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Making a successful boat purchase means planning ahead and being well prepared. BENETEAU has an extensive range of useful tools that will help you focus your searches and define your project. From the initial introduction up to one-to-one contact with a Beneteau brand dealer, take a few minutes to find the boat that suits you best and, why not, book a sea trial! 

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BENETEAU has been building sailing yachts and  motorboats  for all types of boating practices since 1884. Would you like to  buy a new boat ? Leisure boating, short trips, cruising, competitive sailing – whatever type of sailing you envisage, there is a boat to suit you at your local BENETEAU  boat dealer .

BENETEAU: A LONG STORY THAT BEGAN IN VENDÉE 

The story of BENETEAU began in 1884 in the shipyards of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie in Vendée, inspired by Benjamin Bénéteau.  At the time, BENETEAU had close ties with the fishing industry and, at the start of the 20th century, the brand launched its first sailing trawlers and motor tuna fishing boats. 

In the 1960s BENETEAU turned towards the building of recreational craft. In making this choice, BENETEAU actively focussed on  sailing yachts  and motorboats . 

In the 1990s, BENETEAU expanded becoming the umbrella brand of GROUPE BENETEAU. 

WIDE RANGE OF SAILING YACHTS AND MOTORBOATS 

Today, BENETEAU offers a wide range of sailing yachts, ranging from small boats, like the First 14, to big boats, such as the Oceanis Yacht 62, a large monohull as well suited to coastal cruising as she is to ocean navigation. The same is true of the motorboats, with lines of outboard and inboard motorboats for leisure boating, as well as big yachts ideal for cruising. 

This versatility contributed to BENETEAU’s international reputation as a brand, both in the water and at the major boat shows in Europe, the United States and Asia-Pacific. It also helped BENETEAU become a historical player in offshore racing, supplying three generations of one-design boats for the Solitaire Le Figaro single-handed race. BENETEAU also won renown with the First sailing yachts in well-known international races such as the Fastnet, the Sydney Hobart and the Middle Sea Race. 

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Our BENETEAU boat dealers are also present on international shores, so our after sales service can intervene worldwide. Thanks to our global network a BENETEAU boater can find the best possible assistance wherever he is boating. 

Buying a yacht, sailing yacht or a BENETEAU outboard motorboat is also a chance to join the brand’s community, with BENETEAU boat owner gatherings or rendez-vous, regattas, competitions, rallies, etc. 

You will have realized by now that BENETEAU offers you much more than buying a  new boat . It offers you a real boating experience and shares with you your passion for the sea.

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New Boat Review: Beneteau Oceanis 41

Beneteau’s newest cruiser blends innovative design, stylish form, and impressive performance..

Photos courtesy of Beneteau and by Ralph Naranjo

Beneteau has been building sailboats for 120 years, but it’s unlikely that patriarch Benjamin Beneteau ever envisioned his boatyard becoming a vertically integrated company with more than 4,500 employees. Nor could he have imagined that three-dimensional, computer-aided design would drive a five-axis robotic shaper that could turn design ideas into tangible hull shapes sans shipwrights. However, he did see the staying power of sailing and knew it would stand the test of time.

Beneteau’s sheer size affords an opportunity for significant research and development, and designers get to interface directly with the production team throughout the boatbuilding process. There’s also a scale of economy factor that’s best demonstrated by the 300-person crew working at Beneteau’s expansive woodshop in Vendee, France. The facility fabricates and finishes interiors for Beneteaus built all over the world.

Today, the multinational company relies on an in-house design team, plus a stable of top yacht designers who remain on call. The result is that Beneteau has become a trendsetter even in tough economic times, and part of this success lies in its differentiated two-tier (race and cruise) approach to boatbuilding. By offering different boats to racers and cruisers, the world’s largest production boatbuilder more effectively caters to the needs of each market. This has served the company well for decades. For example, the Oceanis line of cruisers was birthed in the 1980s, and the current series offers a whole new array of design attributes.

The Oceanis 41 features a new hull shape and a new cruising perspective—a design that focuses on style, comfort, and ease of operation. It’s clearly an effort to make mid-size cruising boats more user-friendly than ever before, and to achieve that end in distinctly European styling.

Beneteau’s marketing literature for the Oceanis 41 boasts eye-catching, flat-water, point-to-point sailing and a luxury cruising lifestyle. Missing are photos of the guys with wornout sweatshirts and week-old beards slogging into a cold gray sea. Cabin photos brim with countertop knick-knacks and long-stem wine glasses that would scatter like pins in a bowling alley when the first gust hit. However, after sailing the boat ourselves and getting a feel for this brand new, wide-body sloop, Practical Sailor testers walked away far more impressed by the boat than by its marketers’ depiction.

