{"id":138057,"date":"2022-04-22T06:30:25","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T05:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=138057"},"modified":"2022-10-26T10:50:03","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T09:50:03","slug":"buying-a-high-latitudes-yacht","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/bluewater-sailing\/buying-a-high-latitudes-yacht-138057","title":{"rendered":"Second hand yachts: Buying a high latitudes yacht"},"content":"It\u2019s no secret that if you want to buy a new yacht the wait is now likely to be two years or more. But what if you don\u2019t want to take on a refit and want to get on the water quickly? There is no simple answer, but casting the net wider, and working closely with brokers that know what you are looking for, are both crucial if you want to find a ready to sail yacht.\r\n\r\nLike most brokerage businesses, Ancasta had an unusual 2021. Roger Bailey heads up their Sotogrande office. \u201cWe sold boats like never before, which was great, but it is now harder than ever to match clients with what they want. Under the \u00a3200,000 mark there\u2019s not much that\u2019s of good quality and ready to go.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn highest demand are second hand yachts<\/a> suited to living aboard and bluewater cruising<\/a> and, despite the relatively high entry price, multihull<\/a> demand is particularly strong.\r\n\r\n\u201cClients now land here in Spain on a mission to do a deal, rather than speculate about something they might want to buy. The market remains very active, but faster moving transactions tend to be much less protracted. It is worth outlining to us what your position is and what you are looking for early, even if you don\u2019t see a listing that\u2019s suitable,\u201d explains Bailey.\r\n

A rare species<\/h2>\r\nYachts returning to the market after less than a year of use might draw suspicion. However, more than often it is simply due to an owner\u2019s change of circumstances and happens quite a lot, particularly with yachts of a higher value.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_136727\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Modern cruising catamarans, such as this Nautitech have become hard to find on the used market. Photo: Ancasta[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAt the time of going to press Roger Bailey\u2019s office has a Nautitech 46 Fly listed. Less than a year old, used by one owner and in turnkey condition: it\u2019s a rare multihull prospect in today\u2019s rapidly moving market. \u201cWith new build Nautitech waiting lists well over two years, possibly three, this is a unique opportunity for someone that wants to buy a catamaran already positioned in the Mediterranean. In fact, the starboard cabins on this 46 have never been used! It is also the owners hull version, making it ideal for living aboard comfortably without compromise,\u201d he says.\r\n\r\n\u201cAt present it is set up for Mediterranean cruising, but a long-term cruiser could easily add a watermaker<\/a> and possibly air conditioning if they wanted.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe 46 Fly is likely to sell for close to the new price and comes with many of the benefits of a new yacht, including the factory warranty from Nautitech.\r\n

Closer to home<\/h2>\r\nRupert Knox-Johnston, senior broker at Oyster, has seen how demand for yachts based on lifestyle changes has driven sales at a high price point, with many first-time buyers coming to the market even in this sector.\r\n\r\n\u201cDue to how most Oysters are used for bluewater sailing, maintenance standards are generally kept very high, many [yachts] we list on behalf of owners are ready to go on another big adventure straight away.\r\n\r\n\u201cThough there is a significant gap between new build Oyster prices and used, we have seen buyers at every size of yacht in the used market recently. We sold one Oyster 82 sight unseen recently, something I have not seen before with such a large yacht. Where a good yacht isn\u2019t selling, it tends to be because it is hard to view or to survey, generally due to travel restrictions. However, yachts we sell do sometimes end up back in the UK for listing.\u201d\r\n\r\nRupert currently has a rare 2015 Oyster 545<\/a> listed located on the east coast of the UK for \u00a3849,000 (ex VAT). Lightly used by bluewater standards and capable of fast passagemaking, it too has a price reflecting market demand, but has recently been reduced.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe 545 is based on the successful 54 hull, but with an updated look and more modern systems. She\u2019s an ideal yacht for a couple to double-hand or a family, with electric reefing systems. Her current owners undertook two Atlantic crossings and cruised the US east coast and Caribbean. She\u2019s ready to go again and has been beautifully maintained,\u201d explains Rupert.\r\n

A global perspective<\/h2>\r\nFor some models of yachts that are built in limited numbers, their scarcity can quickly turn the search global. While Australia and New Zealand remain particularly cautious about admitting visitors, they are also locations where yachts often end up at the end of a tradewind<\/a> adventure. With the passage back to Europe adding serious wear and tear, or the alternative being the additional cost of shipping, many owners choose instead to fly home, listing their yachts for sale in Sydney or Auckland.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_136720\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Sydney is a major port, making shipping to Europe relatively easy. Photo: Matt Cumming\/Nautor\u2019s Swan[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThis means that yacht buyers<\/a> in Europe can broaden their search to the other side of the world but will have to bear the cost of shipping back to Europe \u2013 something that could still be worth it to get the right yacht.\r\n\r\nWith some yacht builders bringing new designs out quite regularly, demonstrator yachts are often not needed for very long and are kept in perfect order. Usually heavily specified on the options list, and with neutral design choices, they can make a great shortcut to a new yacht that hasn\u2019t been heavily altered for a specific owner.\r\n\r\nUK Nautor\u2019s Swan dealer and service centre, Vortec Marine, currently has a new 2020 Swan 48 demonstrator with factory warranty available for \u00a31,063,710 (ex VAT). The only catch? It\u2019s located in Australia.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe new model Swan 48 has been hugely popular since launch and this is one that\u2019s basically unused. You could go sailing in the southern hemisphere straight away or, alternatively, have her shipped back to Europe. Either way it is likely to be the quickest way to get hold of a 48 in the current market,\u201d explains Vortec\u2019s managing director, Ross Collingwood.\r\n\r\nShipping companies like Australia-based Taurus Logistics estimate shipping from New Zealand and Australia to Europe take around 50 days, though it\u2019s worth noting that shipping delivery dates are rarely guaranteed and can take much longer.\r\n\r\nRoger Bailey of Ancasta points out that the brokerage market is now much more set up for \u2018remote\u2019 viewings: \u201cBrokers are now used to showing boats virtually, providing a lot more images and generally making it easier to view from another country. With travel restrictions changing all the time it is well worth arranging virtual viewings of a yacht you are serious about before flying out yourself.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_136724\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Joroen Slot and his family previously owned a Lagoon 450 in Hong Kong, they are now cruising the Mediterranean full-time. Photo: Joroen Slot[\/caption]\r\n

