This page contains affiliate and referral links. If you charter, book, or buy through them we earn a referral fee, paid by the broker or platform, at no cost to you. We have not adjusted our rankings for the referral rate. Full breakdown on our how-we-make-money page.
Sea Eagle II is 81m LOA, built Royal Huisman 2020, the largest aluminium sailing yacht in the world and the largest sailing yacht on the open charter market as of May 2026. Three-masted schooner rig, Dykstra naval architecture, Mark Whiteley interior. Twelve guests in 6 cabins. Asking around Sea Eagle II weekly rate as of May 2026, commonly cited €700K to €800K per week, peak Mediterranean, plus 30 to 35 percent APA and VAT. She is the answer to "the biggest sailing yacht I can actually charter," and the calendar fills accordingly.
This piece is the calendar, the spec sheet, the operating model, and the punch list of what we would change before signing. If you read this and want to charter her, you charter through, and you book early. We mean 9 to 14 months early for peak Med and Caribbean.
Specs that matter
81m LOA, 12m beam, 5m draft (board up), 7.4m draft (board down), 1,930 GT. Aluminium hull and superstructure. Built at Royal Huisman's Vollenhove yard, hull number 401, delivered 2020. Dykstra Naval Architects on the naval architecture and rig design. Mark Whiteley Design on the interior. Three masts in a schooner arrangement: a 64m mainmast plus a fore and a mizzen. Roughly 3,500 square metres of sail flying upwind across mainsail, foresail, mizzen, three jibs, two staysails, and a flying gennaker.
Propulsion is conventional diesel-electric not pure hybrid. Two Caterpillar C32 ACERT diesels coupled to electric motors that drive a single shaft and a feathering propeller. The propeller feathers under sail to reduce drag. There is no DynaRig regeneration of the Black Pearl variety. Top speed under sail is in the high teens with the right breeze. Under engine she runs 13 to 14 knots, range around nautical miles at economical cruise.
Guest layout is the point. Twelve guests in 6 cabins: a full-beam master on the main deck with a private deck space forward, two VIP doubles, two twins convertible to doubles, and one further cabin. A skylight saloon with floor-to-ceiling glazing runs the upper deck. Below is a wellness space with, and aft is a beach club with the tender garage and the toy load. Twelve guests is the firm number. Sea Eagle II is not a thirteen-guest yacht with a Pullman conversion in cabin six. Do not let a broker tell you it is.
Why she is what she is
Royal Huisman builds about one yacht of this scale per decade, and Sea Eagle II is the current generation. The build cost is reported in the band, which puts the operating cost in a particular bracket. To make economic sense, the yacht has to charter several weeks a year, and she does. As of 2026 she runs a normal Med-summer plus Caribbean-winter calendar with delivery passages between, which is structurally similar to a 70m motor yacht in the same charter tier.
The operating culture is not. Royal Huisman aluminium sailing yachts attract a particular kind of captain and a particular kind of senior deck crew. The captain's tenure on Sea Eagle II since her launch has been, and the chief engineer is reportedly the same person who saw her through delivery from Vollenhove. The interior service team is on standard rotation and turns over more than the deck team. When you charter her, the people running the sailing are the people who have run the sailing since the yacht was new, and the people running the cabins may be in their first season. This shows up in the way the week works.
The 2026 calendar
As of May 2026, the calendar pattern looks like this. The yacht is in. Confirmed peak-summer weeks in the Western Mediterranean run from late June through August. Open shoulder weeks in early June and late September are usually the available windows for a 9 to 12 month booking. The November transatlantic delivery to the Caribbean is closed to charter (the yacht is being moved, not earning). Caribbean season runs December through April with the same booking dynamic: peak Christmas and New Year are reserved long in advance, and the available windows are shoulder January and post-Easter April.
Repositioning weeks (May Med arrival and November Caribbean departure) occasionally come up at a discount in the range. We have written separately about repositioning weeks on charter and what to expect. For a sailing-yacht client willing to do a one-way crossing rather than a fixed loop, those weeks are the value proposition.
Rate, APA, and what to negotiate
Asking is in the rate band, often cited €700K to €800K per week range, peak Med, as of May 2026. Caribbean winter pricing runs roughly the same band in dollars. APA is 30 to 35 percent, depending on the itinerary brief. VAT applies in EU waters at the country rate (the French and Italian treatments are different and matter for a yacht moving across borders). Crew gratuity is 5 to 15 percent at trip end, in line with yacht crew tipping norms.
What is negotiable. Shoulder dates, full stop. The rate on a confirmed shoulder week is not the same as the rate on a peak week, and the broker has more room than they will lead with. The APA percentage on a coastal Med itinerary that does not include long passages can come down 2 to 3 points. Repositioning weeks are negotiable as a different product, not a discount on the Med rate.
