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Case study: successful boat share sales |
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Margaret Flatman from Norwich in Norfolk sold her 1/5th share in a Hunter Legend 340
based in Nidri, Lefkas, Greece to Peter Dow from Topsham, near Exeter in Devon.
The share was advertised in October 2008 and was sold the following month.
The "Bubbly Lady" is a 1999 Hunter Legend 340 equipped with a Seldon mast and boom and Berstrom backstayless rig: its mainsail was replaced in 2003. It is a spacious boat sleeping 6 people, with lots of new equipment. Margaret had several strong replies through yours2share including Peter, a businessman who was then living in Cairo, but was about to retire and return to the UK. He was looking for occasional weeks sailing not necessarily in the school holidays. Margaret: “I advertised in lots of places and the best responses were through yours2share. I’m still in touch with the syndicate members and the person who bought my share has settled into the group well. “ |
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Peter: “I share a small rib with my brother-in-law in the UK, but I’ve never shared with strangers before.
We had been on a flotilla holiday in the Ionian and heard about boat sharing there.
We didn’t see the boat or meet any of the syndicate members before buying the share,
and my wife didn’t believe that the boat actually existed until we went out for our first trip in May 2009.
But the Bubbly Lady was there, exactly as promised. You have to rely on your intuition and
Margaret was very straightforward to deal with.” Peter: “yours2share was easy to use. I was just looking into the idea and found Margaret’s ad on yours2share. I replied to the ad and, a month later, I bought the share.” Peter: “There is a contract and in particular this states that the syndicate member must be on the boat whenever it is used. The boat has a boat manager in Lefkas so no-one has to worry about maintenance. The total annual costs are around £1200/year per syndicate member and all the costs compare very favourably with chartering a boat regularly.” Peter: “We can use the boat for five weeks a year and we inherited Margaret’s weeks for 2009. We went out for two weeks in May and we go again in September. In the autumn I understand that everyone writes down the weeks they prefer for the following year and usually most people’s wishes can be accommodated. We’re pretty flexible. " Margaret: “Due to a change in circumstances I no longer sail, so I’m now looking to buy a share in a holiday villa abroad to give me an alternative holiday destination. I’ve just replied to several ads on the yours2share website and will let Sophie know how it goes.” Sophie Garrett, owner of yours2share: “I’m not quite sure why Lefkas is such a centre for boat syndicates, but there are more here than any other location on yours2share. I suspect that initially there were a few successful boat shares based in Nidri, and these were seen by the many flotilla and charter sailors visiting the area, and so the number of boat shares has increased.” Peter: “Everyone at my local yacht club in Devon is intrigued by the idea of sharing a boat, it certainly isn’t common there. I don’t understand why more boats aren’t shared.” Here is yours2share's current list of boat shares offered and wanted, some template contracts to help draw up the right agreement. This personal view of boat syndicates is helpful too. |
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| Version 1.0 July 2009 |
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