More pragmatically, the big yachts are what keep the industry afloat and without them the options for the average sailor would be limited to say the least. There is not much business for the navel architects and boat yards out there when it comes to yachts and production yachts are already an endangered species.

Is this true? Production yachts seem to be going on anyway.

Yeah, the last trip I took to my yacht dealer was a real wake up call. Times are tough for us all I suppose.

Racing also helps support them, but most of that is also people with ridiculous amounts of money to throw around.

Not saying it is cheap, but production yachts seem to be going for $300-400k. That's like an RV, which you see around.

That sounds about right for the 30-40' range with decent gear and a finished interior. Some makers will sell bare hull, so no interior, no gear which can save a great deal of money. Most of us just exploit that boats depreciate just as quickly as cars and buy used.

Oh I wasn't aware of bare hull. That would actually be pretty cool. Always thought of building my own boat, but the hull part of it would be a deal killer.

But yeah. Most likely better to just buy a "used" boat if you want one of these new models... and save $100k!

Basic Freudian/machismo one-upmanship - "my rare and uber-expensive thingie is rarer and more expensive than your thingie".

Private (can do drugs, invite anyone, go to the middle of nowhere), huge and a novel piece of floating toy

Because superyachts are cool, that's why