What is not negotiable. The peak summer rate. The 12-guest cap. The base-included tender and water-toy fleet, which is what the yacht owns and not what the broker can promise to procure.
Crew and service
Crew complement is around 15. Captain by name with. Chief stewardess. Chef. The deck team is the senior part of the operation and the people who actually sail the rig. On a charter week the deck team is what the technical sailing-yacht client is paying for, and they are good at it.
Service is more variable than the sailing. The yacht has gone through reported turnover in the interior team since 2020, which is normal for a yacht in extended charter rotation. The chief stew sets the tone and the variability between weeks tracks who is under the chief stew. We would ask the broker for the names of the current interior team, the dates they came aboard, and a candid read on continuity through the week we are booking.
The friction
Three things, in order.
First, the wellness space. The reported is not in the same league as the equivalent space on a comparable 70m-plus motor yacht. If wellness is a charter priority, that is a real comparison to make against the motor-yacht alternative. The yacht's selling point is the rig and the sailing, not the spa.
Second, the helipad situation. Sea Eagle II is not helipad-equipped, certified or otherwise. For most sailing-yacht clients that is fine. For a charter party that plans helicopter transfers in and out as a normal part of the week, the absence is a different conversation than it would be on a same-size motor yacht. We have written separately about yacht helipads, touch-and-go vs certified, and Sea Eagle II is on the wrong side of that line.
Third, the cabin-six Pullman thing. The yacht is rated for 12 guests in 6 cabins, and we have heard the cabin-six Pullman pitched as accommodating a thirteenth in a tight party. We would not. The yacht's coding and the service ratio assume 12. Plan for 12.
What we have passed on
We have passed on detailing the interior wood specification, the textile choices, and the lighting design. None of it is the reason to charter the yacht. We have also passed on the build-cost speculation that circulates around all yachts in this tier, because no figure is publicly confirmed.
Comparable sailing alternatives
If Sea Eagle II is unavailable for your dates, the alternatives are these.
Maltese Falcon, 88m, Perini Navi 2006. The DynaRig comparable. Three rotating masts, 2,400 square metres of sail. The technology is older and the operating culture is more theatrical, but the experience is genuinely different. Asking. Full notes in the Maltese Falcon charter profile.
M5, 78m, Vosper Thornycroft 2004 / Pendennis refit 2019. The largest single-mast sloop in the world. A 90m carbon mast and 1,800 square metres of sail. Twelve guests in 6 cabins. For a sailing-yacht client who specifically wants a sloop instead of a schooner, M5 is the answer. Full notes in the M5 charter profile.
Athena, 90m, Royal Huisman 2004. The previous-generation Royal Huisman schooner. Smaller guest capacity (10 in 5 cabins) and an older interior. She cycles in and out of the charter market and her 2026 status is. The notes are in Athena.
Black Pearl, 106.7m, Oceanco 2018. Not on the open charter market and we do not expect that to change soon. We covered the reasons in Black Pearl charter status.
Verdict
If you want the largest sailing yacht you can actually charter, in 2026, you want Sea Eagle II. The sailing is the product, and the deck team is the reason the sailing works. Pay attention to the interior team continuity, do not chase a thirteenth guest, and book early. If you cannot get the dates you want and you are not flexible on shoulder, look at M5 next.
If your trip plan is post-Caribbean-charter time ashore in St Barths during regatta season, the team next door at HotelsForKings has the St Barths list for pre- and post-charter accommodations.
Last updated
May 2026. We update this page when the rate, calendar, central agent, or crew status materially changes.
FAQ
Where is Sea Eagle II in May 2026?. The pattern is Mediterranean April to October, Caribbean December to April, with delivery passages between.
Can Sea Eagle II do an Atlantic crossing as part of a charter? Yes. The November and April crossings are occasionally offered as charter weeks, usually at a different rate structure. The crossings are reported to take under sail and engine combined.
How does sailing on a schooner feel different from motor yacht charter? At 81m she heels less than a smaller sailing yacht under most conditions, in the 5 to 10 degree range upwind in a fresh breeze. Service continues during sail. The acoustic difference is the larger one: no main-engine noise for hours at a time. The trade is itinerary flexibility, because routing depends on wind on at least one leg per day.
Is Sea Eagle II MCA-coded for commercial charter? Yes, she is MCA-compliant for commercial charter and operates under. The certification matters for charter clients because it sets minimum crew standards and equipment.
What tender does she carry?. The tender garage is in the beach club aft of the engine room. Water-toy fleet includes.