There seems to be a growing trend where owners of yachts of a certain size 40m + have tenders that do not fit onboard but follow the yacht around eg Wally Tenders, etc. ( am not talking of shadow boats here) So how does this work in practice? These tenders are not usually towed. Is there a crew member who simply pilots behind the mother ship following slowly? How is fuel efficiency on these tenders which usually have large engines? These tenders will have much lower range capabilities compared to the actual yacht. And what happens when the yachts cross the Atlantic? Possible rough weather, etc.... I remember Lady Mariana had a big 100ft tender and a number of smaller yachts such as Hakvoort's My Trust....Sorry cant attach pictures from my ipad
Moon Goddess was the "Day Boat" of Princess Mariana, it did not constantly follow the mother ship and was even chartered alone and as "CaptPKilbride" stated it was another yacht setup with its own crew. Currently, Pegasus V's tender, a 30+ Intrepid, is towed behind the yacht and for ocean crossings it gets craned to the ex-helipad. As for My Trust Fund, (Ex. My Trust), they used to say the tender gets stowed in the garage, I find that hard to accomplish, on the other hand, I have not seen any pictures spotting the custom tender in use close to the mother ship except in official launch photos, so I guess the owner keeps the tender back home for weekend boating. Cheers, Alf
Thanks Alfred, I get the feeling and this is also my personal feeling that many people would happily settle for a smaller yacht if it was possible to have a larger tender on board. you will find that many 20-30metre yachts will not a tender larger than 4.5metre, which to be hoenst is quite small especially when you consider the typical Avon on Williams het tenders. i know a case in hand where a 26metre tows a 5.5 metre RIB and based on having sucha comfortable tender for all occupants of the yacht, the owner sees no reason to get a larger yacht. I have a feeling that might also be the case on larger yachts in the 40-50metre range. if they could accomodate tenders on board which are 10-15metres (apart from some explorer yachts I believe most yachts of this size would have smaller tenders) then they woners might not get a larger yacht OR resort to a chase boat. I recently read that also Hakvoort's Snowbird (38.7metres) has a Novurania 31ft chase tender....
In the United States, Bahamas, and Carribbean it is extremely common for a 20-30M yacht to tow a 8-10 meter tender.
