The World is a huge residential yacht. A yacht is like a house: pros, cons, pitfalls Yacht real estate

It would be difficult to find a person who would not like to relax near the water. How about living near water? A bold project in this regard was presented by designer and architect Maxim Zhivov.

People don't often remember that almost 71 percent of our planet's surface is covered in water. With an ever-growing population, the day may not be far off when it may be necessary to truly live on the water. There is almost no serious research on this topic, however, the field of “overwater” architecture is developing at the expense of enthusiasts. Most recently, they introduced a new luxury housing concept on the water, which was modestly called HydroHouse. This project was developed by the architect Maxim Zhivov together with the Baikal Yachts Group team.

We must admit that it is not often that architects create something truly creative when it comes to houses on the water. In our case, the house turned out to be really interesting, for several reasons. First of all, the HydroHouse concept offers a sufficient level of comfort for people living in such a house.

What really surprises HydroHouse is that it moves not only on water, like a ferry, but also on land. Of course not on your own. You can transport a floating house from place to place using a truck with a trailer. This adds several points to the mobility and versatility of the home. Once on the water, the house can drift, or it can become moored.

With all this, the home itself is a pier! You can moor not only boats, boats and yachts, but even an airplane that can land on the water. Of course, not everyone can afford such luxury, but what is more important is that the innovative HydroHouse demonstrates all the possibilities that can be realized when it comes to building floating housing.

My experience of traveling on yachts is 6 years, of which 3 years as a captain. As a yacht captain, I have sailed over 5,000 nautical miles - in Thailand, Norway, Canary Islands and to the Mediterranean Sea in Turkey, Greece, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, France and Spain. I've been organizing all over the world for the last four years! In this essay I wanted to tell you about how wonderful it is to arrange your life in the space of a sailing yacht!

At small area The space of the yacht is organized so that it is as comfortable as possible! The renter or owner of the yacht will have a bedroom at his disposal - a comfortable cabin with a large bed, wardrobes and shelves. Bathroom with shower hot water, a mirror and many shelves. And, of course, a kitchen with a table, refrigerator, stove, and dishes.

Bedroom (cabin) Bathroom (latrine) Kitchen (galley)

It will be convenient to work at the chart table, and in order to sit down with the whole company, there is a wardroom, a cozy living room and a dining room at the same time.

Navigation table The wardroom on a yacht The wardroom on a catamaran

For breakfast and romantic dinners In the fresh air, the so-called cockpit on the deck, equipped with sofas and a folding table, is perfect. Bow yachts, especially the net between the floats on a catamaran, are nothing more than a personal beach.

Veranda (cockpit) Sun deck Net on a catamaran

So on modern yacht You can stay as comfortably as in a hotel. But at the same time, your hotel has excellent mobility! Thanks to the fuel reserves, the yacht can sail freely for many days even in the absence of wind, in addition, the yacht can be loaded with such reserves of water that you do not have to worry about replenishing them throughout the trip. The yacht covers distances of 150-200 kilometers per day, but your captain will take care to exclude passages longer than 4-6 hours a day. Every day you can admire wonderful views, get to know new cities, swim, sunbathe, and if you’re lucky, snark surrounded by colorful fish and swim in a race with dolphins.

Traveling on a yacht means not only free sailing, but also freedom of anchorage. You can always moor near an island or village you like, in order to stroll through the ruins ancient fortress, lie on snow-white beach, or plunge into the social life of the city you need. Or you can moor right next to the rock, as we did earlier, and immediately go fishing to catch your lunch.

Cities and islands quiet havens and noisy embankments, majestic mountains and the azure sea, (as well as " ") ancient castles and temples, sailing and great fishing, underwater world and indescribably beautiful sunsets, unity with the outside world and incredible freedom - all this can only be given by a vacation on a yacht.

We will be glad to open yachting for you during our yacht tours. Nearest

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Personal experience: How to move to live on a yacht and not screw it up

Former editor-in-chief of the online newspaper The Village St. Petersburg, Anna Balagurova, gave up her career and office job a little less than a year ago to travel with her husband across the Atlantic. On the Snob magazine website, she writes a detailed blog about her adventures, and told us about how she got used to life on a ship while crossing the ocean.

I was on a sailboat for the first time a year and a half ago. By some absurd chance, in Helsinki, during the Flow festival. My friend somewhere picked up some guys from St. Petersburg who came there to race. Naturally, we were invited to join, but only as openers - we were not suitable for anything else. It seems that my friend was then assigned to “mine the spinnaker in the kitty.” It was funny to me, but she was practically buried under the sail.

