In many cases, Sunsail used to "upgrade" the owner to a bigger boat, just so they would see their boat. Evan is sort of correct, you do own the boat, but it isnt always available when you want to charter it.

If cruising horizon is 10 years out, it isn't worth the headache for 3 weeks/year. Spend your 3 weeks on different style of boats each year so you learn what you like and do not like. Just save some cash in a jar and cherry pick the boat you want in 10 years. Right now you can buy former charter boats a whole lot cheaper than they "projected".

I would stay away from FP boats.