We bought our yacht unseen<\/h2>\r\nJoroen Slot purchased a Forgus 52 pilothouse in Sweden while still living in Hong Kong. Formerly a pilot for Dragonair, he decided to sell up and sail away with his young family when he was made redundant as the pandemic took hold. \u201cWe had lived on our Lagoon 450 in Hong Kong for over a year at one point, but that boat was on finance while I was working.\r\n\r\n\u201cTo cruise long term, we were looking for something strong and safe that was also good value. I was heavily influenced in my criteria by reading John Kretschmer. The Lagoon was \u00a3400,000, this was \u00a3150,000, the difference is that we are now sailing full time and I feel very safe in the Forgus offshore. The Lagoon we only used when we had spare time at weekends.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_136725\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" The Forgus 52 was found in Sweden. Photo: Joroen Slot[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSlot engaged a surveyor in Sweden that was recommended by the brokerage to undertake a survey.\r\n\r\n\u201cPerhaps there is an obvious conflict of interest there, but we still did it. The survey found some of the things wrong with the boat, but not all of them, some I was surprised he didn\u2019t pick up. The main thing he found was moisture in the front of the hull, so we knew about that from the beginning.\r\n\r\n\u201cOne of the things that I think made this boat available was that it\u2019s a quirky pilothouse design, only three of them were built, but the Swedish build quality is excellent.\r\n\u201cWith hindsight I would have liked to have viewed the boat before buying, but ultimately, we\u2019re now sailing full-time and that was what we aimed to do.\u201d\r\n\r\n
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Merf Owen, of Owen Clarke Yacht Design, has designed many a high latitudes yacht for cruising, while his wife Ashley Perrin is a professional ice pilot, formerly working for the British Antarctic Survey. He advises: \u201cChoosing a yacht to cruise in high latitudes is inherently more complicated. \u201cThe first thing to consider is where in the high latitudes you are likely to want to explore, weighing up the boat and the experience you will have on board. Lots of people cruise in high latitudes on yachts some would deem unsuitable, but many of these people are very experienced. A well-found GRP yacht or even a wooden Bristol pilot cutter could be a great contender for cruising northern Norway and Svalbard \u2013 but wouldn\u2019t be suitable for the Northwest Passage. It is about what you\u2019re planning to do, your expedition strategy and your level of experience. \u201cAlso, would a stronger boat perhaps one day give you a false sense of security, meaning you go somewhere that you really shouldn\u2019t? That\u2019s worth considering too.\u201d High latitude cruising grounds have something of a hierarchy, Perrin explains. \u201cPeople can put them all into one category, but each area has different characteristics. For example, Norway is a great training ground to see if you like the high latitude style of sailing. While also being wonderful cruising, it is well supported by good search and rescue and is (relatively) easy to get to. Greenland is a step up from that, then perhaps the Patagonian canals. \u201cThe Antarctic peninsula is serious high latitude cruising, but by far the most extreme of them all is South Georgia. Extremely exposed, far from help and hard to get to! Each requires different things from the yacht.\u201d As a yacht designer, Owen\u2019s view on what characteristics are important counter some conventions. \u201cThe stability curve is important to look at, but more important than the righting angle of the yacht is the amount of hull physically in the water, the mass that\u2019s going to stop you tipping over, which of course also has a correlation with hull speed. Speed is safety in the high latitudes and, as there can sometimes be no wind preceding a gale, motoring range and speed aren\u2019t dirty words either! \u201c\u2018Expedition yachts\u2019 are also a new trend, and it\u2019s a look of yacht that is becoming more popular, but not all are actually that well suited. Lifting keel yachts have many good attributes for high-latitude sailing, but [if they have] little fuel and water capacity, they are limited. You need to consider yacht specification sheets, correlating them carefully to the mission you have in mind.\u201d Choice of hull material is a big question, however, going for the toughest ice-proof design might not be advisable: \u201cIf you\u2019re starting out you shouldn\u2019t really be allowing yourself into a situation where you might be iced in, so perhaps it shouldn\u2019t be your primary concern. \u201cA centreboard is useful in high latitude anchorages but being able to sail to windward off a …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4393,"featured_media":138060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[767,159],"tags":[1105,1469,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138057"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138057"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140941,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138057\/revisions\/140941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138057"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=138057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}