Then, by another chance, I met my future husband, a yachting instructor. We drank a lot and talked about how we wanted to live and travel. In general, we were extremely romantic and agreed that a sailboat was an ideal option for both of us. This is at the same time a transport that moves by the forces of nature (that is, free of charge), a home anywhere in the world (also inexpensive), and even an opportunity to earn money by teaching or simply giving rides to people. It sounded like a good plan and we decided to go ahead with it.

All that remained was to choose and buy a boat. There were several requirements - a reliable yacht for the oceans (the so-called blue water cruiser), in the Mediterranean Sea (so that you could get to the Canaries without entering the evil Biscay and the English Channel), costing up to 60,000 euros (so that there was a little left for an upgrade) and, of course in good condition. Through the Internet we found several practically ideal options in Sweden twice cheaper than planned. But all these northern seas... in general, we became lazy, because it was June, and in November we were going to start on the transatlantic. We bought our 1985 Westerly in Greece. A reputable English shipyard, pedantic owners, a beer opener on the step, again. I immediately felt sympathy for this neat and solid boat, for its funny, plump owners, who without hesitation declared that they did not like strong winds, and also that they would take away the grill, because without a grill their summer would be ruined.

A little paperwork with registering the boat and insuring it - and already in July we began to slowly move towards Gibraltar with stops in pleasant coastal cities, from mossy Sicilian resorts to stunning Syracuse and Palma de Mallorca. Thus began my life on a boat.

The first thing we had to get used to was the roll and pitching. How to live when your world is tilted 30 degrees? How to sleep when you are tossed from side to side? Okay, let’s say you’re not in a passage, but in an anchorage, but damn it, you’re still rocking, it’s water! When you step onto the ground, you sway as usual. After crossing the ocean, I almost stopped paying attention to it. Firstly, I felt zen from the realization that I would have to hang out in open water for at least three weeks. Secondly, I wanted pancakes and fried potatoes even in a five-meter wave, so I had to get out. Remember - sometimes at anchorages it rocks almost like in the middle of the Atlantic. So if you want to live on a yacht, train your vestibular apparatus. At least on the carousels.

Learn to use water sparingly. If you are not overly rich and cannot afford an extra 400-500 euros per month for comfortable marinas, get used to spending 10 liters of water on thoroughly washing yourself (in the ocean, 2-3 was enough for my body and hair, but this is too Spartan ). There is no question of washing dishes or doing laundry with fresh water - everyone living on the yacht has seawater taps installed (although we do our laundry in laundries and are increasingly using paper plates). There is one controversial point here - all waste products are thrown out of the yacht straight into the sea. So-called gray water (from dishes and showers) can be drained almost anywhere in the world. In many countries, black water (from the toilet) is required to be stored in collector tanks on a boat and pumped out in specially designated areas. Taken together, this all sounds terribly crazy. Shit diluted in water is much more harmless than fairies or alkaline shampoos. On a yacht, I try to use environmentally friendly household chemicals and cosmetics, but rather for self-soothing. Because on the scale of the world's oceans this is simply ridiculous.

In addition to water, you will have to save electricity. We travel in sunny regions, so for our needs (refrigerator, charging phones and laptops, light, autopilot) two are almost always enough solar panels. Many people install windmills and water turbines on boats - universal, but incredibly expensive. We also have a desalination plant installed - an incredibly useful thing that gives complete autonomy from the shore. True, distilled water should not be drunk for too long due to the complete absence of useful substances contained in ordinary water. We fill our tanks full whenever possible. 350 liters of water is enough for the two of us for more than 2 weeks.

Those who live on the water need to periodically get to the shore - they can’t all sit at home. For this purpose, a small inflatable boat with a motor or oars (although in the Canaries I saw two girls who ignored the oars and rowed with fins). It is almost impossible to leave this enterprise with a dry bottom. So, imagine: early Saturday morning, you stumble out of the bar. What's next? That's right, you get into a taxi to go home to sleep. And I wander along the beach or embankment in search of my run-down boat, which overnight turned into an inflatable pool, and enter into an unequal battle with waves, jellyfish, and a motor even more sluggish than me. In general, one wrong move and the boat is on your head. Recently we forgot to take oars with us, for the first time in our lives. Of course, on the way back our engine died, also for the first time in our lives. We were stuck on our inflatable hernia in the middle of a bay in the very center of Bridgetown, where at that time they were celebrating the 50th anniversary of Barbados' independence. Amid the hooting of the crowds from the embankment, we paddled with our hands and within 40 minutes we were on the yacht (the journey under the motor takes about three minutes). The ridiculous situations you find yourself in while living at anchor are innumerable.

