For any large expenditure (relative to whoever is commenting) you can always say ‘it’s mostly a way to show off’. But if you have money the only three choices aren’t to refuse to spend it, give it away, or ‘show off’. There’s a fourth possibility: you really enjoy the things it buys.
There are more aspects to house values mainly because unlike yachts or cars they don’t move. So you can have an expensive modest size house in a very expensive location or an expensive big house in a less expensive location. I favor the former, but how much less will you be accused of ‘showing off’ because an observer has to be interested enough to spend 2 minutes looking up the house on Zillow, ‘that little house costs WHAT!?!’ v seeing an equal price McMansion in a cheaper area?
Anyway I see it the same for the original topic of yacht or over mobile thing like car or plane. It’s perfectly possible the person gets enjoyment out of an expensive thing besides what other people think. And if other people think they are ‘showing off’, why should they GAS anyway?
that was a failed miniature whoosh. It’s like Tevye sings, “I’d have one long staircase just going up, and one even longer going down, and one more going nowhere, just for show.”
I always have loved that one even longer going down.
Pardel-Lux, Here’s an article on a forthcoming book about superyachts and their owners. Basically, they have them to project their wealth status among other super rich people:
I saw an interview with Pete Townshend a while back on PBS. He confessed that one of the reasons he still goes out on tour is to finance his yachting habit. Said it cost him around $200K a year to sail and maintain his racing yacht.
My father-in-law, owner of a big-enough cabin cruiser, was Commodore at a big-enough yacht club. He told his wife that he wanted to retire on the boat to Baja California when he shuttered his practice. Go ahead, she said. SPOILER: Didn’t happen.
What’s a yacht club good for? Nice place for a fancy fest to celebrate a daughter graduating med school.
What’s a yacht good for? Good question. I’d rather drive a dirigible.
A couple of years ago we had a thread about what you’d choose if a billionaire offered to buy you one tangible object. After pondering a bit, surprisingly, I said a yacht—even though I care nothing about sailing or nautical stuff.
Why, then? I enjoy traveling to cities; many of the world’s nicest cities can be reached by water; I’d have a place to sleep at night. To pay for the crew, I could rent it out part of the year to others, or as an Airbnb.
Technically, a ‘yacht’ is a pleasure craft of any size or type. The type that resembles a cold shower is an ocean sailing yacht. The kind I enjoy is a sailing dingy. The kind that is furthest from my enjoyment would be a small motor yacht. If I was rich enough for a large motor yacht, I’d probably spend the money on something else.
I think it depends entirely on where you live. A lot of boat owners live in coastal areas which may or may not offer interesting travel opportunities but many coastal areas are just boring. I owned a sailboat for a time that was big enough for a week or two of cruising, and it was terrific because I was (and still am) within driving distance of the Georgian Bay and North Channel areas of the Great Lakes, one of the most beautiful areas for boating in the world. Buying my first sailboat and sailing it across Georgian Bay and down Lake Huron over the course of a week was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life. The fact that I had limited sailing experience and my companion had none at all just added to the sheer adventure of it all. There is no experience on earth like anchoring in a quiet bay like this as the sun sets, listening to the loons, having a few drinks, and preparing a few steaks on an outboard marine barbeque. It’s like being on another planet, truly getting away from the world.
That aside, sailing can be one of the most exciting experiences you can imagine. Boring as hell when there’s little wind, but piloting a big boat against a strong wind, heeling over at a seemingly precarious angle, and feeling the sheer power of nature driving you through crashing waves, the boat seeming to have a life and will of its own, is just breathtaking.