Designer Finot-Conq skillfully distributed the new boat’s volume, placed the rig and foils exactly where they hydro-dynamically belonged, and revised the deck layout. Looking at the waterline footprint, topside flair, and profile of the Oceanis 41 reveals some of the not-so-subtle changes in canoe-body design. For instance, a chine-like edge interrupts the smooth curve of the topsides. Affectionately known as the “kink,” it appears throughout the Oceanis line, and its fore and aft run acts as a water release when the boat is heeled and beating to weather. It’s certainly an aesthetic change to the smooth compound curves and flares seen in the topsides of earlier Beneteaus, and its performance-enhancing potential will be a topic of conversation for some time.

Another notable design change is the sailboat’s wedge-like shape and the distinct trend in carrying near max beam all the way aft to the transom. This feature almost begs for a twin rudder approach to steering. Interestingly, rather than adding a second rudder, Beneteau used a deep, semi-balanced spade rudder. It effectively resists cavitation and the inevitable broach, until you are so overpowered that you deserve the big surprise that comes with a spin out. Even then, the Oceanis is well behaved as it politely rotates into the wind without a neck snapping auto tack.

The Oceanis’ kink and wide beam carried aft are traits that first arose in modern race boats, and it’s a trend that adds form stability, increasing the amount of sail-carrying capacity. It also adds space both below and above deck. The new 41 comes in deep (6 feet, 9 inches) and shallow (5 feet, 1 inch) draft versions, and those planning on longer-range offshore sailing, or those who simply prefer better windward ability in a cruising boat, are much better off with the deep-draft alternative.

Beneteau has a penchant for detailed engineering, and the new Oceanis line has gone through quite a bit of R&D. The company also shows an inclination for retaining what works and evolving good ideas. Like its siblings, the Oceanis 41 shows a lot of this tried and proven lineage, especially in construction scan’tlings, but it also has taken some bold new strides. For example, the recent advent of the pod-type, rotating sail drive links up with the bow thruster to create what Beneteau calls the “Dock and Go” system. This optional, joystick-actuated feature makes maneuvering in tight confines a piece of cake, but it also adds more system complexity and cost to the boat. And although the system makes docking a dream, we’re not sure what future maintenance issues and costs would add up to. A 41-footer with a conventional sail-drive and no bow thruster might save a buyer a few thousand dollars, but it would also put more of the close-quarters handling challenge back in the hands of the crew.

Deck Details

From stem to stern, there’s a lot of innovation, and many of the new trends are found aft of the companionway. The first is a twin-wheel helm, a sensible response to the wide beam carried so far aft. It offers the helmsperson a comfortable windward or leeward perch. The resulting wide centerline alleyway would have been an awkward traverse underway if it weren’t for the convenient cockpit table that doubles as a good handhold, a bracket for a chartplotter multifunction display, and even a convenient fiddled catch-all, complete with drink holders. At anchor, the narrow, well-secured centerline table spreads its gull-wing leaves and turns the cockpit into a great place for dinner or a handy gathering spot for impromptu gams.

Another interesting feature is the transom: A pushbutton transforms the aft deck/helm seat into an open transom with a swim platform. The electric open/close servo causes the hinged transom to rotate from the vertical to a horizontal position, morphing what was a stern enclosure into a swim deck replete with a stainless-steel boarding ladder. The result is a wide spacious aft portion of the cockpit that’s convenient for swimmers, snorkelers, and families who love to play in the water. The transformation is fast, so if a building breeze causes the anchorage to become less bucolic, the stern appendage can be quickly reeled in, turning the transom back into a safe enclosure.

Another feature in the cockpit makeover is the elevated mainsheet traveler that sits on a well-reinforced fiberglass (FRP) arch. With the traveler and sheet out of the way, there’s room for a dodger/bimini and less risk of someone being whacked by the mainsheet tackle during a jibe. The setup does mean that the boom is higher off the deck, and the heeling moment increases a little for the same amount of sail area, but on a cruising boat, these seem to be fair tradeoffs. Sail shaping, trim, and outhaul-inhaul lines, along with reefing lines, are clustered around rope clutches on either side of the companionway.

On deck, there’s a practical form-meets-function theme to many of the styling changes. A lot of attention has been given to providing a very usable set of anchor rollers. The nicely executed custom stainless-steel assembly projects far enough forward to keep anchors from chewing up the gelcoat during deployment and retrieval. The solidly fastened anchor roller projection can also double as the tack point for a light-air, removable furling jib or asymmetric spinnaker. The structure includes a tension/compression strut that spreads loads to a secondary point further down the plumb stem. The roller assembly is another good example of practical and aesthetic utilitarian engineering.