Captains School

Anyone can become a captain of a sailing ship - all you need is desire and a good instructor. “The Power of the Wind” will teach you everything you need to know and be able to do, and after passing the exam will issue you an international class license. We conduct theoretical courses in the center of Moscow, and practice courses in the Mediterranean Sea and the Canary Islands. Come to class!

Otherwise, everything is like at home, or rather at the dacha. A bedroom with a large bed, a living room with a large table, internet (we have an antenna amplifier to steal Wi-Fi from coastal cafes), even an oven (for storing pans). There is a TV in the salon - exclusively for watching films and TV series. There are speakers in the cockpit so you can dance on the deck or just have a party. As for drinking parties, yachtsmen are not fools to drink. One of the terms that came into my use after moving to the boat is sundowner - meaning “a glass of alcohol drunk at sunset.” Another term was coined by my husband - “Polish yachting”. This is when you rent a boat for a week and never leave the marina because you drink all day long. From the name it is clear that it is mainly the Poles who do this, not us.

Any racer would spit in my face if they saw what my boat turns into at anchorages. A hammock dangles from the spinnaker boom, a bucket is tied to the jib furling sheet (well, so as not to drop it), and underpants are dried on the rails. There are books and clothes lying around everywhere, the kitchen is overgrown with a bunch of little things - this happens to everyone who hangs out in one place for more than a few days. After a couple of weeks at anchor, it’s difficult to force yourself to go out to sea. Too lazy to collect everything, secure it, put it in cabinets. I don’t want to bother with the anchor and then with the sails. It’s good if you have to walk for a short time and with good wind. Transitions of more than a day in our case turn into epileptic yachting. Long hours of procrastination on deck, and then - a sudden change in the wind, a gust, a torn sheet, running around under the heartbreaking screams of the captain. At first, I was taken aback by the fact that the captain was actually my husband. I still don’t understand why he’s yelling like that! They say that almost all skippers behave in a similar way, no matter how nice people they are in everyday life. In the USA there is a yachting school for women, with female owners and teachers. So, their slogan is “No shout”. I think this is very cool and correct.

I read in many yachting blogs that after living on a yacht it’s difficult to return to cities, because the boat gives you a feeling of freedom and all that, but the city subjugates you, leaving only the illusion of choice. It seems to me that in many ways this is deceit. To balance between the inexpensive gypsy life on a yacht and maintaining the boat in a condition suitable for serious passages, you need money, quite a lot at the current exchange rate. This means that it is still impossible to exclude oneself from the circle of capitalist relations. To some extent, you become a slave to your own boat. If you want to radically change the situation, you need money not only for yourself, but also for mooring the yacht. The apartment can be locked and forgotten, but only a rather careless owner can leave the yacht dangling at anchor and just dump it. The most painless scenario, in my opinion, is this: six months while in Europe good weather, travel, stopping at anchor, and for the winter put the boat in an inexpensive marina (if you look, you can spend 600-700 euros in 6 months) and go home to work. This won’t work with more exotic places - flying away is expensive, leaving the boat is even more expensive. If you're tired of everything, you're in a hopeless situation.

A big bonus of owning a yacht in Europe is the opportunity to stay abroad almost endlessly without worrying about a visa. Without further details, put a stamp on exit to any EU country. This is done either at the local police station or at the passenger port. Both there and there there are more important things to do than you with your visa, so they put stamps without looking. Upon arrival in the next country, you can “accidentally forget” about the entry stamp until you need to fly home. Such an unexpected loophole still boggles my mind, because we are all accustomed to serious controls at airports and land borders. The Caribbean, on the contrary, turned out to be a rather bureaucratic place. On almost every Antilles, where we are spending this winter, we need to prepare documents for entry and exit. In Barbados, among other things, we were sent to the medical office, where we had to fill out a questionnaire with questions like “has anyone died on board” and “is the crew experiencing diarrhea?” But there is no control other than on paper. For more than six months, our yacht has never received any inspections, although we have already crossed half the world. At least transport slaves, at least enriched uranium. In this sense, having your own boat really gives you a certain freedom. This is probably why same-sex couples and all those who, for ideological or any other reasons, are no longer happy with life in modern cities travel quite often on yachts.

