to disclose that they have only purchased a share of the boat, and everyone will be none the wiser. In fact, he has one client who has done just that.

He is also all too aware of the negative connotations associated with timeshares, but argues that SeaNet is different. Under the terms of the sale, the buyers become the legal owners of the yachts, which are all registered in Malta.

SeaNet's main selling point, according to both Breuls and Zadnikar, is the comprehensive concierge offering, from the recruitment of crew (who, he adds, are all on rotation which makes for a happy ship), to the logistics of your sailing route, down to the crew being briefed on your favourite tipple.

The aim is to make the trip "seamless," and for his clients "to be able to sail around the Mediterranean with the piece of mind that they have made a smart financial decision."

Co-owners can sell their shares whenever they like, but Zadnikar says that as with most large investments, most people will have the yacht for at least three years before considering selling their stake.

When an owner wants to sell, they must enter a process of offering first right of refusal to the other shareholders, which lasts for two years. If the owners turn it down, and if after five years the owner cannot sell their share, the entire vessel goes up for sale.

For now, shareholders are limited geographically, as each boat is confined to its particular mooring, but Zadnikar envisages that as the business grows, it will eventually be possible for co-owners to swap weeks with other owners to experience different European sailing destinations.

So far, SeaNet has only sold one share on a yacht in Croatia, and says it has lined up four potential buyers who are actively seeking yachts in France, namely the Côte d'Azur.

However, according to  Zadnikar, it  took Costa three years before his business started taking off in the US, and he's convinced — and confident — that his business model will mean success in Europe.

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Why Owning a Boat is So Yesterday – Introducing Europe’s Leading Fractional Yacht Ownership Programme

Do you love to indulge in the luxury lifestyle, and have often contemplated the idea of navigating the waters as captain of your own boat then before you proceed to make any decision, listen up.

Nowadays it no longer makes sense to own your private yacht. As attractive as the prospect of being a boat owner sounds, it is a well-known reality that the setbacks far outweigh the positives. New yacht owners often find out that the idyllic notion of calling a boat their own comes with great responsibility. Firstly, it’s expensive to start up and run; and you’ll soon discover what a time-consuming commitment it can be. And not only will you end up spending most of your limited free time tending to the boat; when you actually decide it’s time to regain your freedom and opt to sell, the rapid boat depreciation value rate means you won’t get much return on your initial investment.

So what solutions do exist? You may never have given it much thought, but fractional yacht ownership may well be the perfect option for the contemporary prospective yacht owner, and has become the current trend among those wishing to make a sound investment.

Hailed as “Europe’s most successful fractional yacht ownership programme”, Azure Ultra offers the uniquely smart option of co-owning a luxury Sunseeker yacht at a fraction of the cost of going it solo. Its revolutionary fractional concept has been designed to offer a fantastic range of opportunities for experiencing the high life while taking all the hassle out of yacht ownership.

How does it do this? Azure Ultra ensures that you only buy the time you actually spend on board, while sharing the yacht purchase price, upkeep and maintenance expenses with other co-owners. This has the twofold advantage of keeping the costs of ownership low and one’s on-board experience stress-free. Moreover, the Azure Ultra programme completes the luxury boating lifestyle with exclusive five-star VIP on-board treatment, with its top-class yacht management team to take care of all the finer details on the owners’ behalf.

Quickly gaining a reputation as the leading European specialist in fractional yacht ownership, Azure Ultra recently made its first official appearance on the local boating scene during the hugely attended 2015 Valletta Boat Show edition. The brand’s stylish stand design and stunning fleet of Sunseekers certainly piqued the curiosity of numerous visitors over the boat show weekend. This popular annual event served to establish the brand’s unique offering in the Maltese market, with its innovative co-ownership concept immediately generating interest among passionate boaters and enthusiasts alike.

For more information about the options that the Azure Ultra programme can offer you, contact one of our fractional yacht ownership specialists who will be happy to assist you with any of your queries.