This theme is carried aft with a teak-like PVC toerail that affords a hint of woodwork, hides the hull-to-deck seam, and provides an effective foot stop when the boat heels before a gust. At the stem and stern, as well as amidships, lie breaks in the toerail where well-fastened cleats are mounted. By giving primary billing to cleats that are ready to fair-lead lines in a wide arc, Beneteau shows its roots as a seafaring company. It doesn’t try to hide essential hardware, instead recognizing its importance and blending it into a functional design approach.

Testers also were pleased to see a well thought-out anchor well and a usable—albeit small—windlass. A snubber line can be fair-led from a bow cleat to an all-chain anchor rode and the load transferred from the windlass gypsy. There’s even enough room for a second anchor’s rope rode. Whether it’s a well-placed spring-line cleat or a functional set of anchor rollers, cruisers will come to appreciate their value in tough anchoring conditions or challenging docking situations. The same goes for the value of the rugged forestay chainplate on the Oceanis 41 foredeck. Those heading offshore need more than a roller-furling genoa and a mainsail to cope with the wide range of conditions they will face. An optional removable forestay and hank-on, heavy-weather jib or storm jib are available to add the needed sailplan versatility.

One of the more subtle and most beneficial redesign elements aboard the 41 is the rig. The mast has been moved aft to about 47 percent of the distance from the bow to stern. This adds more J to the fore triangle and allows a barely overlapping jib to be set on a 15/16th headstay. It’s a win-win for the owner and the builder as it enables shrouds to be run to an outboard chainplate, maintaining inboard sheeting for the headsail. This also allows for easy passage when walking the sidedecks. The builder avoids both the extra cost and headache of inboard chainplate reinforcement, and the higher loads resulting from narrow athwartship shroud spacing. The big tradeoff however, is not being able to point as high in light air when using a large overlapping genoa. Beneteau believes this isn’t much of a compromise as most are more likely to use a gennaker.

Accomodations

A built-in, five-step companionway ladder leads to the accommodations below. The wide steps with bolstered sides keep feet from sliding off when the boat is heeled. The entire ladder assembly can be pivoted toward the overhead, affording access to the forward part of the engine.

The Oceanis 41 offers a high-volume interior that’s available in three different layouts. We test-sailed the two cabin, one head version, but there is also a three cabin, one head format and a three cabin, two head option. The more cabins and heads, the less space for cockpit or pantry storage. The two cabin, one head layout had a roomy feel, but it did not have functional port and starboard sea berths. A sliding nav station/end table occupies the port portion of the main saloon and allows the settee and nav table to be reconfigured into two seats with a small table in between. Those making offshore passages will regret not having a usable berth in this part of the boat, and the lack of a traditional chart table/nav station will be a notable con for some sailors.

There’s a functional, L-shaped galley with a two-burner stove, small oven, and a top-loading fridge, but counter space is limited.

The accommodations in all three configurations feature private cabin berthing situated at opposite ends of the boat. Though ideal while moored or when anchored in cooler climates, boat motion and the lack of ventilation underway will make such berthing less appropriate for passagemakers. (There are no full-sized Dorade boxes, only a hatch mushroom vent and a small aft-facing scoop.) However, Beneteau certainly knows it market, and the apparent trend seems to be toward fewer hours of sailing, and increased time spent entertaining and weekend cruising—dynamics that have certainly driven the new boat’s interior design.

Construction

Those with a wooden-boat school awareness of joiner work will be a little disappointed by today’s approach to production-boat interiors, and Beneteau is by no means the only builder that features raw-edge plywood locker lids and cutouts along with non cut-to-contour interiors. The fact that it’s not the same level of craftsmanship as seen aboard custom yachts is not a deal breaker. There’s no need to tab in the joinery, because it’s not part of the structural framework of the boat. Many labor hours are saved with this prefab and nicely finished approach to creating interior woodwork.

Beneteau, like many others, has opted to provide value to customers by not building interiors in situ, and investing the labor savings in better-engineered laminates and other crucial aspects of production building. In essence, to keep the price more competitive, the hours spent on detailed joiner work have been cut and the styling approach favors the factory-built interior. In some ways, this is good for Beneteau and the buyer: It allows for a greater percentage of the building budget to be allocated toward laminating materials, rigging, mechanical, and electrical systems—where many feel it really belongs. And it doesn’t mean that the interior finish quality has been abandoned; it simply means that if you are looking for dovetailed drawers, a solid teak-and-holly sole, and other nostalgic tidbits of yachting’s gilded days, you need to look elsewhere and be ready to double or triple your boat-buying budget.

