What this category covers
Chase boat and support entries cover the vessels that run alongside or in support of a mothership rather than living in her garage. That includes proper chase boats (fast day platforms in the 12 to 25 metre range), shadow vessels and support yachts (larger displacement craft that carry toys, helicopters, or submarines), and the operational language that goes with running them as a programme.
Why it matters
For owners moving up from a single-tender setup, the chase boat conversation is where the use case starts to drive the fleet rather than the other way round. Sport fishing, diving, and family day-boat use each pull the spec in a different direction, and the boat that suits a Bahamian shoal week is not the boat that suits a transatlantic cruise alongside a fifty-metre. The vocabulary in this category is what makes those distinctions precise.
For captains, chase and support operations introduce a second crew, a second fuel plan, and a second maintenance log. The terminology around towing, shadowing, station-keeping, and rendezvous is how the two crews stay coordinated across a season.
For project managers and shipyards, support vessels and shadows are large capital projects in their own right. Knowing the difference between a true shadow vessel, a support yacht, and an oversized chase boat changes the design brief, the build cost, and the resale market.
Where it shows up
- The chase boats pillar and the what is a chase boat spoke are the main entry points for this vocabulary.
- The support vessels pillar and the shadow yachts and expedition support yachts spokes pick up the larger-scale terms.
- The chase boat vs tender and support yacht vs chase boat comparisons use these terms to draw the category lines clearly.