Since the dawn of luxury yachts, Americans have been dreaming up ways to grab a slice of the pie, even if they don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy. It is easy to subscribe to the fact that private yacht charters and big marine toys are for the extremely wealthy demographic, that the rest of us plebs must settle with paying to ride on these fancy ships. However, cunning business professionals have found that they could advertise fractional yachts for sale, just as fractional real estate or car leasing allows people to up their standard of living for a fraction of the cost and hassle.

All fractional yachts for sale do not necessarily have the same arrangements. For instance, SeaNet is a straight fractional, which gives four owners a 53 Sunseeker Manhattan for five weeks each year at $315,000 each (plus $37,000/year in maintenance fees). On the other hand, The Yacht Share offers fractional leases, which gives owners seven weeks for $60,000 down and $2,400/month in maintenance, allowing the owner the ability to renew the lease or walk away at the end of the year. Then, of course, there is traditional fractional ownership at companies like Breeze Easy, which can transform any new or used boat into a fractional possession.

“It’s not the boating, it’s the service,” argues Chris Lessard, who bought an 85-foot Azimut from Yacht Smart. With young children, Lessard and his wife couldn’t imagine a sailing vacation without a chef on board to take care of the basic necessities like cooking and cleaning. Terry White, who leased a 51 Sea Ray from Shared Yachts, believes that even the rich and famous shouldn’t buy yachts for sale. “The champagne is waiting when I arrive and I never lift a finger — I just write a check and it’s done!” he explains.

Some Americans are even looking for second or larger yachts for sale, in which case fractional leasing is a good way to let prospective owners “test drive” their luxury yachts before buying them outright. At the end of the one-year lease, the buyer may decide to scale up, scale down, try one of the new boats at the marina or simply walk away. For new owners, leasing is also a good way to gauge how much use the boat will get. Fractional ownership is still a relatively new concept in boating but the portent is good. To find fractional sailing yachts, you can check out Shared Yachts (www.sharedyachts.com), Yacht Smart (www.yachtpartners.com), Synergy Yachting Partnerships (www.synergyyachting.com), Virgin Traders (www.virgintraders.com) or The Yacht Share (www.theyachtshare.com).