Browsing: Beneteau

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Beneteau Launches New Project E – Big Luxury Cruisers

Beneteau has some big news: It’s starting Project E to launch two new luxurious cruising boats, a 62 and a 73, its largest boats yet, and they’ll have innovative displacement hulls for comfort, space and range. The “E” stands for “expedition,” among other things, and the company says the 62 (pictured above) will have a range of 900 nm at 8 knots, while the 73 (pictured at top) will have a range of 1,400 nm at 10 knots. Announcing the new boats at the Düsseldorf show, Beneteau says they are designed to build on the popularity of its Swift Trawler…

Cruising Life
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Beneteau, Pardo, Solaris: Winners of Boat of the Year Awards

The European Powerboat of the Year Awards were just announced on the opening night of the Düsseldorf show, and the winners included Beneteau, Pardo, Solaris and, in a special category, Volvo Penta. This was the 14th year the awards were announced at a gala dinner. They were chosen by an expert jury from Europe’s leading boat testing organizations and eight leading powerboat magazines. The boat awards were in five categories: Up to 25 feet; up to 35 feet; up to 45 feet; over 45 feet; and displacement (regardless of length). The winners, chosen from a field of 23 nominees, are:…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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New Beneteau Gran Turismo 36 with Optional Outboards

The new, French-inspired Gran Turismo 36 is the latest express cruiser in Beneteau’s lineup, and it’s made for the American market in Cadillac, Michigan. It’s also the first Gran Turismo with optional outboard power, although it comes with sterndrives too. The Gran Turismo 36 is open, light-filled and has lots of curves. It’s designed for entertaining and having fun on the water, and it’s two cabins below mean it also can be used for cruising with a family or friends. And it has sun lounging areas both fore and aft. Seven people can fit in the cockpit lounge, and the…

Cruising Life
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Beneteau Starts Epic Cruise from Seattle to San Diego on New Swift Trawler 47

Beneteau’s Swift Pacific Adventure is now well underway, an epic voyage down the West Coast from Seattle to San Diego on a new Beneteau Swift Trawler 47. The boat, escorted by a Swift Trawler 35 and a Swift Trawler 44, left Lake Union and traversed the Ballard Locks, went up Puget Sound to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and then turned left. Here’s the description from Jackson Willett, the captain on board, as the boat “headed into the open swell of the Pacific and the rounding of Cape Flattery. With 10-to-12-foot rollers on the nose, the Swift Trawler unflinchingly…

Cruising Life
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Dream Boat Clubs To Open Across U.S., Offering Low-Cost, Worry-Free Boating

Here’s something that seems like the right idea at the right time. Riding the wave of a sharing economy, Dream Yacht Charter just announced that it will start the Dream Boat Club in the United States, offering members access to a wide variety of powerboats at a reasonable price. In the announcement at the Miami Boat Show, Dream Boat Club said it would partner with Zodiac and Beneteau to roll out clubs in the U.S. Dream Boat Clubs were started just two years ago in Marseilles, France, and have proven popular in Europe. They give people access to boating without…

Cruising Life
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Aquila, Beneteau, Introduce Foils on Cruising Powerboats

Foils, it seems, are coming to powerboats. Introduced on America’s Cup and other racing  sailboats a few years ago, they are now being tested and launched on recreational powerboats. At the Miami boat show, Aquila announced it would offer foils as a $27,000 option on their 36-foot cruiser, while in France, Beneteau announced that they had just tested foils on a 31-foot prototype. In Miami, Lex Raas, the president of Aquila (part of MarineMax), displayed a model of the foil that sits between the hulls of the Aquila 36 catamaran. There’s a relatively large foil in the middle of the…

Cruising Life
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Beneteau, Tactical and Raymarine Win Best in Show Awards in Vancouver

The Beneteau Swift Trawler 35 (pictured above), the Tactical T-40 and Raymarine’s ClearCruise Augmented Reality all just won Best in Show awards at the Vancouver International Boat Show in British Columbia. The awards, now in their fifth year, were given by Pacific Yachting magazine. Beneteau’s Swift Trawler 35 won the award for Best Powerboat 39 Feet and Under. The judges said it seemed larger than its 35 feet and liked its innovative use of space, particularly the head with enclosed shower and the walk-around forward berth. They noted that the 35 was Beneteau’s effort to improve its most popular model, the…

Cruising Life
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Monte Carlo Yachts Introduces New MCY 70, A Light-Filled, High-Style 30-Knot Cruiser

Monte Carlo Yachts just introduced its new MCY 70 at the Düsseldorf boat show, a new, more modern and light-filled version of the popular 70 it launched more than a decade ago that won plaudits and awards in Europe and the U.S. The new MCY 70 is a four-stateroom, three-head cruiser, designed by Nuvolari Lenard, and driven by twin 1,200-hp MAN diesels. The company says it has a 24-knot cruising speed and a 30-knot top speed. With its contemporary Italian look, the new MCY 70 has lots of straight lines and lots of interior space for comfortable living on board.…

Cruising Life
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Lots of Enthusiasm, Happy People, at the New York Boat Show

It seemed like old times, the best of times, on Saturday afternoon at the New York Boat  Show. The aisles at the Javits Center were filled with people looking at the 350 new boats and probably a thousand or so new boating accessories, and everybody seemed in a good mood. “We just had one of our best  years ever,” a New England dealer told me. “And it looks like this one is off to a pretty good start.” People were lined up to look at the new boats; indeed, the line to climb on the Azimut 60, the queen of…

Boat Reviews
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On Watch

Beneteau Launches New Swift Trawler 47, Plans Major Expansion in U.S. By Peter A. Janssen Beneteau just launched its new Swift Trawler 47, a three-cabin, 25-knot, user-friendly family cruiser at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, where the French company also announced a major expansion in the U.S. market. It plans to build more outboard-powered pocket cruisers, as well as more of its Jeanneau cruisers, in its Michigan factory. But it was the new Swift Trawler that caught my eye, particularly since I had spent a week on board a Swift Trawler 34 a few years ago as part of…