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Matty Zadnikar: A Fraction of Paradise

Fractional ownership of a yacht is well established in the US, how to make it successful in Europe explains the CEO of SeaNet Europe Matty Zadnikar, with his first yacht moored in Split, Croatia

During the Düsseldorf Boat Show in January we saw the launch of SeaNet, a new business platform for fractional ownership of yachts. The new company has a great position as the owner Mr. Matty Zadnikar bought the new Benetti Delfino 93’ in 2015 and started promoting his new business not only as an entrepreneur, but also as a yacht owner and one of the members of the fractional ownership club. Furthermore, their activities have continued in Croatia , the yacht is moored in Split where they do a series of presentations for potential clients, showing them what ownership of the yacht would look like. We took the opportunity to speak with Mr. Zadnikar about the project that has shiny plans for the future, including positioning other new yachts in Sardinia, Balearic and Northern Italy.

You started the promotion of the concept and SeaNet brand in Düsseldorf, but that is far from what you really do. For me I think that you have to be at the ‘ Düsseldorf’s of the world’, we will be present in Cannes with the yacht at the boat show and you also need to have a very attractive internet platform so when people are looking for a new yacht, you must stand out. But I am now, more and more thinking about the markets where there are wealthy people, who at this moment, are simply not attracted to yachts. They think it is too expensive. With our concept it is really easy to start with yachting for newcomers. That is our huge chance to open a complete new segment of clients but it is not easy and will take time and a lot of endurance.

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You provide unique presentations of the project? I want to give people the experience first, before I sell. They need to be on board for two days, to feel the service on board, so we can present them our concept in a real live environment. I’m planning to keep a minimum of 25% shares in our first four yachts in Europe. By doing this I will have my own showrooms on the water to attract and present our concept towards potential clients. When you want to see the yacht you have bought, you have to wait to see it physically. It is very strange for a multi-million-dollar experience that you don’t have a real chance to test it and to feel it. I want to change that and the experience we offer is completely different, we sell enjoyment.

You are now looking for new owners? At this moment we already have two owners in our first yacht but still 50% shares are open for sale during this season. In our concept the maximum number of owners for one yacht is four. This new possibility to only purchase 25% ownership in a yacht of this size and class opens access to high end luxury yachting for many more people.

Who is your best client today? There are tree high potential client groups. The first one are newcomers who don’t want to pay a high price for entering into yachting. The second one are those who have already been sailing for years with 50, 60 or 70 footers and are dreaming of a larger yacht. From the moment you want to grow, you are confronted with much higher running costs and more necessary personnel and management of the yacht becomes much complexer. When you look at this group of people that would jump from 70 to 95 or 100-foot yacht, this jump means millions in Euro’s. The gap in money is huge, not only in purchase price, but also in running costs. This could be a very interesting opportunity for this group, instead of spending upwards of 7, 8, 9 million and having very expensive running costs, they could have the same experience for 2.5 million – which is still in their price range and what they are used to paying, yet they get to have the same fun. And the third group are all experienced charter clients who after years of chartering want to move to their own ‘personal’ yacht.

What if somebody wants to exit the ownership? It is very easy; the ownership title is free for sale. You only have to send a pre-notice to the other owners 30 days in advance. If you want to get out, you simply need to write an official letter to SeaNet saying you want to sell your share; 30 days after the postal stamp date you are fully free to sell, but the other owners have the opportunity to buy first. If they say no or don’t react, you are free to sell. If you can’t sell your share within the first three years, you can offer your shares again to the other owners. If they still say no, the full yacht has to go to market – that is a protection for the owner, so he is not going to be stuck with the yacht for the rest of his life. We only go for new yachts, or maximum two years old, as we want to have an attractive, highly branded new fleet. Size wise we start from 90 foot up to a maximum of 140’.

You already have a strong position in the USA? I own 50% of SeaNet Inc. in the US, where this business started 12 years ago. If we look at them, though I don’t want to compare ‘one on one’ the US mentality to European mentality, but in America about 50% of people step out after five years and another 50% upgrades to a larger size. The average age of the yachts in the US is 5.5 years. At the moment we also help our owners and play as brokers for them.