Performance

We tested a deep-draft Oceanis 41 in 17- to 20-knot conditions (with a few higher gusts) and found the boat to be responsive under sail and willing to tolerate the gusts. Intentionally, we drove the boat hard on the wind, assuming that such a wide stern would turn a deep heel into a rudder-releasing roundup. Not only did the boat refuse to round up, but it maintained a comfortable helm despite a 20-plus degree heel. Only when puffs bore down at a sustained 25 knots did the rudder finally lose its grip. The result was a very demure return to an upright trim as the boat came head-to-wind. This was a far cry from the ricochet roundups we’ve experienced on other cruising and racing boats with wide sterns.

The boat we tested was rigged with the optional mainsail furling system. Reefing the batten-less main with the furler was easy, as was reducing headsail area with the roller furler. With less sail area set, boat handling was smooth and decisive; heel lessened to 15 degrees, and the boatspeed still exceeded 7 knots on a close reach. We were riding with the lee side just about level with the kink, and the water seemed to resist wrapping up around the hull. It was also interesting to see that the transom wasn’t immersed and the quarter wave seemed minimal. All of these attributes are indicative of Beneteau’s design success with the new hull form.

Off the wind, we unwound the reefed working sail area and scooted along at about 7.5 knots. A furling gennaker or asymmetric spinnaker could be tacked to the end of the anchor rollers and would have added even more boat speed, but in the 20 knots of true wind, there was no need for the extra drama.

With the sails dropped, the Yanmar 40 horsepower engine had plenty of power to handle the conditions. Returning to the dock and backing into a tight slip would have been a chore without the Dock and Go joystick steering—a benefit of a rotatable saildrive and bow thruster electronically linked to a thumb and forefinger actuator.

We liked the fact that the new Oceanis 41 carries on Beneteau’s tradition of keeping enough FRP structural material in the boat to maintain its reputation for well-built hulls. This boat is no featherweight, and with an 18,000-pound-plus light-trim displacement, it’s a sizable 41-footer. Light air may need to be handled under power, but the crew also has the option to harness a 1,400-square-foot asymmetric spinnaker.

The Oceanis 41 comes standard with a conventional main and a lazy jack sail pack. Those who want peak light-air performance should opt for this setup, but those seeking operational convenience may want mainsail furling—because the arch raises the boom fairly high, the air draft is 64 feet, quite a halyard haul.

Those headed on a lengthy offshore passage will bemoan the lack of functional seaberths, and they may want to think about the six large portlights and the damage control that would be required should one crack or let go.

All in all though, the Oceanis 41 is a modern hull form with a stylish interior that best fits the needs of part-time cruisers looking for a lot of boat that’s a lot of fun under sail.

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Beneteau First 36, Sailing World 2023 Boat of the Year

• By Dave Reed
• December 16, 2022

Sailing World Magazine’s  annual Boat of the Year tests are conducted in Annapolis, Maryland, following the US Sailboat Show. With independent judges exhaustively inspecting the boats on land and putting them through their paces on the water, this year’s fleet of new performance-sailing boats spanned from small dinghies to high-tech bluewater catamarans. Here’s the best of the best from our  2023 Boat of the Year nominees »

The Total Package

• Beneteau First 36 2023 Boat of the Year
• Stated purpose: Shorthanded racing, club racing, coastal cruising
• Crew: Solo to six
• Praise for: Build quality, deck layout, versatility
• Est. price as sailed: $345,000

Like a runaway, the Beneteau First 36 careens across a westerly-whipped Chesapeake Bay. The boat’s big-shouldered spinnaker and mainsail are silhouetted in the early October morning light. It’s making trees on the Eastern Shore as we peg the throttle down to keep chase in a 19-foot RIB. The four crewmembers on board are having a casual conversation—like no big deal—when a cold and meaty gust fills the spinnaker. The leech flickers, and the boat surges forward onto plane. Twin rudders zipper the slick streaming out from the transom as the helmsman, hands at 10 and 2 on the carbon steering wheel, effortlessly weaves the boat across waves tops. The boat is, as the saying goes, on rails.

“Wicked,” is how senior Boat of the Year judge Chuck Allen summarizes his experience when he steps off. “That boat is going to be hard to beat.”

Three days and 10 boats later, nothing comes close to usurping the Beneteau First 36 as the obvious and unanimous Boat of the Year, a boat that has been a long time coming and overdue. It’s a boat that will serve many masters.

