Looking to purchase a luxury sailing yacht? Then, scroll down to discover more…
As we continue to emerge from the Covid pandemic, the desire to get afloat is stronger than ever. From stand-up paddle boards to high-spec inflatables and from jet skis to sailing dinghies and deluxe cabin cruisers, the marine industry is seeing a scale of demand that fully reflects people’s appetite for escape.
But while there is undoubtedly pleasure to be had in watching the seascapes roll by while the owner hogs the helm, part of the allure of sailing on a yacht is doing your bit. Modern family boaters want sailing between destinations to be an active and inclusive activity, and no form of marine recreation satisfies that impulse better than a sailing yacht.
Back in the 1950s, even a mid-sized family yacht would have been basic – so basic in fact that it might have discouraged even committed family members from getting involved. A modern luxury sailing yacht, however, can come with a range of home comforts as standard. You can expect Internet access, flushing loos, central heating and separate cabins for the various generations of your family. But as part of that trend for increased luxury and user-friendliness, modern yacht builders have developed such a bewildering range of boats and layout options that the buying process can seem daunting. So if you’re interested in buying the perfect sailing yacht, it’s best to simplify the process by starting with a few key questions.
The first and most important question is ‘What do you want to do with your sailing boat?’ Are you and your crew going to be happy to use the boat as a floating home-from-home, with a cruising itinerary defined by short, coastal trips? Or do your collective ambitions tend to encompass far flung destinations? If you know the answer, that’s a great start, but if you can’t quite pin down a preferred form of recreation, there are now a variety of superb UK sailing yachts for sale, both as new and recent pre-owned purchases, that will perform admirably in both roles.
A brand that has managed to blend premium cruising luxury with race-winning performance is Danish builder, X-Yachts. They have recognised that one size does not fit all and to help cater for that, they offer a clever route into boat ownership that allows prospective owners to customise the interior layouts to meet their own unique needs. For those keen on a mixed diet of family boating, comfortable cruising and longer passages, it’s an outstanding fleet of luxury sailing yachts.
If you think your lifestyle would benefit from a more stable platform with extra space for friends or a growing family, the luxury yacht charter industry has helped drive the emergence of some superb new cruising multihulls.
That said, if you want a boat that can provide real ‘blue water’ capability as well as comfortable coastal cruising, Swedish builder, Hallberg-Rassy is a great option. While it has nearly 50 years of experience producing boats that capture the best of Nordic styling, both in terms of the hull and the interior layout, there is another dimension to the Hallberg-Rassy story. Their thinking is driven by the long-held belief that there is no need to be soaking wet to enjoy sailing – and this approach has seen them develop a range of yachts that look and feel very distinctive.
In between all of these wonderful examples of the boatbuilding art, the world’s three largest boatbuilders have dominated the market by keeping their boats very much in step with the changing demands of sailors. Bavaria from Germany and Beneteau & Jeanneau from France combine nautical know-how with industrial might in a way that brings some clever designs and some great value sailing yachts to the table. In its Oceanis 35.1 in particular, Beneteau has worked wonders by producing a sailing yacht that offers three double cabins in a hull of less than 36 feet in length. And the wonderful part of all this is that, with these three brands being so prolific, the used market now offers a level of choice, value and sailing flexibility that we have rarely seen before.
