Luxury
yacht
The
term luxury yacht refers to a very expensive privately owned yacht which
is professionally crewed. 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. Examples of
early luxury motor yachts include M/Y (motor yacht) Christina Oand M/Y Savarona.
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.www.Luxury-Yachts-Sailing.uv.ro
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. Luxury boat building and yacht
charter companies are predominantly based in the United
States and Western Europe but are also increasingly found
in Australasia, Asia and Eastern Europe.
European manufacturers such as Azimut-Benetti and Lurssen dominate the very top
end of the yacht building market. 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 metres (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 metres (98 feet) and up yachts are almost always crewed. A 45 to
50 metres (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. The
accommodation on this type of yacht is typically as follows:www.Luxury-Yachts-Sailing.uv.ro
- Lower deck: exterior swimming
platform at the stern; four (sometimes five) guest cabins with en-suite
bath or shower rooms aft; engine room amidships; crew quarters forward.
- Main deck: sheltered exterior deck
aft leading into the salon; dining room and galley; entrance amidships;
owner's suite forward, usually includes either a study or a second twin
stateroom.
- Upper deck: exterior deck aft, often
used for outdoor dining; second salon (often called the sky lounge);
staffed bar inside or outside or both; sixth stateroom will be amidships
if it is not on the lower deck or part of the owner's suite; gym (may also
be on the lower deck or part of the owner's suite); captain's cabin;
bridge.
- Sun deck: on the roof of the upper
deck, often features a jacuzzi.
A 50
metre yacht will have one or more luxury yacht 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 boat. Up to date yachts have
multiple flat screen televisions and satellite communications.
The number
of really large yachts has increased rapidly since the 1990s and increasingly
only yachts above around 65 metres (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
most 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. 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 metre yacht will include some or all of indoor
jacuzzis, 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 metre
yacht.
As of 2006 yachts above 100 metres (328 feet) are still sufficiently
rare that many yacht enthusiasts can name them all. They typically have five
decks above the water line and two below. The very largest yachts have begun to
incorporate such features as helicopter hangers, indoor swimming pools and
miniature submarines. The burgeoning number of "small" super yachts
has led to the introduction of the hyperbolic terms mega-yacht and giga-yacht
to demarcate the elite among luxury yachts.www.Luxury-Yachts-Sailing.uv.ro
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