What a sport tender actually is
A sport tender is a guest-carrying day boat that prioritises performance and driving feel over cargo volume or weather protection. Most sit between 8m and 14m, run on twin or triple petrol sterndrives, diesel waterjets, or surface drives, and target cruising speeds in the high thirties to mid forties knot range. They sit on the spectrum between a pure open tender and a true chase boat, closer in feel to a Riva Aquariva or Wally Tender than a SOLAS rescue craft.
The category exists because not every guest run is a transfer from a quayside in Monaco to a marina hotel. Some are 30 nautical miles to a beach club at speed, with the principal at the wheel. A sport tender is the boat the owner asks for when they want to drive themselves.
Where it sits in the fleet
Most sport tenders are carried as the second or third tender on motor yachts in the 50m-plus bracket. The primary platform is usually a limousine tender for formal guest transfers in inclement weather. The sport tender takes day-cruise duty, water-sports towing, and occasional dock-hopping.
Owners who want a single performance platform and have garage space will sometimes specify a sport tender as the only tender, accepting that wet-weather transfers will be made in foul-weather gear. That decision usually goes hand in hand with a parallel chase boat programme, where the chase boat covers the longer-range, all-weather work.
Build profile and construction
The dominant construction method is vacuum-infused E-glass with foam or balsa core, sometimes with carbon reinforcement in the deck and superstructure to keep weight down. Full carbon hulls exist (Wally, Pascoe carbon programmes, custom builds out of Italy) and shave 15-25% off displacement at a meaningful price premium. For a 10m sport tender that translates to roughly 400-700kg of saved weight, which a 50m mothership's tender garage crane usually appreciates.
Hull forms split into:
- Stepped V planing hulls for the 40-knot-plus end of the category. Common on Pascoe, Vikal, and Hodgdon sport variants
- Deep-V for ride quality at 30-38 knots in chop. Riva, Wajer, and most Italian production sport tenders
- Surface-piercing or partially-submerged drivelines on the 50-knot-plus performance end, usually paired with carbon hulls
Driveline options
Three live options for the 8-14m range:
- Petrol sterndrive (Mercury, Volvo Penta) - light, cheap to install, simple to service, but petrol storage is a problem on a yacht set up for diesel bunkering. Range is shorter and onboard fuel handling adds risk
- Diesel waterjet (Yanmar with Hamilton or Castoldi, Volvo with Konrad) - the default for European builds. Heavier and 5-10 knots slower than petrol for equivalent power, but uses the mothership's existing fuel and is shallow-draft for beach landings
- Diesel surface drive (Arneson, France Helices) - best top-end efficiency above 45 knots, but high maintenance burden and not a beach-friendly choice
The petrol versus diesel question is usually settled by the mothership's bunkering setup. If you're carrying separate petrol cans, you're already losing the argument with the classification surveyor.
Capacity and certification
Sport tenders are typically certified for 8-12 guests at coastal or near-coastal range, depending on the classification regime the mothership operates under. CE Category B (offshore) or Category C (inshore) covers most builds. SOLAS rescue duty is rare; that role usually sits with a dedicated SOLAS tender on the bigger end of the fleet.
Crew complement is one or two: a captain and an optional deckhand for line handling at marinas. The boat is small enough that the principal can drive it without crew aboard for short hops, which is part of the appeal.
Builders to know
The sport tender category is dominated by a handful of European yards, most of which appear in our builders directory:
- Wally - the Wally Tender 48 and 43 effectively created the modern sport tender category
- Vikal - Australian builder, strong on custom carbon sport platforms for the 80m-plus market
- Pascoe International - UK yard, full range from limo to sport, vacuum-infused composite
- Hodgdon - US builder, custom carbon sport tenders for the larger US-flag programmes
- Wajer - Dutch, the Wajer 55S and 77 sit at the day-boat end of the sport category
- Riva - Aquariva and El-Iseo cover the smaller end with traditional mahogany styling
For a deeper read on driveline and hull selection by use case, see how to choose a superyacht tender.
Cost expectations
A new 9-11m diesel waterjet sport tender from a tier-one European yard runs roughly EUR 600,000 to EUR 1.4m ex-shipyard, depending on layout, build content, and electronics package. Carbon construction adds 25-40%. A 13-14m custom sport tender in carbon with a triple driveline and full electronics can clear EUR 3m. The cost of a superyacht tender page breaks the build cost down by category and length.
The used market is shallow at the top end. A four-year-old Pascoe or Wajer tender holds 60-75% of new value if it has been kept in a heated garage and serviced through the dealer network. Storm-tossed deck-stowed tenders depreciate harder. Check our used tenders inventory and the pre-owned faceted listings for current availability.
Specification questions to settle early
Before you commission a sport tender or sign on a used hull, work through:
- Garage envelope and crane capacity. Sport tenders are denser than open tenders for the same length. See tender garage sizing for the geometry
- Fuel type. Diesel always if the mothership bunkers diesel only
- Driveline access for service. Waterjet impellers, sterndrive bellows, and surface drive bearings all need haul-out access
- Seating layout. Forward sun pad versus aft U-sofa changes the boat's whole personality
- Bow thruster yes or no. Worth fitting on anything 10m-plus that will dock single-handed
- Tow point or ski pole. If the boat doubles as a water-sports platform, the structural reinforcement has to be in the moulding from day one
The detailed spec template lives in our tender specification guide.
When a sport tender is the wrong answer
If guest comfort in 25-knot winds matters more than top speed, a limousine tender is the right boat. If the use case is sport fishing, diving, or 200nm shuttles, you want a chase boat instead. If the principal wants a beach-landing, shallow-draft tender for the Bahamas or East Africa, look at beachlanders or catamaran tenders.
The sport tender is a specific answer to a specific question: how do you let an owner who likes driving fast boats actually drive a fast boat from the mothership. If that isn't the question, it isn't the answer.
For tailored selection on a specific programme, contact us with the mothership LOA, garage dimensions, and the routes the boat will run. We brief, source, and broker independently across the European and US sport-tender market.