Beneteau initiated its First 36 project in 2019 by surveying a broad focus group of First “Point 7” owners and dealers about what they wanted in the marketplace, and the takeaways were: 1) Not another ­displacement boat—it had to plane. 2) They wanted a lounge, not a dining room. 3) They wanted their nav station back, and 4) for that, they were OK with having a smaller head.

Given the boat was to meet all three of its club racing, shorthanded and cruising demands, the brain trust assembled inside and outside of Beneteau focused on No. 1—keeping it light and fast. Naval architect Samuel Manuard, the new hot talent of the IMOCA 60 and Class 40 scenes, did the hull, keel and rig. Pure Structural Engineering took care of the structure, and the weight-obsessed glass slingers at Seascape’s factory in Slovenia ensured the boat came in at not a pound more than 10,580. At that weight, of course it’s going to plane.

The entire boat is ­vacuum-infused with CoreCell (hull) and PVC (bulkheads) from the deck down, inside and out, and everything, except the fridge, is somehow a piece of the structure puzzle.

“We are saving big weight there, as furniture is also part of the structure, and all of it glued together makes the boat extremely stiff and very light,” says Beneteau’s Tit Plevnik. “What is special is how calculated it is. In mass-production building, you can’t rely on precision, but we do. The boat is built to the same standard as a pure ­racing boat.”

“The moment I saw it, I knew it would be good. It’s a great-looking boat at the dock and even better with the sails up.” —Greg Stewart

Built like a race boat, the judges all agree it sure sails like one. “It’s a big 36-footer,” says veteran BOTY judge and naval architect Greg Stewart. “It’s a full-ended boat that has a hint of a scow-type bow with a lot of buoyancy forward. Looking at the numbers, what they achieved with the weight and its placement is impressive—10,000 pounds for a 36-foot waterline length is a very good number. I could tell the minute we put the spinnaker up it was a slippery boat.”

Stewart set the day’s top speed at a tick over 18 knots and says: “I remember feeling the puff hit and load the rig, and the boat just scooted off with really nice steering. It felt like a Laser when you get it in that groove and it just levitates. With the dual rudders, which are pretty long, the boat has more of a power-steering feel upwind, so it lets you do a lot of things. There’s so much control, which is a good thing because you can drive out of situations, but at the same time, it’s easy to oversteer.”

Multiple cockpit mock-ups done at ­different heel angles produced a workspace that the judges could find no flaw with. “It’s all legit, easy and clean in the pit,” Allen says. “With the four of us in the ­cockpit, we had plenty of space to move around and were never into each other.

“I was doing a lot of trimming downwind,” Allen adds. “You can feel the boat take off. It was really stable and easy to handle. The thing is light and fast, and we did push it to try and wipe it out, but it was hard to do.”

All the judges praised the clever location of the primary winches on sloped coamings, which were easier to trim from than a traditional winch-on-the-coaming setup. “They’re at the perfect height,” says judge Dave Powlison, “and with them angled like that, you don’t have to crane your neck to see the sail, and the lead is virtually override-proof.”

Also noteworthy is the generous space between the high carbon wheels and the cockpit walls that allow the helmsman to slide forward without having to step up and around the wheel. The jib trimmer has easy access to the three-dimensional clue adjustment systems, and for the pit, there’s plenty of clutches, redirects and cleats to keep everything sorted and tidy.

The standard spar, and that on the demo boat, is a deck-stepped Z Spars aluminum section with Dyform wire rigging that carries 860 square feet of upwind sail area, which Stewart says is considerable for the displacement of the boat. The mast is well aft, which really stretches out the J dimension and opens the foredeck for a quiver of headsails—for this, you’ll find two tack points on the foredeck. There are four halyards total: one for a masthead gennaker, a 2-to-1 for a code sail, a fractional gennaker, and a 2-to-1 staysail. Allen, a semi-retired sailmaker, put an estimate for a complete race inventory at $60,000, which would put the boat on the racecourse for roughly $400,000. (Base boat is priced at $345,000.)

When the race is done, however, how about that interior?

Step down the wide companionway steps into a space of design simplicity and efficiency, some of which makes you say, “Duh, of course.”

For example, there’s no ­traditional L-shaped galley to port or starboard. There is, however, a tall and slender fridge smack in the middle of the boat (that you connect to the galley with a removable cutting board to complete the L). Walk on either side of it to get forward, past the proper nav station, the fold-down dinette table in the middle with roomy 6-foot berths on both sides, a jetliner-size head with a stowaway sink to starboard, and then a gigantic V-berth that benefits from all that volume in the bow. Back aft, under the cockpit, are large quarter berths as well that easily cruise-convert into storage space for water toys, like kites, wings and foils, all of which takes us back to survey result No. 2. This is where the post-race party begins and ends.

