::Le Mag Group:: A life on the ocean waves

A life on the ocean waves, Sep 03

Living so near to the coast, no doubt many of us have dreamt of spending our weekends and holidays on a yacht in the Mediterranean, sailing from place to place and discovering France and Spain in the summer months - without the traffic jams!

However, sailing can be an expensive pastime and most people are put off the idea by what they consider would be a prohibitive cost. To get a boat you need a berth, which could mean years on a waiting list and even then the lease could cost anything up to €70,000 depending on the size of the boat.
You also have to have to acquire the boat of course. You would be hard pressed to find a new 40 foot sailboat for less than €100,000 and there is no limit on the upper price, determined by factors such as size, quality of build and the technology included. Buying second-hand is an option but you generally get what you pay for.
Like cars, boats depreciate and but unlike cars, most boats are generally used for less than 8 weeks a year. It is therefore, an expensive pastime and quite a financial commitment unless you can defray some of the costs.
Ex-pat Irishman Paul Tully is trying a novel approach – a yacht share scheme. He has acquired a thirty-year lease on a berth on the Côte Vermeille and is now in the process of buying a yacht. He plans to defray the cost by sharing the use of it with a small group of other people. Each sharer will pay an annual fee to cover outgoings such as the cost of the berth, depreciation of the boat, maintenance and renewals.
Paul Tully says “Each sharer has the opportunity to use the boat for up to 8 weeks a year but without the huge financial commitment of boat ownership and without the hassle of care taking and maintenance. They can organise their own crew or sail with some of the other sharers.”
I was in a yacht share operated on this basis in the Solent for years and it works well. It makes yachting accessible and more affordable for all.”
The berth is located just metres away from a beach and resort with restaurants, shops and nightlife but Paul plans on taking the boat to other places from time to time so that the sharers can get experience of different cruising grounds. He says“ I am flexible. It depends on where the sharers would like to go. There are fantastic destinations along the Gulfe du Lion and the Spanish coast and then there is Sicily, Corsica and the Balearics, all just two days sailing away.”
If you are interested in finding out more about the Yacht share scheme, please contact Paul Tully at tully@live.com