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Oceanis Yacht 54

Oceanis yacht 60.

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Specifications

Designers Roberto Biscontini and Lorenzo Argento have created a world of refinement in this 60-footer ocean-cruising yacht.

With a hull length of almost 18 meters, the Oceanis Yacht 60 has been designed with a remarkable and sophisticated silhouette that preserves its elegant design and excellent marine qualities.

NAVAL ARCHITECT : Biscontini Yacht Design INTERIOR & EXTERIOR DESIGN  : Lorenzo Argento

OPTIMUM DESIGN FOR SMOOTH SAILING

The new cockpit layout provides a sense of ease and security: access to the foredeck is made simple via deep side decks.

The two helm stations have been optimized so that all maneuver can be carried out without leaving the helm. Systems such as  Ship Control  and  Seanapps  provide control of all on-board systems and allow for easy maintenance.

The bimini is available in 2 configurations. The rigid version has a central section that can slide forward to adjust the amount of cover in the cockpit. The crew will always be able to find the best compromise between protection and ventilation.

The generous dinghy garage holds a 2.8 m jet-propelled tender. This tender is operated by an electric winch with a double wire system and guiding rollers to make it effortless to launch and raise.

STYLISH INTERIOR SPACE FOR SHARING IN GOOD COMPANY

The galley, positioned in the centre of the boat, extends across the entire width: on the port side, storage and refrigeration; on the starboard side, the sink, the oven and the dishwasher. There is substantial storage space and an innovative worktop layout.

The large salon offers seating for six people around the table and faces the sofa in the relaxing area. The curved chart table allows the navigator to participate in all the discussions on board. 

Available in a 3-cabin version with 3 heads, the Oceanis Yacht 60 comes with two different finishes: a standard walnut or optional light oak. Many molded wood features blend harmoniously with large lacquered white surfaces and are matched with exclusive upholstery. Together they create a distinctly stylish atmosphere.

The luxurious and relaxing owner's cabin offers privacy and a stunning view of the sea. The bed is tucked away on the starboard side and only visible once you've passed the private ensuite, which is equipped with ample storage space.

2 trim levels

The Oceanis Yacht 60 comes with two different finishes: a standard walnut and optional light oak.

KEY FEATURES

Spacious and bright interior

As you step down the companionway you'll be met with a great deal of space and light, and an overall impression of the interior's spacious proportions.

Circulation on deck

Extensive side decks run around the helm stations offering obstacle-free, seamless circulation to the foredeck.

Secure and equipped cockpit

The huge cockpit makes for extra safety and easy movement. The pilot can carry out all the usual maneuvers without leaving the helm.

Equipped With SEANAPPS

The easiest way to keep your boat safe and ready to cruise anytime.

The new Seanapps  app is the ultimate solution to help you indulge your passion for boating. With the touch of your finger, you can easily connect, monitor and order services for your boat – from routine maintenance, to requesting a wash or fuel or having us complete a repair.

Virtual tour

The information below is intended for general informational purposes only and is subject to change without notice and does not constitute a contractual agreement. Any descriptions, representations, or statements made in this document are not to be considered binding unless explicitly stated otherwise in a formal contractual agreement.

Length Overall

Beam overall

Light displacement

Air Draft Max

Fuel Capacity

Water Capacity

Max. engine power

CE Certification

A10 / B14 / C14

Standard draft

Shallow draft

Exterior deck

3 cabins - 3 heads

4 cabines - 4 heads

Press Reviews

Yachting world.

The new Oceanis Yacht 60 from BENETEAU is a stylish and bluewater friendly new flagship model for the French yard. Read More

Beneteau’s Dynamic New Sailing Flagship: Oceanis Yacht 60 Read the article

The New Oceanis Yacht 60 flagship – Elegance redefined

Beginner Sailing Guide: How to choose the right sailboat and learn how to sail

Finding the Right Boat for You

Customer care.

Buying a BENETEAU doesn’t have to be a daunting task. We have teams of experts to guide you through the entire process – everything from sea trials, financing, and customization to after-sale commissioning, service, and maintenance. We are proud to have one of the largest, most highly-regarded dealer networks in the world. We’re ready to provide you with the assistance and expertise needed to launch you and your BENETEAU on a lifetime of happy, rewarding, and memorable voyages.

