Bareboat Charter - in Yachting

In Yachting

In yachting a bareboat charter is usually for a short period. There are hundreds of bareboat yacht charter brokers or agent companies. These companies offer yacht finding and travel organisation services similar to travel agent only more specialised. Their purpose is to use their experience and networks to locate a client's ideal bareboat in terms of price and location.

Bareboat hire has become increasingly common since the mid-1990s and in particular since the early 2000s. There has been increasing demand for yacht vacations and many experienced and semi-experienced ‘yachties’ now consider it easier and cheaper to hire a bareboat, rather than own their own yacht. While both the international leisure travel industry (particularly outdoor activities based vacations) and the boating industry have boomed in the last decade, so too has the bareboat charter industry which incorporates both of these pursuits.

In the USA there is an additional legal distinction with regard to bareboat versus for hire, or "skippered" charters. When persons pool their finances to bareboat so that the qualified master among them may skipper for the group, even though he is not ostensibly a paid skipper he now takes on the legal responsibilities of one. This can have far-reaching consequences in the event of negative occurrences at sea.