La Datcha wins Blue Ocean Club award as charter value shifts from size to range

Damen Yachting has confirmed that the 77-metre La Datcha has been named Blue Ocean Club’s Charter Yacht of the Year 2026. The same yacht also won the 70-metre-plus category. The organiser assessed 25 finalists across five size classes, so this is a charter-experience award rather than a new-build or brokerage transaction.

For a buyer or owner, the result is more useful than a simple trophy note. Blue Ocean Club judged the factors that actually shape a week on board: destination reach, activity range, guest movement, service and equipment. La Datcha carries 12 guests in six suites with a crew of 18. Damen also points to helicopter facilities, a three-person submersible, dive systems, Ice Class capability and IMO Polar Code compliance.

What Does The Award Signal?

The practical lesson is clear: at the top of the charter market, length alone is no longer enough. A client is not only buying cabins and sun deck space. They are buying access to places that a conventional floating hotel cannot handle safely. An expedition yacht may cost more to operate, but it can defend its rate when the itinerary, equipment and procedures are genuinely different.

Our note on the real cost of charter made the same point from the budgeting side: base rate is only the start. With La Datcha, a charterer should ask about delivery fees, helicopter operations, pilotage, local permits, insurance and the crew qualifications behind the adventure programme.

A Lesson For Owners

For an owner considering a large yacht with charter use in mind, the award shows where the market rewards advantage. Guests remember more than the shipyard badge. They remember whether the yacht truly unlocked Antarctica, Kamchatka or remote atolls, and whether the days on board were organised rather than improvised.

An owner-side adviser such as W Yachts should therefore read the charter specification as closely as the technical one: which equipment works, who operates it, where the yacht will season and whether the programme can be sold without excessive repositioning cost.

La Datcha is not the answer for every buyer. It is, however, a sharp signal that in the 70-metre-plus segment, yachts with a credible journey plan can be more persuasive than yachts that merely offer more interior volume.