1 / CHOOSE A BOAT THAT SUITS YOUR SAILING SCHEDULE

The love affair you may have when you see a boat on a classified ads site or moored in a marina can quickly turn into a nightmare if it does not correspond to your sailing programme. Motor, sail or mixed sail and motor, coastal sailing, short cruising, racing and regattas: the first thing to define is what you want to do with your boat. A good piece of advice: don't get carried away with your favourite boat if you don't have a well-thought-out sailing programme...

2 / WHICH MODEL FOR WHICH SAILING BASIN? 

Once the sailing programme has been defined, the question to ask is what type of boat to choose. Will you choose a boat that can be transported or not? If the boat is not transportable, will it be moored or stored? This question will ultimately determine the type of unit chosen, as a boat, whether sailing or motoring, will not be the same whether sailing in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic or the North Sea, with the exception of units intended for cruising...

3 / EXPERT CASE 

The expertise of a second-hand boat by a specialist as a maritime affairs lawyer may at first sight only represent an additional cost. This is not the case, and the less the buyer knows about boats, the more this expertise will be essential. There can be many unpleasant surprises and the hidden costs can be enormous in proportion to the value of certain units. Not to mention the fact that the administrative formalities relating to the sale can be complex: checking the registration document, the absence of a seizure order or mortgage, etc. In the case of a new boat, it may also be useful to seek advice from specialists who will draw up specifications with you and help define the equipment that is essential for the boat.

4 / THE ADVANTAGES OF LEASING 

The advantages of leasing to finance your boat are fiscal: the VAT is indeed 10% vs. 20%, the administration considering - one wonders why - that a leased unit spends part of its time outside Community waters! Then, in terms of taxation, the boat is the property of the leasing company and is therefore not included in the calculation of tax...

5 / ANTICIPATE THE HIDDEN COSTS OF BUYING A BOAT 

The advertised price of a boat never corresponds to the price of a vessel ready to sail, let it be known! To the advertised price, the yachtsman should therefore add the cost of safety equipment and, for a sailing boat, those relating to delivery and masting... In the field of sailing, boats are delivered with a set of sails that is generally sufficient but not complete. 

In terms of safety, the owner must choose one of the three levels of packs available, depending on his programme and the approval of his boat: less than 2 miles from the coast, less than 6 miles from the coast or offshore. It should be noted that if the boat is financed under a LOA, it will have to be equipped for offshore sailing...

6 / THE HEADACHE OF THE BERTH 

If you opt for a transportable boat, a large part of this problem disappears. For the others, apart from the space negotiated with the dealer, which appears to be a transitional solution, the berth is an endemic problem of boat ownership. Some will have registered for years in 3 or 4 ports in order to benefit from the first free berth (thus participating in a speculative bubble concerning the real need for moorings...), others will opt for foreign marinas (Spain, Tunisia...), others will choose to moor in a dead body. In all cases, this problem is often a headache that must be tackled well in advance of the purchase...

7 / PERMIT INDISPENSABLE

Even if it is not compulsory when you own a sailboat not equipped with VHF, a licence seems to be essential to master your boat. With a VHF, the skipper of a sailing boat must hold either a coastal option pleasure boat licence (to be in order in French waters), or a restricted radiotelephone operator's certificate (CRR) authorising him/her to navigate abroad. For any motorboat with a power rating of more than 6 hp, a licence is compulsory: it's easier!

8 / I BUDGET, YOU BUDGET... 

It's best to say beforehand that a boat costs about 10% of its purchase price each year in maintenance.

In addition to this, you must of course add the cost of insurance, an area in which there are either "third party" contracts covering damage caused by your boat to other boats but not to yours, or "comprehensive" contracts covering damage, theft and, depending on the contract, repatriation and medical expenses. Please note that you should consider insuring the rigging of your boat, which is not always clearly stated.