Purchase price is the beginning, not the cost. An honest look at what a sailing yacht costs to run, year after year.
The purchase price is the easiest number to know and the least important to understand. What matters — and what too few buyers are told plainly — is what a yacht costs to run, every year, for as long as you own her.
The most useful rule of thumb in yachting is this: annual running costs tend to fall around ten percent of a yacht’s value per year. A yacht worth five million euros will typically cost in the region of half a million a year to run. It is a generalisation, and it varies with size, age, use and how she is kept — but as a planning figure, it has held true for a long time.
A yacht is not an investment. It is an asset that costs money to enjoy. The owners who are happiest are the ones who understood that clearly before they bought — and budgeted for the running costs, not just the purchase.
| Crew | On a crewed yacht, usually the single largest cost — salaries, rotation, training, and provisioning. Scales steeply with size. |
| Berthing & marina | A home berth plus dockage as you cruise. Prime Mediterranean ports in season command premium rates. |
| Insurance | Broadly in the region of one percent of hull value per year, varying with cruising area, age and use. |
| Maintenance & refit | Routine annual servicing, plus the larger periodic refits — the haul-outs, rig checks and system overhauls that come every few years. |
| Sails & rigging | Specific to sailing yachts — sails wear, and standing rigging is typically replaced around every ten years. Neither is inexpensive. |
| Fuel, dockage & provisioning | Variable with use. Sailing yachts are gentler on fuel than motor yachts, but the saving is smaller than many expect once you account for generators and motoring. |
The most expensive thing an owner can do is defer maintenance. A yacht that is not properly kept loses value faster than the savings, and a poor maintenance record is the first thing a future buyer’s surveyor will find. Disciplined ownership is not just good seamanship — it protects the asset.
A sailing yacht can be more economical to run than a motor yacht of similar size, chiefly on fuel. But she carries her own costs — sails, rigging, and often a similar crew requirement. The economics are closer than the romance suggests; choose a sailing yacht because you want to sail, not because you expect it to be cheap.
Tell us the yacht or the size you have in mind, and we’ll give you a grounded view of what she would cost to run — and connect you with managers who do this for a living.
Ask us about running costs