![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Yacht-chart-Bloomberg.jpg\")
<\/a>Click to enlarge<\/p>\nSome 67% of fatalities involved boats helmed by captains with no formal training, and a third of accidents were collisions with fixed objects like channel markers, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s more congestion on the water,\u201d said George Reynaud, a spokesman for the agency in Miami, \u201cand more boats means more inexperienced boaters.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to National Marine Manufacturers Association estimates, US power-boat sales fell about 10% in 2025 and aren\u2019t expected to rise much this year. In Florida, sales slumped or were flat last year for almost every size of boat, according to the association.<\/p>\n
One exception: yachts and super yachts, said Phil Purcell, chief executive officer of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can look at it the same way as the real estate market,\u201d Purcell said. The association owns the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show<\/a>, a mecca for yacht buyers. The five-day event in the late fall generated $800 million in sales last year.<\/p>\n \u201cBoating is a big part of the culture, everyone catches on that it\u2019s a great part of life in Florida,\u201d Purcell said.<\/p>\n Buying a vessel and keeping it seaworthy is expensive. Boats under 26 feet long \u2014 the most popular class of boats sold in South Florida \u2014 sold for an average of $60,000 last year, while 26- to 35-foot boats averaged $170,000, according to Boats Group, which owns several online sales platforms.<\/p>\n That\u2019s only the beginning: Annual repairs, docking, fuel and insurance can come to about 10% of a boat\u2019s value. Slips in South Florida typically cost between $25 to $55 a foot a month, but can soar to $100. New engines can run to $30,000 or more. With Miami marine mechanics in high demand, something as simple as a tune-up can cost hundreds.<\/p>\n In part because of rising costs, Florida has grappled with a derelict-boat problem. The state spent about $13 million to remove abandoned craft in 2024, and the Florida Legislature last year made it easier for police to remove vessels and toughened penalties for abandoning one.<\/p>\n About an hour north of Miami Beach, billionaire Joe Lewis, who lives and works part of the year on his 323-foot yacht Aviva, bought Pier Sixty-Six, a six-decade-old fueling station, marina and hotel on the Intracoastal Waterway.<\/p>\n Lewis\u2019s firm, Tavistock, spent $1 billion transforming the property into a resort with a five-star hotel, a condo tower with $14.5 million penthouses and a marina specializing in supersize boats. Tavistock is spending hundreds of millions more to expand the marina complex.<\/p>\n At $8 to $10 a foot a day, the Pier Sixty-Six marina caters to yachts, said Megan Lagasse, the marina director. Facing the marina are the US headquarters of super-yacht builders including Italy\u2019s Sanlorenzo and Germany\u2019s L\u00fcrssen. In plush showrooms, clients can order custom-made, 200-foot-plus boats costing roughly $1 million a foot.<\/p>\n In Miami Beach, an overhaul of the city-owned public marina, built in the 1980s, is planned. Its operator, Suntex Marinas, wants to make way for larger boats that are more in demand and to add long stretches of dockage for super yachts.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a disproportionate amount of people that can afford larger boats in southeast Florida,\u201d said Rich Carter, chief operating officer of Suntex, which runs dozens of marinas in the US.<\/p>\n Some of the rich are also building their own slips. On a vacant stretch of dock near Government Cut, the 52-foot-deep manmade channel that leads to Miami\u2019s port and cruise-ship terminals, financier Ken Griffin is constructing a private marina<\/a> to park his yachts.<\/p>\n The Miami Beach marina evicted more than 30 charter operators after residents of nearby luxury condos complained about noise. Captains who survived the purge faced restrictions on their hours.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a war against working people by rich people who bought a condo for a view of the marina, but now they complain about the marina,\u201d said Jessica Londono, the co-owner of a charter operator that has worked out of the marina for 20 years. \u201cThey are trying to put us out of business, and we were here first.\u201d<\/p>\n The marina thrived as a base for charters for decades, fed by hotel guests who would pay at least $2,000 for a half day on the water with a captain and crew. But during the pandemic, the number of charters at the marina jumped, and so did complaints about unruly, intoxicated passengers, said Keith Marks, president of the area\u2019s neighborhood association.<\/p>\n Marks said he\u2019s got nothing against charter businesses who operate properly, but some customers were \u201cfighting, drunk, loud, screaming, after midnight, waking up people in the condo buildings, waking up everyone.\u201d Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner said his top priority is \u201cto keep people safe and to ensure that the quality of life of our residents and tourists are upheld to the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n Londono, standing on the docks after sending off two of her chartered yachts with groups of tourists, said the marina\u2019s shift away from charters and smaller vessels is transforming boating \u2014 long an egalitarian pursuit in Miami \u2014 into the domain of the wealthy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rich,\u201d she said, \u201care really putting the squeeze on us.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: Soft Insurance Market Hits Yachts, Boat World<\/a><\/p>\n