We are sailing

It's not as difficult as you might think to set sail onboard the world's most magnificent yachts. Claire Coleman finds out how to mess about on boats without winding up bankrupt

Sailing, a cynic might say, is akin to standing under a cold shower, wearing a pair of roller skates, trying to thread and unthread the shower curtain while ripping up £50 notes. And in some ways such a cynic has a point. But they would probably never have had the chance to laze aboard a fully crewed luxury motor yacht, sipping champagne on the sundeck while lazily casting an eye over the sun-drenched waters of the Caribbean. And, until recently, unless you were a billionaire, neither would you.

Because one thing the cynic has got right is the prohibitive price of buying a boat. With the new breed of superyacht costing up to £800,000 per square metre, and annual running costs in the region of 10 per cent of the purchase price, owning a boat isn't for the financially squeamish.

But you don't need to be Bill Gates or Sir Philip Green to own a yacht. For those who are still making their first millions, there are several ways to taste luxury on the ocean without resorting to stowing away in the hold or applying for a job as a cabin boy. From the sailing equivalent of timeshare schemes to old-fashioned charters, there are several more affordable ways to get onboard.

But before you get carried away with fantasies about a P. Diddy or Paul Allen lifestyle, there are a few things you should know. Although everyone talks about sailing, when it comes to superyachts, there tend to be fewer sails and more motors. In fact, according to yacht brokers Camper & Nicholsons, only about 20 per cent of yachts are actually sailboats. And, if you're entertaining any Swallows and Amazons-style childhood dreams, think again. While there are lots of specialist companies offering opportunities to get down and dirty splicing the mainbrace, at this end of the market, it's all about fully crewed boats.

The number of friends you want to take with you is also important. A 40m yacht might appear to have space for you, your family and an entire football team, but if there are more than 12 passengers onboard a charter, it's officially classified as a commercial vehicle, and needs to conform to more stringent crewing and safety regulations.

Now you've got the hang of the basics, here are three ways you can grab a slice of the superyacht action.

Share the benefits, split the burden
Over the past few years, fractional-ownership schemes have been multiplying in the world of sailing. A word of warning though: co-owning a boat is not for everyone. Some insist that a boat is such an emotive item, deciding on how to decorate it, let alone where to moor it and who should crew it, causes too many disputes. You may get on well initially with your co-owners, but disagreements can flare up easily.

Still, it remains an attractive prospect for some wannabe yachtsmen, and this kind of scheme has some clear advantages. If you work full time, the likelihood of being able to spend any significant amount of time onboard your investment is slim. Which, when you consider mooring fees, crewing costs and maintenance, means paying a lot of cash for a couple of holidays a year and the kudos of owning a yacht. What's more, with fractional ownership, running costs are shared, which means the financial burden of paying for the yacht when you're not using it is reduced.

Most schemes share similar attributes— co-owners usually pay a fixed fee at the start and then an annual fee that entitles them to a certain number of days onboard. After an agreed term, the boat is sold off and the proceeds split between the members. But different companies operate in slightly different ways so shop around for a format that suits you. Some structure things so you're a shareholder rather than an owner, meaning there's a management group that makes decisions about the boat, avoiding any intra-owner conflict. Other companies offset your costs by chartering out the boat when it's not being used by any of the owners.

If you're a design junkie, you'll love YachtPlus. The first of its 10 superyachts is due to be launched at the Monaco Yacht Show in September and has been designed by architect Norman Foster. It's a 41m, four-deck boat, boasting five suites for up to 12 guests, who will be looked after by a permanent crew of seven. Each boat will be fractionally owned by eight people, and an initial payment of about £1.48m and annual costs of about £200,000 will get you 30 full days per year onboard, including 10 days peak season in the Mediterranean and the same in the Caribbean. The contract period is for eight years, after which time the yachts will be sold and the owners will split the proceeds from the sale.

According to Keith Smith, founder of yacht brokers Eusamarine, it's important to recognise that different types of owners need different types of fractional schemes. "We run three distinct models that take into account how much you want to spend and how much involvement you want in the running of the yacht," he says. Its Sapphire scheme, for example, allows eight owners to buy into a single boat. The cost is split between the owners and varies depending on the size of boat—you'll pay from about £80,000 for an eighth share in an 18m boat, and around £800,000 for a share in a 35m boat. Then there's a membership fee that starts at about £20,000 for an 18m boat, and an annual management fee that also starts at about £20,000. "However," points out Smith, "the idea is that these management and maintenance fees are offset by the revenue generated from chartering out the boat when the owners don't want to use it." It might sound complicated, but the end result is that you get to spend five weeks a year at sea. And you're not tied to one boat-you get access to a global fleet of around 10 yachts of a similar size to your own.

Club class
These days, yacht clubs are not places where you congregate at the end of the day to discuss your adventures in the briny. Instead, they're collectives that work in a slightly cheaper way to fractional ownership. You might recognise it as a timeshare model-or as the clubs would prefer to call it, the club model, given the negative connotations of the word timeshare. Members usually pay a sign-up fee and an annual membership fee, which entitles you to a set number of days onboard. Unlike fractional ownership, you don't actually own anything; it's more like being the member of a country club and being entitled to use its facilities.

Some of the biggest boats work a bit like floating hotels. The Whistlejacket Club is a group of up to 175 people who all rather fancy the idea of spending time on a 26-berth, 74m motor yacht. The initial membership cost of £170,000 (refundable should you decide to leave) and an annual fee of £9,000 will get you 10 all-inclusive nights onboard for two people each year. If you want more nights, or want to invite family and friends, you can do so at a cost of £900 per double cabin per night. It's a new organisation, hoping to be afloat in late 2009, and it plans to cruise the Mediterranean, with occasional forays to north-west Europe, the Baltic, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.

PrivatSea, meanwhile, is an invitation-only members club with a fleet of 83 superyachts bobbing around the world—from Alaska and Costa Rica to Italy and the Côte d'Azur, and pretty much everywhere in between. Once you've paid your joining fee of around £9,500, the people at PrivatSea will help you choose your yachting destination, and organise a private jet for getting there, a luxury villa to relax in before you step aboard, and access to sports and social clubs around the world.

On top of the joining fee, members have to pay the costs for their trips, which makes PrivatSea sound like a cross between a yacht-chartering company and a top-end concierge service. But communications manager Luisa Norfolk says that the company's relationship with the boat owners makes their rates competitive. "In some cases we can often negotiate significant discounts that other agents might not be able to," she says.

Citizen's charter
The traditional way of getting your hands on a superyacht is to charter one—the floating equivalent of renting a villa. While there are various ways in which you can charter a boat—including going directly to the owner-most superyachts are chartered through brokerage houses.
You tell them where and when you want to go, and how many people you want to take, and they provide you with a list of options. The biggest players in this market include Camper & Nicholsons, Burgess and Fraser Yachts.

"Many of our clients know exactly which boats they want, but if they don't, we can advise them on what would best suit their needs," explains Miriam Cain of Camper & Nicholsons, which manages a fleet of 120 yachts worldwide.

It's important to plan well in advance though, especially if you want to berth in the most stylish ports. "Some of the most popular yachts can be booked up a year in advance at peak times," says Cain. "Even if the yacht's not booked up, finding berthings in St Tropez in July and August can be just as tricky."

The price, of course, depends on your ambitions. If you fancy a week cruising the Med aboard the legendary Christina O—the 99m megayacht that used to belong to shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis—Camper & Nicholsons charges about £365,000 for you and 35 of your closest friends. At the more modest end of the spectrum, you could take to the seas in the 25m Ajao, which sleeps eight, for £19,000 a week.