The First Owner's Reference, a guide for first-time superyacht buyers

An independent annual publication for first-time superyacht buyers, edited by the directors of Watermans, is live online, with a numbered print edition to follow in January 2027.

The First Owner's Reference is an annual editorial publication for people buying their first superyacht. It is edited by Jack MacNally and Daniel Marks, the directors of Watermans, and the full text is free to read at firstownersreference.com.

The publication carries no advertising, advertorial, sponsored content or paid placement. Guest contributors are named and are not paid, and any commercial relationship is disclosed beside the piece. Prices appear only where they are backed by published market data or by practitioner data aggregated across at least five projects.

Its nine chapters run from the reality of ownership and reading the market, through how the industry works, the acquisition process, new build against brokerage, refit and operations, to motor against sail and a framework for the decision, with tools for yacht VAT, crew salaries and running costs alongside.

The first print edition, dated 2027, goes to press in January. It is limited to five hundred casebound copies, numbered and signed by the editors, and copies can be requested through the publication's website.