Before May 2026: hauling, antifouling, crew contracts, berth, insurance. Five points yacht owners on Mallorca must not put off any longer.
May is the month on Mallorca when the season noticeably begins — and the month when many owners realise what they should have sorted in February or March. Yards that ought to take them in are fully booked. Crew contracts are unsigned. Insurers send new terms nobody has read. Marinas allocate annual berths by a logic that is communicated openly nowhere. This piece is the annually updated reality check for owners of a yacht on Mallorca — five points that should be settled before the first of May, ideally by early March.
1. Hauling and antifouling — the yard-calendar truth
Antifouling renewal is one of those items that cannot be deferred — every 12 to 24 months, depending on bottom condition and time spent in the water. The productive yard season for antifouling on Mallorca runs mid-February to early April; from mid-April the slots get tight, and from May they’re full.
Concretely: Astilleros de Mallorca and STP Palma are the addresses for larger yachts from 25–30 m, usually needing 3–6 weeks’ lead time. Marina Port de Mallorca (Porto Pi) and Real Club Náutico (smaller yard slots) are more pragmatic for yachts under 20 m and are usually ready to take you within 2 weeks. Anyone enquiring for the first time in April often ends up with a date after the season, mid-October.
Cost range for antifouling alone: €4,000 to €12,000 for yachts between 12 and 25 m, depending on bottom size and number of coats. For larger yachts (40 m+) it quickly runs into five figures. Anyone bundling the haul-out with an additional service (propeller polishing, saildrive service, anode change) saves the hauling cost once — a point the yards won’t suggest of their own accord.
The upshot for you: if your yacht hasn’t been in a yard slot yet in spring 2026, it’s late, but not too late. Call, ask, reserve a slot — even if it’s only in June or September. An unpainted yacht in season burns 8–15% more fuel and reduces manoeuvrability; that costs more than the yard work.
2. Crew contracts and availability
The good skippers, stews, and cooks are booked between February and April. Anyone still searching in early May searches at the market price plus a premium — and with a markedly smaller choice. Anyone running a professionally operated yacht should have crew contracts signed by 15 April at the latest.
Three points owners frequently overlook in crew preparation:
STCW certificates. On yachts from 24 m the crew must keep their relevant STCW modules current. Renewals run on 5-year cycles; many crew members do not renew proactively, only when the skipper prompts them. A crew member without a current STCW VI/1 effectively cannot sail.
Tax registration in Spain. For crew working mainly on a yacht registered for commercial charter in Spain, the Spanish social security (Seguridad Social) and payroll tax must be handled. Anyone doing this half-heartedly risks audits that can turn a small tax dispute into a large one. I know of at least two cases from 2024/2025.
Crew housing. Anyone letting professional crew live on the yacht outside high season should regulate it honestly in the contract — crew quarters, berth fees, provisioning. If this part is informal, it can lead to awkward discussions when a crew member changes.
The upshot: if you have no in-house HR function on board, working with one of the established yacht recruiters on Mallorca pays off — they know the crews, the availabilities, and the contracts. My management service can take on this placement if you haven’t built up your own structure.
3. Berth allocation — the invisible logic of the marinas
Anyone waiting for an annual berth at one of the premium marinas lives in a world of opaque allocation logic. The main allocation for the following season typically takes place in February/March — anyone still hoping in April usually hopes too long. Waiting lists are handled differently: Puerto Portals formally has a list, but in practice personal contact plays a role. Club de Mar works with owner profiles and yacht size as sorting criteria. Port Adriano has communicated much more openly since its 2012 rebuild and runs its list online.
What I tell owners planning a berth change, again and again:
Don’t initiate the change in April. In April the marina manager is fully occupied preparing for the season; a berth-change conversation gets almost no attention. In January or February — when the season business is still dormant — the marina is markedly more attentive.
State your real berth requirement, not your wish. Marinas allocate by hard criteria: yacht length, draft, tonnage. Anyone realistic in the enquiry gets a place faster than someone who declares two metres more “in case the next yacht is bigger”.
Don’t underestimate Tier-2 marinas. Anyone who doesn’t get a place in the top 3 should seriously consider Tier-2 harbours like Pollença, Sóller, or Cala d’Or. They cost 30–50% less per metre per day, are often quieter, and the logistical drawback (a longer run to the main region) is no showstopper for many owner profiles.
The upshot: if the berth for 2026 isn’t clear, call — directly to the marina manager, not the front desk. Up to mid-April the allocation logic runs differently than it does from early May.
4. Insurance rating — the item nobody reads
Yacht insurance was, between 2022 and 2024, a market with marked premium increases — globally, not specific to Mallorca. Various reinsurers reduced yacht capacity, classic insurers tightened terms. Anyone insuring a yacht for the first time in 2025/2026, or renewing an existing policy, often sees 8–15% higher premiums than in 2023, plus excess adjustments, plus geographic clauses (Caribbean season only with an additional premium, and so on).
Three points owners should check concretely before the season start:
Current valuation. Yachts typically lose 40–55% of their value in the first 5–7 years; after that the value stays stable for a long time. Anyone insuring a yacht at a book value from 5 years ago pays too much premium and, in a claim, gets only the current market value. An updated yacht valuation saves money.
Charter licence and insurance profile. A yacht chartered partly commercially needs a different policy than a pure private yacht. Many owners chartering their yacht for the first time forget the insurance adjustment — and find out in a claim.
Geographic cover. Anyone running Mallorca/Balearics in summer but planning the Caribbean in winter often needs an additional policy, or the main policy is regionally restricted. I check this point once a year on every management mandate; under self-management, the majority overlook it.
5. Survey status and CE conformity
For yachts not looked after annually by a professional manager, a full survey every 3–5 years pays off — by an independent marine surveyor, not the yard employee. This point is often only taken seriously when the yacht is to be sold. By then it’s late: a structural problem only just discovered reduces the sale price.
In practice: anyone planning in 2026 to sell the yacht in the next two to three years should do a survey in 2026 — work through the identified points concretely — and go to market in 2028 with a “survey-clean” yacht. That’s more effort at the start and a markedly higher sale price at the end.
On CE conformity and EU re-import: yachts imported from outside the EU need full CE documentation and, where applicable, re-certification. For older yachts (pre-1998) different rules apply. These points are specialist topics — here I usually refer to one of my survey partners, depending on the yacht’s age and origin.
Season start as routine, not as stress
Anyone working through these five points routinely before each season has, with high probability, a calm summer. Anyone who puts them off has, in May, exactly the problems everyone wants to avoid — and pays for them twice: in stress and on the bill.
If, as the owner of a yacht on Mallorca, you read this piece in spring and one of the points is still open: call, write to me. I can’t conjure up every yard slot, but I can usually create, within a week, a reality that’s workable. My management service is designed for exactly this ongoing support — not the spectacular purchase, but the twelve recurring matters per year that carry the yachting life.
This piece is updated every spring. Anyone reading it again in 2027 will find other figures, other yard realities, other insurance rates. What stays: season start is preparation — and preparation doesn’t begin in May.
The first of May is a poor moment to discover that the yard has no space until June — and that the insurer is sending a different bill than last year.
Updated on