The UK offers the best of many things when it comes to UK Superyacht visits.
It is different
This is probably the biggest attraction to Yacht Captains and the owners of the Superyachts they run. The UK, for years was not seen as a particularly “cool” place to take a Superyacht. But then, the 2012 Olympics shone a light on London. And the rest, although it has taken the usual 10 years, is history in the making.
London was all of a sudden seen as a Yachting destination. You could take a Superyacht of almost any size right up the Thames into the heart of London. This by itself is enough to warrant a visit for the 100’s of yachts we have seen in London since 2012. But there is more. Over the 10 years since the Olympics London and the UK as a whole has seen an increase in visitors. It is common for a destination to take 10 years to become truly popular. So, based on our rough calculations added to the actual figures of yachts, this year is the beginning of the boom.
Geography
We all know the UK has less Superyachts than the Mediterranean, But, that’s a good thing. There is no such thing as an anchorage that’s too busy. It is rare when cruising the West Coast of Scotland for you to arrive at an anchorage and there be another yacht there! Never mind it being too busy to drop and anchor. This literally never happens.
UK superyacht visits are of course rarer than Med ones. We have almost doubled the number of visitors to the UK this year and still haven’t had two Superyachts anchored within sight of each other. The great thing about the UK coastline is we have a huge amount of it for the size of the country.
2022
So far this year we have seen a huge amount more visiting Superyachts than any previous year. It is the beginning of June and it is safe to say we have never seen this many UK Superyacht visits for the time of year. Stops for fuel and provisions, EU VAT clearance, and of course owner and guest trips. It appears (fingers crossed) that COVID is now behind us and Superyacht owners, supported by their fantastic crews are looking for new places to go. And, it seems the UK as predicted is top of the list for many!