The modern sports yacht represents a pure form of yachting, with performance and sleek style to the fore, but also offering a useful amount of interior space and luxury.
If you are looking to buy a sports yacht, they are perfectly suited to weekends aboard, blasting from one port or anchorage to the next.
With sports yacht design evolving and improving all the time, you can also enjoy some of the best interior space and luxury around on later and larger models.
The sports yacht market starts at 10m and runs through to 30m+ superyachts, but the key sector is around 10m-20m, where owner operation, the owner taking control of and enjoying all that sports yacht performance, is central to design.
The balance between speed and space has always been a challenge for yacht designers and builders. Older, pre-2000 models definitely erred on the side of speed, with more compromises made on cockpit and interior space. Since then, yachts have become larger and more voluminous, delivering lots more luxury with little lost in performance.
Today, the best builders are able to create still exciting and sleek designs that somehow work in incredible amounts of space and luxury.
But performance should always be a priority for a sports yacht, and so they have a duty to return a fast, smooth hull, with enough power to hit and ideally pass 30 knots. Engine installations and propulsion will vary, with the usual twin diesel engines married to stern, pod, shaft, jet and surface drives, depending on the size and sophistication of the yacht itself.
Typical Sports yacht propulsion types
Yacht Length | Drive type |
---|---|
10 - 12m | Stern drive, or pod drive |
12 - 15m | Stern drive, pod drive, or shaft drive |
15 - 20m | Shaft drive, pod drive |
20m+ | Shaft drive |
Sports yacht key features
- Sleek exterior design
- Hardtop with sunroof
- Deck salon or main cockpit with seating and dining
- Large aft cockpit with seating and lounging
- Tender garage
- Spacious cabins
- Capable deep Vee hull design
- Good handling
- 30 knots + top speeds