15 of the best boats to look out for at this year’s Boat Shows
As summer draws to a close we pick some of the most interesting boats set to be launched during this year's boat show season
The northern hemisphere summer is drawing to a close and for sailors this means that boat show season is upon us. With dozens of world premieres among the line-up at Cannes, Genoa and Southampton Boat Shows, here’s our pick of the most interesting new yachts on display in 2024.
Best boats in 2024’s Boat Shows
Ice 66RS
In a departure from Ice’s long-standing relationship with Felci design, this stunning Italian offering, with crisp and minimalistic styling, is the result of a collaboration between Micheletti & Partners, who were responsible for interior and exterior styling, and Farr Yacht Design. Construction is of infused hybrid carbon sandwich for the hull and full carbon for the deck. Spars are also of carbon, with EC6 carbon standing rigging.
The deck layout, including a pair of electric winches ahead of each helm station, is designed to enable the boat to be handled by a single watch keeper.
Yet this is a beautifully spacious yacht with three or four cabin layouts that offer plenty of privacy, plus generous saloon and galley areas. Ice founder Marco Malgara is particularly excited about this one and you can expect a delicious helming experience.
Wauquiez 55
The first new launch from this renowned French yard for six years is a centre cockpit yacht aimed at the premium end of the market and packed with excellent ideas. Below decks the boat has a number of surprises, including the owner’s aft cabin with extensive windows onto the bathing platform and its own aft entrance. This creates a space with an entirely different feel to that of any other production yacht of a similar size.
The Lombard-designed hull shape aims to maximise stability, while the reverse sheer is an intrinsically stiff shape that improves performance and comfort by reducing weight in the ends of the boat. Options include three rigs, two keels, and two interior layouts.
Contest 63CS
This family owned Dutch yard has produced some of the very best semi-custom large cruising yachts, with sparkling sailing performance and a very high build quality. The latest model is a powerful and spacious centre cockpit sloop with sleek lines by naval architects Judel/Vrolijk, plus interior styling by superyacht stars Wetzels Brown Partners.
It’s intended as a boat that can be sailed by family and friends, but also has an option to accommodate crew if necessary. Sail handling systems are set up for simplicity and ease of handling, with a choice of in-boom or in-mast mainsail reefing and the option of a self-tacking inner jib. All lines are led aft and can be controlled from the pedestals immediately forward of the helm stations. Below decks a large number of variations are possible, including a four-cabin family layout, or three cabins plus crew quarters.
Solaris 55
At Genoa Boat show
The latest in this range of sleek performance cruisers looks like the ideal way for the Aquileia yard to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
It’s another Javier Soto Acebal design with twin rudders and a hydrodynamically efficient hull shape, with a chine forward and lots of flare above the waterline aft. We featured it in more detail in our May issue noting that the key differences over the seven-year-old 55 are the longitudinal tender garage and ability to offer three heads with separate shower compartments.
Adi Design was responsible for the interior that has provision for an optional en suite crew cabin. Extensive glazing at the aft end of the coachroof helps to flood the aft cabins with natural light and improve ventilation in these areas.
Two performance Grand Soleils
At Cannes Yachting Festival
At Genoa Boat show
The Grand Soleil 52 Performance is the latest collaboration between naval architect Matteo Polli and Nauta Design, who were responsible for exterior styling, interiors and layouts. The result is an elegant and stunning yacht with a high stability, high performance hull shape.
The yard says it’s ‘intended for competent, passionate and very demanding owners who do not want to compromise on performance and comfort’. As with other models in the range it’s available in both Performance and Race versions, with the former optimised for sporty, yet comfortable, cruising.
The Grand Soleil 65 Performance follows in the wake of the Long Cruise version – which was our cover model and for which we did a full review last month – based on the same hull, but with a streamlined deckhouse and sportier styling. The concept was curated and finessed by Italian racer Franco Corazza, who has a dozen national championship wins, plus European and world titles.
Performance targets match those of the earlier Grand Soleil 72, with the mast positioned well aft to maximise the size of the foretriangle and therefore also reaching and downwind sails. This helps to create a sail plan with a relatively low centre of effort that reduces heel angles.
The yard has made further steps toward sustainability, including the use where appropriate of linen fibres, bio resins and water-based paints.
Hanse 360 and 590
At Cannes Yachting Festival
At Southampton Boat Show
At Genoa Boat show
These two models fill out Hanse’s acclaimed new Berret-Racoupeau-designed range that launched with the Hanse 460 in 2021. All five models to date feature very spacious accommodation, combined with surprisingly quick and civilised sailing performance.
Like her larger stablemates the 360 offers accommodation volumes that are not normally associated with a yacht of this size, including a large forward owner’s cabin with a peninsula bed. In all 12 layout options are offered in two or three cabin formats with either one or two heads.
The deck layout is ergonomic under sail, yet the cockpit is also designed for outdoor living, with a large table, big fold-down platform aft and an optional barbecue for cooking outside.
The 590 is the yard’s new flagship and a replacement for the long running and successful 588, with a lot more volume, giving room for a very spacious owners cabin. Hanse says the optional hard top is the largest in its class and there’s a large 3.1m dinghy garage with electric launching system.
Lagoon 43 and 60
Lagoon celebrates 40 years in business this year, over which time it has built over 7,000 yachts. The Lagoon 43 is a replacement for one of the most important models in the range, the Lagoon 42, which has sold more than 1,000 units and is claimed to be the most popular cruising catamaran ever produced. No pressure then!
