Stuck at home for the past six months, many of us have felt the urge for a lockdown splurge: a new sofa, perhaps a home cinema, or a new car.

Ultra High Net Worth Individuals, known as UHNWIs in the luxury industry, are no exception. Still, it may come as some surprise to learn that the summer of COVID has seen the busiest August for brokerage yacht sales in five years, with 32 superyachts changing hands on the secondhand market last month alone, according to a register of such sales maintained by BOAT International magazine.

Industry insiders gave The Daily Beast a number of different reasons for the rush, but ultimately it seems that, after a summer spent chafing at a byzantine network of travel restrictions like everyone else, HNWIs are looking for a loophole that might enable them to resume the business of vacationing. And your own bio-secure yacht, within driving or choppering distance of home, is just that.