The charter market only functions in its current form because thousands of private owners leave their boats to a fleet operator. Only a fraction of the yachts in the bases belong to the charter companies themselves - exceptions prove the rule. Nevertheless, the reputation of buy-charter models in the sailing community is rather poor, to put it politely. Common prejudices are that third parties ruin their own boats and only the charter companies make money. Black sheep in the industry repeatedly leave behind a lot of scorched earth with spectacular bankruptcies, such as Ecker Yachting recently. In reality, however, a whole range of owners appreciate the fact that their boat does not incur any costs, that they do not have to worry about it or do any work themselves and that they can charter other ships all over the world in exchange for their investment.
You can now read an overview of the most common purchase charter models, the advantages and disadvantages, the risks and what you should definitely look out for in the new YACHT, issue 5/2014.
