Sunsail 424 Catamaran

Ikraam Galant is a Yacht Sales Agent at The Moorings and Sunsail – which are part of Travelopia owned by KKR, a global investment firm with over US$570 billion in assets under management.

Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, he joined the two merged global personal ownership, yacht-share and charter management companies 13 years ago as Charter Sales Manager for Africa.

Pre-Covid-19 era, Galant was appointed Business Development Manager for Asia and spent time in Thailand. He has since moved onto handling Asia Yacht Sales for Sunsail and The Moorings charter yacht management programmes.

The Moorings and Sunsail merger of 2005 formed the world’s largest charter company, now with some 800 employees globally, currently managing a fleet of about 700 boats all over the world.

When The Moorings was founded in 1969, it had a total of six yachts in the British Virgin Islands, and five years later, Sunsail launched in Greece.

Moorings 403PC’s large outdoor flybridge

The Moorings and Sunsail have revolutionised the charter industry and ownership options within charter programmes. In total, they’ve had well over 5,000 boat owners on their books between them.

The companies offer a large fleet of Leopard power and sailing catamarans built by South Africa’s Robertson & Caine shipyard and sailing monohulls built by the renowned French brand Dufour.

Leopard catamarans and Dufour sailing boats are well-known, owned and used throughout Asia, but The Moorings Yacht Ownership programme offers an alternative way of buying and using these yachts. So, how does it work and what are the advantages?

Galant explains.

Standard contracts typically last five to six years, depending on the location of the yacht. In Asia, The Moorings has a base in Phuket, Thailand, while other destinations around the world include Tahiti, Seychelles and right across the Mediterranean, Americas and Caribbean.

The Moorings and Sunsail yachts are operated for a maximum of six seasons, with only limited numbers of boats extended longer. Almost all are individually owned – with contracted owners promised highly-maintained yachts. Operation docks are staffed with employees trained to high levels of customer service and technical expertise – as peace of mind and inclusive maintenance and upkeep of the yachts are all part of the contracted packages.

The ownership programme includes the option of almost any Leopard sailing or power catamaran model, and a wide range of Dufour sailing monohulls, which are then branded as The Moorings or Sunsail charter boats, with charter-specific options and upgrades available.

Sunsail 454 Catamaran and Sunsail 41.3 Monohull

Models include the sailing catamarans Moorings 4200 / Sunsail 424 (Leopard 42, three or four cabins), Moorings 4500 / Sunsail 454 (Leopard 45, four cabins) and Moorings 5000 (Leopard 50, four or five cabins). The Power catamarans offer includes the Moorings 403PC (Leopard 40PC, three cabins) and the Moorings 464PC (Leopard 46PC, four cabins).The Sunsail 41.3 (Dufour 41), Sunsail 44.3 and Sunsail 44.4 (Dufour 44) and Sunsail 53.5 (Dufour 530) sailing monohulls are among other models available within the ownership programme.

As for payment options, The Moorings and Sunsail offer the Guaranteed Income programme at most bases worldwide and the Option to Purchase programme in Greece and Thailand.

Guaranteed Income requires 100 per cent payment upfront (with attractive rebates currently offered) and then returns fixed income paid monthly (not dependent on charter activity).

At the end of the programme, an owner can either keep their yacht, sell it through the company’s in-house brokerage service (which, added to the monthly returns, results in an overall profit), or trade it in and start a new programme.

The Option to Purchase programme (offered in Greece and Thailand) requires owners to pay only 45 per cent of the price of the boat to join the programme. At the end, they can either make a final purchase payment of a further 20 per cent of the yacht’s original price to take full ownership of the yacht, or take a guaranteed cash buyback of the equivalent 20 per cent of the original listed price of the boat.

Built into ownership programmes are a number of weeks’ usage of the yacht for owners themselves each year – during a mixture of peak and off-peak months (the exact details of which depend on the purchased model and location base) – the maximum in some cases is 12 weeks. The Moorings and Sunsail network have bases all over the world and owners have access to all of them and the option to pay an upgrade for a larger model.

During the Covid-19 period, it was the sign of a reputable operator that The Moorings and Sunsail continued to pay its boat owners in full, unlike many other charter companies.

Prices for both programmes include the yacht’s equipment and charter inventory, delivery to the charter base and commissioning. Owners have zero operating costs as The Moorings and Sunsail covers all of them, including annual berthing, insurance and maintenance costs. Furthermore, professional management is provided for the yachts all year round.

Another of the benefits of this global programme is that identical specifications of each yacht allow familiarity with the yachts whether owners holiday in Thailand, the Mediterranean, Caribbean or anywhere else around the world, and for the companies to easily maintain interchangeable parts for various yacht models, internationally. The spare-parts inventory at all bases ensures timely maintenance of yachts.

Ikraam Galant, Asia Yacht Sales, Sunsail and The Moorings Sales Agent

The companies boast a very methodical maintenance programme. An inspection for any repairs is scheduled for the end of every charter for minor issues. These are attended to before the start of the next charter.

Regular upkeep in monitoring the boats, regardless of the number of charters includes tracked and logged periodic oil, transmission and other fluid changes, required for preventive maintenance.

Major maintenance, as with any yacht, is scheduled periodically, where the hull is hoisted and the hull below the waterline is treated. Major maintenance recommended by engine and transmission manufacturers is also undertaken, along with cosmetic work to the hull and bright work.

The final yacht maintenance is at the end of a contract, when it receives a full refit upon departure from the charter fleet or handover back to the owner.

An advantage with The Moorings yachts coming out of the charter fleet, and either handed back to the owner or sold through the companies’ in-house brokerage team, is that the boat is never passed on ‘as is’ but in a refreshed, ready-to-sail condition.

The Moorings and Sunsail yacht ownership programme offers a lower-cost, worry-free option of purchasing a yacht without all the overheads, with the option of cruising for up to three months a year in some of the world’s most beautiful locations.

However, if owners want a yacht all to themselves, there are also the options of buying pre-owned from the companies’ brokerage arms or a brand-new, personalised version directly from Leopard or Dufour.

For those who wish to sail for a limited period of time, less than two weeks a year, The Moorings and Sunsail can provide bareboat or crewed charters to some of the world’s most beautiful destinations.

moorings.com
sunsail.com
ikraam.galant@thlmarine.com