An interesting discussion ensued about life on a 40+ size yacht. User Alloy Boy wondered what it would be like to move from an apartment to a small boat:

“All day long I see yachts from my office window, and it seems to me that life on them is so serene, he writes. - Is it really there? there is nowhere to turn around, as it seems to me (if you live alone)? How quickly do they depreciate? Quick search shows that the “forty-footer” is comparable in price to an apartment or small house, but what are the advantages of living on a yacht (besides mobility)?

Here are the answers he received:

Imaka

“It's a very relaxed life and quite comfortable, but it all depends on your needs and desires. By the way, in most places you will pay much less for a 40-foot yacht than for an apartment.

Life on a boat is not for everyone. It can be pleasant and relaxing, but it takes some effort to make it so. If you have the opportunity to live on a yacht without buying it, then it’s worth doing.

You must take care of fresh water and emptying the waste tank. You will have to run to the shore for water - sometimes to the marina. In some places water can be delivered to the boat, but experience tells me that this is rather an exception. Personally, I haven't had that much luck. When my husband and I stood in one place for a long time, we had to grab 20 liters of water every time we went ashore.

Need electricity? If so, consider wind generators or solar panels - it all depends on the area where you live. Fridge? The most energy-hungry device on a yacht. There are less voracious ones, but they will cost you a pretty penny. Want to have a hot shower on your boat? Consider whether it is warm enough in your area to get by with a “summer shower” every day or whether it is worth buying a water heater.

What about the cooking? If you have a gas stove, especially a Force 10, two burners and an oven, that's great, some people supplement it with a barbecue grill in the cockpit. With a stove you should have a gas detector in the cabin in case of a leak, gas could accumulate on the bottom of the boat causing an explosion.

If you are anchored, then you will have to get to the shore every day on a tug. Make sure it doesn't get stolen. Is there transport on the shore? So much the better, you won’t have to carry laundry, groceries, etc. on your back. Do you work every day? Keep in mind that there will be days when it will be difficult to get the tug to shore.

Do you want TV and Internet on board? We usually used mobile internet. Sometimes you were lucky enough to get an unlocked Wi-Fi connection. A high enough antenna will ensure reception of free TV channels. Naturally, the picture quality will be “lame” when the boat moves.

Again, depending on the region, clothing may suffer from moisture and mildew. To avoid this, we hid everything in sealed bags.

I would repeat my experience if the opportunity presents itself and if the right person is nearby."

drwer2

"I'm thinking about it myself. I've been sailing for many years, I'm approaching retirement, and the prospect of a second home is appealing. If you're working, you probably won't want such a drastic change.

If life in a kennel doesn't scare you, then go ahead. On a yacht moored in the marina, you will get the following: long walks to and from the car with shopping, daily trips to the showers in the marina (a drain bank will save the situation, but you will not be able to empty it in the marina, and paying for it weekly is expensive) or you can go to sea every week to empty it there.

I highly recommend a light (or white) interior. Dark wood is depressing during the winter months. Additionally, you may suffer from claustrophobia in winter. That's why for those planning to live on a boat, I advise not skimping on space. How more space, the stronger your mental health.

In many ways, it’s like living in a camper van... with the possibility of drowning.”

DoH

No washer/dryer. "Interruptions" with water. Everything is modest with the cabinets and cooking. The beds leave much to be desired. Shower from boxes. Everything is damp all year round. The smell of gasoline if you have a motorboat. Rattling on the dock even when the boat is tied up. Many yachts don't have heaters, and none of the ones I've been on have air conditioning. At best, you will simply feel cramped. Entertainment is tight. Having a pet is almost impossible. Straighten up to your full height? Forget it.

Everything is true, of course, but I myself would like to live on a boat - but only in long journey, and not huddle in the marina and travel back and forth to work. Maybe live in the Caribbean in the winter and move to Maine for the summer? I would also like from North America reach Europe. A completely different life!

Think of it this way: having a boat as a home is like having a motorcycle for every occasion. It sounds romantic, but how convenient is it in practice?

william g

You don't have to stay where you don't want to, you are literally and figuratively the "Captain of your ship" and no one can argue with that.