A New Way to Escape from New York

Sailo makes booking a boat ride as easy as hailing a cab.

Half the appeal of owning a yacht is taking care of the details, polishing the hull, aligning the wheel. After all, these sea-crossing manifestations of freedom don’t sail—or staff, cater, and otherwise do anything—themselves. Still, skipping all that and just hitting the water is sometimes a more appeal proposition and thanks to a new service name Sailo, it’s a matter of a few clicks for New Yorkers. Think of Sailo as Uber for boats (and the captains that come with them). The service allows you to easily book a private ride, without having to deal with charter services or fighting for deck space with map-gazing tourists. And, in case you’re worried about shoals or dry cleaning bills, they even throw in a $1 million insurance policy.

Even if your ultimate goal is to skip town and sail to St. Barths, the site’s good for not so dry runs. “We have spoken to people who are excited to host parties like launch parties, bachelorette parties, anniversaries and birthdays,” says SailocofounderDelphineBraas. “Instead of having to cram all of their friends onto a crowded rooftop with overpriced drinks, they can have the Hudson River as their backdrop.” So imagine, if you will, planning a date for your lady that involves a surprise moonlit cruise, or getting your buddies together for an afternoon of shark fishing. Sounds pretty great.

The service, which just went live this August, allows users to quickly choose between sail boats, power boats, and human-powered boats (canoes and all that). For now, it’s just operating in the TriState Area, but that will change soon enough. Word travels almost as fast as motor yachts.

Photos by Atlantide Phototravel / Corbis

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