With the usual supply-chain delays, compounded with the build and design team’s obsessive and calculated approach to getting the Beneteau First 36 perfect at Hull No. 1, its debut got off to a later start than hoped. But with early boats landing at eager dealers worldwide, Plevnik says the goal is 32 boats per year for the next two years. The BOTY judges assure us it’ll be worth the wait and give you plenty of time to start planning what you can and will do with it.

• More: 2023 Boat of the Year , Beneteau , Boat of the Year , Print Winter 2023 , Sailboats
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Best Small Cruiser, 30 feet and Under: Beneteau First 30

• By Bill Springer
• Updated: December 9, 2010

Beneteau First 30 BOTY winner

As they approached the First 30 to conduct their dockside evaluation during the boat show, the BOTY judges may have been just a little skeptical of this performance-oriented 30-footer’s cruisability. But that skepticism turned into appreciation as soon as they stepped below, and they were downright enamored with how the boat sailed. As a result, the Beneteau First 30 was named the Best Small Cruiser, 30 Feet and Under.

It’s not easy to include all the accommodation features that make for comfortable cruising—standing headroom, full-size head and galley, decent nav station, roomy saloon, and good-size sleeping cabins—in a 30-footer that’s also good-looking and whip fast under sail, but the First 30 does just that. The main saloon is bright and airy, and it’s also much more creature-comfort oriented than what you might find on older 30-foot performance cruisers. The cabins have ample bunks and adequate stowage. Nearly 6 feet of headroom in the saloon creates a good sense of space, while the light-colored varnished woodwork and clean lines are downright stylish.

Meanwhile, during the test sail, none of the judges wanted to give up the tiller because the boat was just so fun and responsive. The dual rudders provided superior control, even when the heel angle increased in the puffs, and the judges noted how this little thoroughbred sliced to windward at 6.5 knots in 12 knots of breeze. The judges found the cockpit to be comfortable and the sail controls to be well planned and efficient. A tweak here and there was rewarded by another quarter of a knot, though it was just as tempting to contemplate the benefits of simply setting the sheets and then humming along for 20 or 30 miles on a coastal cruise.

Winning Details

• The use of space throughout the interior is excellent.
• The boat’s torpedo bulb keel, powerful sail plan, and dual rudders make the First both fast and forgiving.
• The boat significantly ups the ante regarding what’s currently available in the 30-foot-and-under range.

To read more Cruising World reviews of Beneteau sailboats, click here . To visit Beneteau America’s website, click here .

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Beneteau Sailboats

“The  world reference  in cruising. Oceanis is our range of long-distance, blue water cruisers and for years has set the standard for sailboat design and construction. With a hull that is a marvel in hydrodynamics,  Oceanis delivers superior performance  while providing stability and safety under sail. Despite her strong sea legs, she doesn’t sacrifice luxury and comfort. You can choose your layout based on different configurations below deck and also have  your choice  of interior finishes. Your Oceanis will be a joy to sail and be  your home away from home . The Oceanis range continues to  appeal to all sailors  around the world.”

“ 40 years of iconic  brand heritage. The signature features of the FIRST range have not changed since its conception in 1977 – these boats have always been designed for  sailors  who enjoy club racing as much as cruising, joining them into one cohesive product line, the proverbial  best  of both worlds. Today, BENETEAU takes another step in this direction with the launch of the new FIRST range.  These boats offer simplicity, performances, and comfortable interiors and cockpits geared towards daysailing and coastal cruising. Renewing the competition spirit of the brand, they represent a true adaptation to the  needs and expectations of the widest variety of sailors. “

The  Oceanis Yacht  is the culmination of our Oceanis philosophy where cruising comfort, performance, and customization reign supreme. Her elegant design and luxurious interiors add a new dimension to life at sea with an enormous salon, impressive galley, spacious staterooms, and plenty of ambient light from the many large windows and skylights. Despite her lavish details, our Oceanis Yacht maneuvers like a smaller yacht thanks to a perfectly centered sail plan and twin rudders. She is a yacht that represents the  art of sailing  at its regal best.

Heir to more than 40 years of experience of the First range launched by BENETEAU in 1977, the First Yacht sets the course for high-performance cruising.

