MORE BOAT LESS STRESS
‘We want to give people the ability to get on the water without the hassle’
Traditional boat ownership is broken and outdated.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.
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) 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.
