The Hudson River was relatively calm as SailGP’s high-tech boats darted in front of us, looking like sharks in a frenzy as they turned this way and that to win the fleet. Many sailing enthusiasts were able to see the two-day race unfold from New York’s Governors Island, packing into bleachers set up in the sweltering heat. As for me, I watched New Zealand nab first place (sorry, Team USA) from as close as you could possibly get to the race without being on one of those speedy vessels yourself: I was aboard a classic 48-foot cruiser named Bonito, owned by Barton & Gray Mariners Club, floating under the Statue of Liberty’s gaze.
Founded in 2006, Barton & Gray is a boating membership club, one that hopes to make your life on the high seas much easier. From dayboating to sportfishing to special events like the SailGP ride, the brand can host you, your friends, your business partners, and really whoever you’d like on its various vessels dotted around the U.S. and other locales. B&G is an easy way to get on water without all the boating hassle—an idea, it seems, that has only become more sought after in recent years.
Boat clubs have been gaining traction as yachties and novices alike look for ways to avoid the headaches that can come from owning a vessel, such as maintenance costs, docking fees, and more. The membership programs bring the sharing model (similar to private aviation fractional ownership) to the forefront, making it possible to hop on a boat anytime and almost anywhere, depending on where the clubs are available.
For Barton & Gray, that includes locations (what the brand calls “harbors”) up and down the eastern seaboard, from Nantucket to Key Largo to the West Indies, with spots in Chicago and Harbor Springs, Michigan, for good measure. The company owns more than 85 vessels, encompassing the following models: the 62-foot Lagoon catamaran; 40- and 42-foot Hinckley Talarias; the 36-foot Hinckley Picnic Boat; the 17-foot Boston Whaler 169, and the 48-foot Barton & Gray Daychaser, just like the one I rode during the Sail GP event. Each ride has its own designated purpose for fishing, cruising, and the like, and comes with its own captain aboard—and sometimes a chef as well. All members do is hop aboard.
The firm has a tiered system to its membership program, so you can have access to as little or as much of the fleet as you’d like. The lowest rank, Sailor, has a $9,500 initiation fee attached and gives you access to an overnight stay on the catamaran as well as the fishing boats, all for an additional fee. For the other four tiers (Commodore, Admiral, Lieutenant, and Ensign), you can expect a $24,500 initiation fee, with varying quarterly dues attached. For the best value, stick with the Lieutenant level, which includes unlimited reservations on the Hinckley vessels and $14,625 in quarterly dues. If you feel like going all in, it’s the Commodore rank for you, with access to everything B&G has to offer and quarterly dues of $29,625. It all depends on what you’re interested in, how much boating you plan to do, and what exact locations you feel like exploring.
Membership input is the primary driver of opening up new harbors, Barton & Gray says. The brand hears where members like to spend their time and where they would like to have access to the B&G fleet, and it looks for ways to make those areas accessible. This has led to the opening of the Charleston and Southampton locales, for example.
And that growth has been accelerating over the last five years, with a membership base of over 1,000 families. The pandemic lockdowns and the need for an escape influenced the boom, but B&G is still expanding. In the last 24 months, the club has added 16 new boats to the fleet, including that 62-foot catamaran, its largest yet. Though, the brand isn’t necessarily focused on the size of its offerings; it’s really about catering to that member experience.
Of course, there are other boat clubs to be found on the seas. Freedom Boat Club, founded in 1989 in Sarasota, Fla., describes itself as the first and largest boat club in the world. And its numbers back that up: The company has 411 facilities across the U.S. and abroad, in a combination of brand-run and franchise locations, with 61,000 memberships. (Unsurprisingly, Florida is its most popular locale, with Tampa alone being home to 8,000 members and 400 boats.) Since within the Freedom framework, one membership can cover multiple people, the brand has over 100,000 members that can hop aboard the 5,500 to 6,500 boats in its fleet. Memberships are also usable in other Freedom locations, and the company has had people plan vacations around boating in other parts of the country.
“Our goal is to get as many people on the water as possible,” Brenna Preisser, president of Freedom’s business acceleration division, says during an interview with Robb Report.
Freedom does just that by allowing its members to captain their own boats. It’s the only thing you’ll have to do aboard the vessel, since the boat club takes care of everything else from cleaning to maintenance to repair. Of course, the driver du jour has to undergo a safety training before they take the helm; there’s also a pre-departure checklist before leaving the dock and a safety check upon your return. After that, though, it’s smooth sailing on the boat of your choice from the brand’s fleet, which typically includes vessels 24 feet and below—think runabouts, pontoons, and fishing boats.
The base membership for a family provides unlimited boating with four rolling reservations through the season—meaning you can have four reservations at one time, and once one is completed, you can make another—though typically a single boat reservation is time-limited and not for an entire day. The price can vary per market and per participant; generally, though, you’ll find an initiation fee of $5,000 and a monthly price of $350 to $399, says Preisser.
In 2019, when Freedom was acquired by Brunswick Corporation (which owns Mercury Marine, Sea Ray, and other marine brands), it had 19,000 memberships in 411 locations across the globe. Now, of course, that first number has ballooned by 42,000.
Freedom, like B&G, is still experiencing growth in the wake of the pandemic rush. This year, it’s up 2,600 members so far from 2023. One of the main reasons for this that the club allows new boaters to enter the industry. The other is rather simple: convenience.
“There is a boater that wants to own. They want the boat in their color, maybe they have a lake house or a property,” Preisser explains. “But we find that for a lot of our members, it’s the convenience of ‘I show up, the boat is cleaned, it’s gassed, it’s ready to go.’ Really, you can get on the water in under 15 minutes.”
Amid the continued expansion, Freedom is looking toward the future in other ways. The brand has just launched a pilot of its new Boston Whaler 280 Vantage in Charleston and Chicago, which is something it intends to scale, says Preisser. And, as it moves to larger, premium boats, the boat club will start dabbling in captained experiences, hopefully to make it a part of its core offerings. With the average MRSP of its vessels sitting under $70,000, the addition of the $300,000 280 Vantage will pack more punch in its fleet.
“Other than ownership, you’re not going to find in the market a brand-new 280 Vantage that you can captain for the value that we provide,” Preisser says.
As I sailed upon the Hudson River, it was easy to see the, well, ease of joining a boat club—and it’s even easier to enjoy. After all, all I had to do once I reached shore was hop onto the dock and go about my day. There’s nothing more convenient than that.