“The Figaro BENETEAU 3 is the  first production foiling one-design monohull  ever created. It is a distillation of technology and innovation, the result of a collaboration between a group of BENETEAU’s  best experts and the Van Peteghem Lauriot-Prévost (VPLP) office, the architects of the two last boats to win the Vendée Globe.”

BENETEAU Sailboats

No matter where you sail or how you sail, Beneteau has the boat that’s right for you, and Cape Yachts is the dealer that can make the process of choosing, buying, commissioning and caring for your new Beneteau smooth and hassle-free. Beneteau builds sailboats from 18 to 62 feet in three distinct ranges to fulfil the sailing experience you’re after. Whichever Beneteau you choose, you can rest assured it will be a boat that is easy to live with.

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Contact our beneteau sailboat professionals for more information.

Group Beneteau: Record full-year earnings in 2023

Following the announcement of the Housing division’s proposed sale, the Group Beneteau ’s key figures, before and after restatement linked to the application of IFRS 5, are presented below. The transaction is subject to approval by the French competition authorities, with their response expected during the first half of 2024.

Boat division: value-driven growth strategy delivering a range of benefits

As reported on February 12, the Boat division’s revenues came to €1,465m in 2023, up 17.1% from 2022 (+18% at constant exchange rates). The slowdown in demand for the Motor business (-€150m) was more than offset by the value-driven growth strategy across all the segments (+€190m) and the progress made with deliveries of sailing units (+€40m). Sales also benefited from the distribution network’s stock replenishment, back up to pre-Covid levels (+€150m), in a context of the normalization of sourcing conditions.

The Sailing business, with 31% full-year growth, was particularly dynamic, reflecting the significant upturn in sales to charter professionals (+68%), the commercial success of the new models released, and the Excess brand’s strong penetration on the catamaran market.

For the Motor business, up 9% at constant exchange rates, sales show strong growth for the Real Estate on the Water segments (+17%), thanks in particular to the commercial success of the PRESTIGE brand’s first catamaran models. The Dayboating segments recorded a 3% increase in revenues, with a 23% reduction in the number of units delivered. This benefited in particular from the extension of the Merry Fisher and Antares lines, as well as the launch of the DB range.

This excellent performance by the Boat division, outpacing the market on each segment, enabled it to achieve a record level of income from ordinary operations in 2023, up 57% from the previous year (€131.8m) to €206.8m, with an operating margin of over 14% of annual revenues, up €75m year-on-year.

The value creation strategy contributed €22m to this structural progress, while the progress made with operational performance levels represented a further improvement of €3m.

In addition, 2023 income benefited from the Group effectively anticipating the impacts of inflation (+€25m), as well as the stock replenishment seen across the distribution networks, back up to their pre-Covid levels in terms of volumes (+€44m).

Lastly, development costs linked to the new ERP totaled €13m for the year, up €6m from 2022, while the changes in €/$ exchange rates, which had exceptionally contributed to income in 2022, have since normalized (-€12m).

The Boat division’s EBITDA is up 32% to €262.4m, representing 17.9% of revenues (vs. 15.9% in 2022), up 32%.

“ 2023 was a record year for Groupe Beneteau. The Group’s 8,000 staff achieved an outstanding collective performance: income from ordinary operations of over €240m, with a double-digit net margin. Our value-driven growth strategy is delivering a range of benefits; it is further strengthening the Group’s resilience and enabling it to position the Group’s operational profitability within a range that is significantly higher than its pre-Covid levels. Its continued premiumization and its industrial agility will enable the Boat division to maintain an operating margin of 7% to 10% in 2024, despite the impact of higher interest rates on business. This financial solidity confirms the Group’s strategy for product development and sustainable innovation, combined with growth in new services, such as digital and the sharing economy ”, confirms Bruno Thivoyon, Groupe Beneteau Chief Executive Officer.

Housing division: continued profitable growth

Benefiting from the sustained trends seen on the camping tourism markets, the Housing division generated €319.6m of revenues in 2023, up 24% year-on-year. This growth, combined with excellent operational management, enabled the division to generate €39.3m of income from ordinary operations over the period, representing 12.3% of revenues, up 72% from 2022. In accordance with IFRS 5, this income is now recognized at Group net income level, after deducting taxes and other non-operating expenses.

Solid financial structure: 10.2% net income and €247m of net cash

Net income (Group share) came to €185m for 2023, up 79% from 2022 (€103m). It includes €6.4m of financial income (vs. -€12.3m in 2022), benefiting from the change in interest rates, while the previous year was affected by currency hedging income and expenses (-€10m).

Over the year, the share of associates is up €2m, driven primarily by growth in the financing activities of its subsidiary SGB.

