Best Spring Ever - Yacht for a Fraction of the Cost

Spring 2010 has the potential to be the best season ever. It's all about how you spend your time, and if you've felt enough recession pangs and loathe sitting unfabulously indoors to avoid the cold, consider yachting.

Once a luxury kept for the very wealthy, yachting has become somewhat affordable when you consider the average yacht price is somewhere upwards of $1 million and the upkeep costs never end. Enter Carefree Boat Club, which operates in 24 locations from Texas to Washington D.C., has a system where prospective yachtsmen pay an initiation fee ($4,000–$15,000) and then a monthly membership of $199–$499. This gives access to unlimited yachting. Unlimited yachting! A minimum of $6,400 for a year of yachting may be too rich for my blood, but for a lot of people, that's a darn reasonable price, and a heck of a great value.

When you sign up and get to your nearest marina, a staff member will brief you on weather conditions and assist you, family and friends with getting into an awesome boat: 18–27-foot cruisers, bowriders and pontoons as well as deck-, fishing-, ski- or sailboats.

You can even plan your vacation around where you know there's a club, so that wherever you go, you can set sail anytime you like. Membership also means invitations to Boat Club gatherings like charity events, holiday parties and seminars on topics like navigation and fishing.

You can tweet that you're on a yacht all the time like Donald Trump without paying for the vessel, slip fees, insurance, maintenance, repair, taxes, towing coverage, fishing license, or depreciation. Doesn't spring look promising now?

Photo by jenschapter3 via Flickr.