“It’s like surfing on a wave and the wave just kept going,” he said. 

Fraser says that the so-called “entry level” offerings—yachts measuring between 24 and 30 meters—account for nearly half of all sales of pre-owned boats.  The average length of such superyachts sold was 34 meters and the average last asking price was 7.2 million euros.

Yachting is increasingly attracting a younger crowd. Formula 1 racer Charles Leclerc, who turns 25 this month, posted a photo of himself swimming abreast his yacht built by Italian firm Riva outside his hometown of Monaco in July and a month later on its deck near the sun-splashed island of Corsica. The 20.67-meter yacht, named Sedici—or 16 in Italian—for the Ferrari driver's racing number, is Leclerc's second luxury boat.

A big piece of the industry is also rentals. Although a significant chunk of the world’s total fleet of superyachts of more than 24 meters are made available for rent, even that wasn’t enough to meet demand in July and August this year, as post-pandemic vacationers came back with a bang.

“The real problem is to get boats for these people,” said Mark Duncan at Fraser Yachts, speaking to the press last week from the pool bar at the exclusive Yacht Club de Monaco. “And frankly we do not see that dropping one iota because it’s addictive and they talk about it to their friends.”

According to Fraser, 30% of clients are coming to yachting for the first time, and many of these newcomers will eventually want to own their own boat.

Shipyards building new superyachts, mostly in the Netherlands and Germany, say they’re busier than ever. Even those known for building vessels for Russian clients were out in force in Monaco. 

Germany’s Luerssen has built several superyachts linked to Russians whose assets are now frozen by western authorities, including the world’s largest by volume, the 156-meter Dilbar, owned by a trust linked to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. But Luerssen’s stand was buzzing with people as a saxophonist played nearby on one of its tenders—a support craft to a superyacht.  

Jan-Bart Verkuyl, the CEO of Dutch superyacht maker Feadship, which is in the middle of building its biggest-ever such boat—a 118-meter vessel called Project 1010—says that although the industry can no longer do deals with any Russian, the market’s so bullish that he’s not worried.

“If you look at the Forbes list, that’s only grown even if you take out the Russians,” he said. “In principle, if we do our jobs well, there should be enough clientele.”