The Group’s free cash flow before IFRS 5 came to €81.6m for the year (€9.5m for the Housing division) compared with €28.3m in 2022. The €55m increase in the Boat division’s working capital requirements is linked primarily to the reduced level of client deposits (-€48m) resulting from the normalization of the order book. The Boat division’s €72m of net investments is €14m higher than the previous year, linked in particular to the measures rolled out to increase the flexibility of production capacity (+€10m) and improve the environmental impact of the buildings (+€3m).

Alongside this, the changes in scope represented a net investment of €13m. The Group acquired a controlling interest in the Tunisian-based yard Magic Yacht, in which it was a minority shareholder, as well as Wiziboat, a European digital boat club specialist. It also further strengthened its stake in Your Boat Club in the United States (from 40% to 49%) and acquired a 20% interest in YachtSolutions, specialized in supporting owner clients to create custom fit-outs for large units.

After dividend payments and share buybacks for €40m, net cash represented €247m at December 31, 2023, up €36m over the year.

The Group’s robust financial position is also illustrated by the €856m increase in its shareholders’ equity at December 31, 2023, compared with €706m at December 31, 2022.

Lastly, the return on capital employed (ROCE1) continued to progress in 2023 to reach 42% at the end of the year (versus 32% at December 31, 2022 and 14% at August 31, 2019). With revenues three times higher than the capital employed (stable between 2022 and 2023), and strong progress with the operating margin, this performance reflects the efficiency and effectiveness of the Group’s value-driven growth strategy.

Sustainable and accessible boating

Strong progress across the three pillars from the B-Sustainable program, in line with the Group’s ambition for 2030 Groupe Beneteau ramped up the rollout of its B-Sustainable program, which was launched in 2022. The continued dedication shown by all of the teams made it possible to achieve sustained progress with all three pillars from this initiative.

Illustrating this, the CO2 emission intensity relating to electricity and gas consumption (scopes 1&2) came in 6% lower than 2022, the Boat division accident frequency rate was reduced by more than 9% over the period, and 41% of the Boat division’s purchases are now placed with suppliers whose CSR approach has been formally assessed (+17pts vs. 2022).

Moreover, after carrying out life cycle assessments on its main products, the Boat division was able to assess its first carbon footprint covering scope 3, helping set out concrete milestones for the next steps with its program to reduce its carbon intensity by -30% by 2030.

This program is based on continuing to move forward with the industrialization of innovative solutions, through the choice of materials used, integrating biosourced and recyclable elements, as well as the selection of alternative propulsion solutions and the optimization of its boat architecture solutions.

In line with this proactive approach, the Group acquired a stake in the Swedish company Candela, specialized in developing foiling electric boats. This technology aims to reduce energy consumption by 80%, while offering increased stability on the water and doubling or tripling the range levels achieved compared with other electric propulsion solutions. This minority interest will help drive the industrialization of decarbonized solutions for the recreational boat and passenger transport market.

New boating solutions: sharing economy and digital acceleration

Seanapps, Groupe Beneteau’s digital solution which connects end customers with their dealer and brand each day, is already fitted on around 8,000 boats. This connected fleet has already covered nearly one million nautical miles, making it the world’s most widely-established connected fleet by some distance. Feeding into a groundbreaking database, this app will enable the product teams to develop the next models, while ensuring close alignment with their clients’ usage practices.

During the year, the Group also further strengthened its positioning on various activities relating to the sharing economy. Thanks to the development of Your Boat Club’s activity in the United States and the acquisition of Wiziboat in Europe, the Group will now operate a fleet of over 500 boats, spread across around 50 bases. It expects to see double-digit business growth in 2024.

The weekly charter companies in which the Group acquired interests in 2021 returned to their pre-Covid levels of business from 2023 and now represent a fleet of over 1,000 boats. They will continue to turn around their profitability in 2024.

While the various premium segments continue to see very sustained levels of demand, the changes in interest rates are causing certain recreational boat owners to adopt a wait-and-see approach and encouraging dealers to scale back their stock coverage in 2024. As announced previously, the Group expects to see dealer inventory levels contract by around €100m to €150m in 2024, while 2023 benefited from a reverse phenomenon for around €240m, linked to the normalization of sourcing conditions.

Despite the scale of these differences in activity levels, the many different flexibility measures already anticipated, such as the adjustment of working times at certain French sites, will enable the Boat division to maintain an ordinary operating margin of 7% to 10% in 2024. While these significant variations in inventory levels are expected to be canceled out in 2025, the growth drivers put in place and the further structural efficiency gains to be rolled out will enable the Group to return to a double-digit operating margin within this timeframe.

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