Woman 1 to woman 2: “How was your first date yesterday?”

Woman 2 to woman 1: “Terrible, he not only lied about the size of his yacht, but he made me do the rowing!”

Okay, so I dusted off the old yarn to introduce the idea that the descriptive terms used to describe a floating vessel seem to be wide open to interpretation, after many years of debate.

This does have wide implications for Marine Marketers.  One of the very few bright spots in new boat sales is in the $200,000-$500,000 price range–right where new owners are trying their best to bask in the received glory of their magnificent man-toy.  That money can get you a big boat, one that could be called a “yacht”. Ad, this buyer might be most influenced by their ability to own a “yacht” and not just a “boat”

But when is a boat a yacht?

 The boating and sailing forums have been volleying this  back and forth for most of the last decade, and I’ll bet the the same discussion occurred off-line at the “clubs” since Noah bragged to his jeering neighbors about the new “yacht” he had built.

Just like the blurry line between terms for wealthy people: well-off; rich; high net worth; and ultra-high net worth, the blurry line between their floating toys causes problems for marketers.

Some people say that a yacht is what a pretentious person calls their boat.  It’s kind of like using the term “great room” to describe what used to be called a living room.

Others are more forgiving, and believe that one mans boat is another mans yacht.

I scanned sites like yachtforum.com and sampled the discussion.

Those posters weighed in on the subject:

 “A yacht is a boat with a paid crew”

“The term ‘yacht’ is not determined by the vessel, but by the love and care of the owner”

“A yacht is a big piggybank with a slotted hole that goes directly to the bottom of the sea”

“A boat is a yacht when the wife files for divorce”

 “A yacht is a boat of such size and excellence (cost) that it is beyond the means of ordinary people”

 “It’s a yacht when it hold a 30 foot tender on the deck”

Not much help there.

The experts at The United States Coast Guard define a yacht with military precision:

 “A Documented Yacht is a vessel of 5 net tons or over owned by a citizen of the US, used exclusively for pleasure”

That helps, but there is lots of wiggle room.  And CEOs and CMOs of Boat/Yacht companies need to find every opportunity to push the buttons of a potential buyer.

But is it possible that shooting too high might discourage a buyer? Since Mascola Group’s own proprietary research examined the practice of shunning luxury brand names and terminology by the Ultra High Net Worth consumer, this might not be about selling a pretentious sounding “yacht”, but instead, a sensible-sounding “boat”.

I’m leaning toward this breakout:

Over 100 feet is a yacht (so under 100 is a boat, maybe a big boat, but a boat).

Over 200 feet is a Superyacht.

Over 300 feet is a Megayacht.

Enter a new term: Gigayacht. Maybe that’s over 400 feet?