It seems to be award season overseas. Two weeks ago, the editors of eight European boating magazines (all on the continent) announced their annual European Power Boat Awards. Now we have nine new Motor Boat Awards from the editors of Motor Boat & Yachting in the UK.
The annual Motor Boat Awards are usually announced at the Düsseldorf show, but it was cancelled because of the pandemic. Instead, the top editors of Motor Boat & Yachting announced the awards in a virtual ceremony from a marina in Southampton.
The awards are for new boats that the editors sea-trialed and tested in eight size categories, plus one Judges Special Award. (The Princess F45 is pictured at top.) The editors considered the boats’ design, ability, and value for money. Here are the awards, with excerpts from the editors;
Sportsboats Up To 30 Feet
Axopar 22 Spyder. The editors call it a “fabulous entry-level model,” saying the “baby Axopar sets a new standard for starter boats.” They said “it is approachable, safe and very easy to handle…It also is an enormous amount of fun to drive.” The Axopar 22 Spyder’s sistership, the Axopar 22 T-Top, won the European Power Boat Award in its class.
Sportsboats Over 30 Feet
Saxdor 320 GTO. “We were taken aback by just how good the 320 GTO is. It seems to cram everything you would want from a sporty open day boat into a good-looking 32-foot package and then add a few bonus tricks of its own, such as folding balconies, see-through bulwarks and a comfortable cuddy cabin with separate heads.”
SUVs
Brabus Shadow 900XC. The Brabus Shadow “won out because of its peerless combination of practical Axopar underpinnings, lashings of sinister glamour, and performance to knock not just your socks off but your deck shoes as well. The twin 450-hp Mercury Racing outboards produce such laughably easy performance that cruising at 40 knots feels almost compulsory, and we have rarely been at the helm of a boat that can make 60 knots feel so…normal.”
Sportscruisers Up To 45 Feet
Bavaria SR41. The editors noted that there are a several family-focused, well-priced sportscruisers, “but the SR41 is a rare beast that appeals to both the head and the heart.” The new Bavaria offers “a lot of bang for your buck,” they said, and “is a fine looking boat with tidy proportions and a sleek roofing.” It also has “lots of clever thinking, including a dinette mounted above the bathing platform.”
Sportscruisers Over 45 Feet
Sunseeker 65 Sport Yacht. The editors said the Sunseeker 65 has “nimble handling and near 35-knot performance that belies its size.” The yacht offers “the benefit of a fully enclosed salon and an inside helm station, complete with its own sunroof,” plus an “innovative Skyhelm on the sunken flybridge deck with its supercar driving position and lift-up helm pod.”
Flybridges Up To 60 Feet
Princess F45. The F45 is the smallest in Princess’ flybridge range, and the editors praised its “thoroughly different accommodation layout” and its beautiful interior from Pininfarina. They said the F45 “delivers unparalleled space, quality, and flexibility,” and called it “a breathtaking beautiful craft. A truly brilliant cruising boat for a family.”
Flybridges Over 60 Feet
Princess Y72. The second Princess to win an award, the editors said the Y72 is ‘finished to high standards,” writing that “for all its glamour, polish and detail, Princess also gets the formula right when it comes to seakeeping. It is as comfortable thundering along at 30 knots as it is with its stabilizers engaged slipping along in single figures.”
Custom Yachts
Bluegame BG72. “Being bigger doesn’t always equate to being better,” the editors said, “but in the case of the Bluegame BG72 it really does bring significant advantages.” Putting the engines in a separate compartment under a vast stern platform leaves the rest of hull free for a variety of accommodations, they said, and creates “a spectacular beach club area to rival craft twice its size.” “Those glass door lead through into a water-level, full-beam space that can either be fitted out as a fabulous salon with a view or as the coolest owner’s cabin you’ll find on any 72-footer.”
Judges’ Special Award
Candela C-7. The editors said, ““Candela has achieved what many thought was impossible – making electric boats cool again.” They said the Candela’s stylish looks, 30-knot performance, and 50-nm range were all praiseworthy. “However,” they said, “it’s Candela’s computer-controlled foiling technology that really elevates it another level, both literally and figuratively.” Read more:
