Guest shuttling is the role most owners underweight at the build-spec stage and most captains overspend on at the refit stage. The mothership sits on anchor, the guests want to be at the beach club for lunch, and the boat that takes them in has to be dry, fast, quiet, and step-on/step-off effortless. A 12m open RIB will do it. So will a 16m limousine. The right answer depends on the geography, the guest count, and how often the run happens.
What "shuttling" actually means
In our experience, shuttle work falls into three brackets, and the spec follows the bracket:
- Anchorage to shore, two to four miles, six to eight guests, twice a day. This is the Mediterranean summer pattern. The brief is a limousine tender or a sub-15m sport tender with an enclosed wheelhouse and a covered aft cockpit.
- Bay-to-bay, ten to twenty miles, the parent yacht stays put while guests want to lunch at a different town. Here a chase boat starts to make sense, because you're up at 30+ knots for a meaningful run rather than at idle.
- Mothership to onward transport (a private jet, a yacht in a different marina, a road transfer). Often longer, often with luggage, sometimes with the principal alone. This is where the chase boat starts to look more like an executive transport platform.
If the programme is mostly bracket 1, a tender is the right tool. If it's mostly bracket 2 or 3, a purpose-built chase boat earns its garage space.
Guest comfort, not the boat's
The first principle of a shuttling brief is that nobody coming off the boat should look like they've been shuttled. That means:
- A boarding height that matches the parent yacht's swim platform within 50mm at neutral trim
- Handholds at the right height for an adult in a dress and heels, or a child being passed across
- A roof or canopy that handles spray at 25 knots, not a bimini that flaps
- Forward-facing seating with backrests, not bench-style cockpit seating that punishes anyone over 60
- A separate luggage area that doesn't put bags in guests' laps
- Quiet enough below 30 knots that conversation is possible at normal volume
Most of these requirements push the spec toward an enclosed or semi-enclosed wheelhouse, hydraulically damped seats, and a hull that's been engineered for ride comfort over outright speed. A monohull deep-V at 22 to 24 degrees deadrise is the usual answer; a stepped hull saves fuel but punishes guests in a chop.
Range, speed, and the fuel question
Shuttle distances rarely exceed 30 nautical miles one way. That means range is not the binding constraint; cruise comfort is. We brief 30 to 35 knots as a comfortable working cruise in 1.5m seas, with 200 nautical miles of range as a working buffer for misplanned days and the long run home in deteriorating weather.
For the fuel platform: outboards win on weight, payload, and shallow-water access (relevant in the Bahamas, the Adriatic islands, and most of South-East Asia). Inboard sterndrives win on noise and finish. Diesel jet drives win where the parent yacht's garage has tight draught constraints or where hull strikes are a real risk. The choice is geography first, owner preference second.
Operating constraints worth knowing
A guest-shuttling boat usually carries a Workboat Code certificate or operates under the parent's tender certification. At more than 12 passengers it crosses into Passenger Vessel territory, which adds substantial regulatory load (life raft capacity, two-crew minimum, periodic survey). Almost every guest-shuttling programme is therefore designed around a 12-passenger ceiling, with a second tender or chase boat handling overflow.
Crew strength is usually two: a skipper and a deckhand who handles lines, baggage and the welcome. Single-handed shuttling looks lean on paper and tends to deteriorate on the second guest swap of a day.
When the chase boat replaces the tender
There's a recurring pattern with 70m+ programmes: the tender garage is full, the limousine tender is in use for the principal, and the captain wants a second mobility asset that doesn't depend on the mothership's launch and recovery cycle. A 13 to 16m chase boat, kept on the shadow vessel or moored independently in the next bay, is the answer. It runs guests, it runs provisions, it runs crew swaps, and it doesn't compete with the limo for garage time.
If you're at that decision point now, start with the operating profile before the hull. The shuttle pattern dictates everything else.