It’s a semi flybridge model with a forward cockpit and is available in three cabin/three heads and four cabin/four head layouts. All the cabins are larger than those of the earlier boat, with bigger beds, while the saloon and cockpit areas can be configured for dining for up to 12 people. Other new features include doors in the topsides aft to allow easy access to the cockpit from a pontoon.
The full flybridge Lagoon 60 offers palatial accommodation on a near superyacht scale. It’s available in four cabin/galley below and five cabin/galley up arrangements, plus optional crew cabins forward in each hull. As reported in April, the aft cockpit can be fully opened out onto the water, including hull sides that hinge down, creating an area even wider than the yacht’s 32ft beam allows.
It is offered with Lagoon’s innovative new furling boom system, a project the company has worked on for many years to help ease sail handling.
Rapido 53XS
This Morrelli & Melvin design is a long-awaited development of the Rapido 50 ultra-fast cruising trimaran. It retains the original shape below the waterline, while additional topsides flare and a much wider coachroof create significant additional accommodation in a three-cabin layout.
At the same time, the central daggerboard of the original design is replaced by C-foils in each ama. This improves visibility from the saloon, as well as contributing to more internal space.
Despite the extra accommodation volume and complexity, displacement is only 800kg more than the Rapido 50, so performance is not compromised. The owner of the first boat to be launched, for example, expects to complete Atlantic crossings in less than 10 days.
Xquisite Sixty Solar Sail
At Annapolis Boat Show
This X60, the first of three new and very modern catamaran models launching this year from Xquisite Yachts, splashed in Cape Town earlier this summer and is due to debut at the Annapolis Boat Show in October.
It features a phenomenal 44kW lithium ion battery bank, 6kW of solar panels and 10kW of inverters for extended periods of silent running, including the ability to power many domestic style luxuries. It’s designed to be managed solo from a single helm position and features a carbon boom with furling main and retractable bimini.
The power cat version is coming to Europe this autumn and CEO Tamas Hamor says it is fitted with the most advanced hybrid propulsion system currently available on the market, which makes it capable of reaching 24 knots or providing transoceanic range at 8 knots.
Vaan R5
At Hiswa in Water Show
This will be the first year exhibiting at Cannes for the recently formed Dutch brand Vaan, which builds contemporary cruising catamarans from circular materials, including hulls from recylced aluminium. The new 49ft R5 model won’t quite be ready in time to get to the Med – however it will be at the HISWA show and we hope to seatrial it this autumn.
The second model of the smaller R4, which is finished in bare aluminium, will instead be presented in Cannes, before it heads over to America.
GP70
This very lightweight all carbon multihull was designed from the outset as a fast cruising catamaran for world cruising with a family. This approach freed designers VPLP from many of the considerations that are necessary for the dual purpose boats that are popular in this part of the market and combine cruising with competitive racing with a large crew on board. The result is a stunningly simple, but very spacious and comfortable, high-end yacht that can be sailed by a lone watch keeper, yet can hit speeds of 25 knots when cruising. The first example is already afloat and the second is currently in build.
Guide price €7,000,000. bernardgallay.com
Seawind 1170 & 1370
We have featured both of these performance cruising catamarans in detail over the last couple of years in these pages and were hoping they’d be at Cannes last year, but have yet to see them in person.
Hopefully this autumn will provide the chance as they are both due to be making their European debuts at Cannes. The Australian firm, which builds in Vietnam, now has a new site in Turkey. Both boats look like really smart, feature-rich designs that offer comparatively speedy passagemaking for their size and plenty of practical thinking.
The 1170 starts at US$510,000 ex VAT. seawindcats.com
Bali 5.8
At Cannes Yachting Festival
At Genoa Boat show
This French brand has always pushed the boundaries of both internal and external space available on cruising multihulls. As a result the concept, which was first unveiled only 10 years ago, has been much emulated by other brands.
The new 5.8, a full flybridge, is the largest yet and a new flagship for the range, with tangibly more volume and deck area than the older Bali 5.4.
This translates to a palatial owners suite, along with even larger galley and saloon/cockpit areas. Layouts include a private crew cabin on owner’s versions, or six cabin/six head options on charter models.
Huge tankage, plus refrigeration of up to 634 litres, make long periods of autonomy possible, even with lots of people on board.
Sunbeam 29.1
This lightweight performance centreboarder was conceived as the ultimate weekender, with a powerful yet easily handled rig.
Key aims were to combine style and flexibility with comfort both above and below decks. The interior is therefore configured to be equally as suitable for the needs of several people on an extended day trip as for a relaxed weekend on board.
Swallow BayCruiser 21
At Southampton Boat Show
At Boot Düsseldorf
Many owners of yachts based in sunny or tropical climes also hanker after a more simple vessel in which to get afloat in home waters. This Welsh-built compact trailer-sailer is intended to set new standards in versatility and ease of use.
An all-up weight of only 600kg means it’s a easily towed with a medium size car, while carbon spars make for quick and easy rigging, even when single-handed.
Yet this is also a boat with a two-berth cabin and space for six people in the cockpit. Draught with the keel up is only 25cm, while 400kg of water ballast helps to increase stability when the breeze increases and makes the boat self-righting in a knockdown. A proper smart yacht!
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