Timeshare the new way to get afloat
IF YOU fancy joining the celebrities and millionaires in the yacht set but can't quite stretch to the multi-million pound asking price for your own gin palace, a company has arrived that might help you out.
Mantis International is selling timeshares in luxurious 82ft Sunseeker motor yachts for a fraction of the £3.2m cost of buying one outright. The company provides crew, flies you out to the Caribbean or Mediterranean to start your cruise and even kits out the boat with your favourite foods, drinks and personal knick-knacks.
You buy shares in two-week blocks, with the boat's time divided between a maximum of 16 owners - effectively meaning you can have access to your own yacht from a starting price of £200,000.
The business was founded by wealthy former City investment trust salesman Simon Gordon, 38, and 41-year-old IT entrepreneur Craig Lockhart.
Gordon got the idea when he found he only used his own yacht four weeks a year and faced continual bills for service and maintenance. 'I saw that Net Jets was doing well, and thought 'Why don't we try the same thing?' he said.
He went to Sunseeker with the idea and the company jumped at it, pledging to provide marketing support for the venture. Sunseeker is building four yachts, two to be delivered this year and two early next year. Mantis gets customers to pay upfront before the order goes in but stumps up for the initial deposit itself.
Meanwhile, for weeks when the boat is not being used, Mantis will charter it out, returning the cash raised to the timeshare owners. The formal launch is tomorrow, but early marketing, including the launch of affinity schemes with Aston Martin, has provided a dozen backers to fund the first two boats.
Gordon plans to get 15 boats on the scheme in the next five years. Timeshare owners will be able to use any of them, meaning that the more boats available the wider the choice of destinations. Initially, the first boats will operate in the Mediterranean in the summer and the Caribbean in the winter.