How did you decide for this way of business? For me it was very simple, I am a fanatic yacht owner myself and I spent a lot of time on my own yachts the last 20 years. What I noticed, speaking with other owners in the marinas were the same three things. They all have the same passion for the sea, that is positive; however, the first negative aspect is the money you pay for the yacht, 50% of it is simply gone once you do it. If you don’t have that mentality, don’t step into yachting . The frustration comes from the fact you use it the most during the first year, which often means five to six weeks, but from the second year onwards, it is used much less and the ratio of the running costs versus the time spent on board is poor. And every month you still need to pay the invoices. The second thing is the fact that owners want to escape from their management job, from their companies, problems, discussions, boards… When they come on the yacht, captain says – now you are on board and I have to do this and that… – and they have to manage the yacht. The third thing is the rotation of the crew, there is a huge percentage of changes, you just get used to crew and then they change. I started thinking about those three points. At the end of 2015, I said to myself – why not make a business out of this from the owner’s perspective: reduce the purchase price, reduce the running costs – giving the maximum experience of the high-end service and do the complete management of the yacht. I did research on the European market and very quickly noticed that there is almost nothing in the sizes between 28 and 40 meters. But then I went to the States and there were around 50 companies of shared ownership. I visited all of them, spoke with their managers and SeaNet is number three in America with 24 yachts. I ‘clicked’ very well with the owner and eventually I became a 50% owner of SeaNet USA. I didn’t want to start from scratch, now I have the SeaNet label and more importantly, know-how. In America, context of liability is very important and I used their contract base, rewrote it for the European laws and launched the brand during Düsseldorf Boat Show.

SeaNet also became a part of your lifestyle? For me this is a hobby that could become a profession. My intention is in the first 3 to 5 years to have as quickly as possible – multiple yachts on the market. One of the huge advantages of fractional ownership , is that once you are an owner, you can swap with owners on other yachts, not only in Europe, but also in the States. I already have three weeks in America, in Bahamas and Caribbean and this simply costs me zero, we just swap time.

You move quite fast? I am very crazy about yachts, but I will not buy five of them. I said to myself I would buy my own yacht, very popular top brand as Benetti Delfino is, and use it as a test case. Immediately we had interested clients and we could close one deal, so 25% of this yacht is sold. But the question for me was – was this just a lucky shot, or is this something that I can continue to do and effectively market? From the moment I sell shares on this yacht, I will invest in a new one. That means I will look for the two fractions to be paid and I will do the other 50% of the investment. As an entrepreneur it seems ridiculous to own your own yacht if you think about it, you only spend 6 weeks on board, so it just doesn’t make sense. I will keep 25% of the first four yachts. This one will stay in Croatia, we will have one in Sardinia, one in Mallorca, one in Luano. It is much more enjoyable when you are able to say to your wife – where are we going? To Croatia, or Baleari or Italy… Then I get to go on my yacht where I know the service and the quality. And I am not speaking merely as broker, but also as an owner; I want my yacht to be in the best shape because it is my investment too.

Why did you start with Croatia? Because I am crazy about Croatia. My father is Slovenian, but all my childhood we spent summers in Croatia, I like it a lot. I started boating when I was 12 with a small Zodiac, then 18- footer, then 25-footer and 37’, 58’, 60’, 72’… I have always been around boats and when you have been sailing once in Croatia, that is it. I have seen the whole of Europe, the whole of the Med – except Greece, yet when you enter back in to Croatia, for me it is a completely different world, incomparable. Here I can sail very little time to get from one beautiful spot to the next, each location is unique with a variety of small islands, villages and restaurants all close-by. The second thing that speaks in Croatia’s favor is the mentality of the people, they are incredibly friendly and open. I will always spend a lot of time in Croatia; it is nice to spend a weekend in Sardinia or Palma, but I will always return to Croatia.

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