Other models in the range

17.12 m / 56’2’’

5 m / 16’5’’

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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.

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Boat Review: Beneteau First Yacht 53

• By Mark Pillsbury
• Updated: February 20, 2020

A freshening breeze, ­building from near calm to the midteens, brought perfect conditions for a morning sail on the new Beneteau First Yacht 53. With sails up, our speed over the ground effortlessly matched that of the light breeze, and when things got puffy out on Chesapeake Bay a bit later, well, we went soaring.

Standing atop an angled fold-up helmsmen perch at the starboard wheel, with the lee rail close to buried and the windward rudder completely out of the water, I had the otherworldly feeling of flying across the water, and it was absolutely a thrill. Think high-end sports car winding through the gears on a twisting mountain road, and, well, you get the idea: Power on and knuckles white, but it was a ride you’d not want to miss.

Beneteau introduced the First range in 1977, with racing sailors in mind. Most recently, the French builder refreshed the line with several smaller, sporty models it acquired when it bought Seascape Yachts. The 53, though, is a whole new concept entirely. Luxury ­performance is how it’s put in the marketing material, and, in all honesty, that’s a pretty apt description.

Walking the docks at the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, this past fall, the First 53’s plumb bow, slight reverse sheer, dark metallic hull, and broad deck and coach roof all covered in teak made it instantly stand out from the sea of white production cruisers. Even tied up, the boat looked ready to rip.

The First’s performance potential comes thanks to Biscontini Yacht Design and Roberto Biscontini, who earned his drawing creds over the course of two decades of America’s Cup campaigns. And the luxury? Well, Beneteau turned to Lorenzo Argento for deck and interior styling. Argento has been involved with a number of high-end projects, including Wally Yachts. Together, the pair created a vessel that’s easy to look at and riveting to sail.

A quick peak at the 53’s ­performance ratios, as well as a few other numbers, begins to tell the story. Its displacement-length ratio is a very sporty 118 (a fast-cruising X-Yacht clocks in at 161), while its sail area-displacement is a whopping 27.1—right on par with an all-out racer such as the Jeanneau Sunfast 3300’s SA/D of 27.6. And that’s for the standard First 53, which comes with an 8-foot-2-inch cast-iron T-keel and 85-foot aluminum mast. You can up the muscle power further by ordering the boat with a carbon-fiber rig that’s a full meter taller, and a 9-foot-10-inch performance T-keel with a lead bulb down deep, where it counts. Owners can choose sails of their liking, but Beneteau offers the 53 with a set from North Sails that includes North Panel Laminate main, 105 percent genoa and a code zero, so right out of the box, the boat’s regatta-ready.

On deck, the layout is at once simple, elegant and purposeful. All lines, including the double-ended mainsheet, run under panels back to twin helms, where controls for the electric below-deck jib furler, fold-down bow thruster, swim platform, house- and ­navigation-lighting systems, and matching sets of engine controls are mounted on pedestals, along with B&G plotters and instrument displays. Just forward of each wheel, a pair of Harken Performa electric winches sit adjacent to banks of line clutches.

The open transom is ­enclosed by lifelines, with a sturdy handhold on the centerline and solid stanchions and rails that curve around each quarter. With the boat heeling, these provide places for the crew to brace themselves if standing, or act as handholds when navigating the boat’s 16-plus-foot beam—a formidable amount of open space between steering stations.

Forward of the wheels, long cockpit seats await the crew. Each has its own teak table that does double duty as a sturdy place to grab if moving about. Beneteau has introduced a neat feature on this boat: The cockpit coamings drop to pass under the winches and past the wheels, giving crewmembers a place to sit when trimming, and the skipper a seat while steering. They don’t run all the way to the transom, though, which allows crew to pass behind either wheel and take an easy step up onto the deck when going forward. It was a detail I liked quite a bit, along with the 25-inch lifelines set atop 3-inch bulwarks all around.

Underway, I found that I had just about everything to maneuver the boat at my fingertips. As I said at the outset, conditions were light at first. In just under 5 knots of wind, we cranked along closehauled at nearly 6 knots. Later, with the breeze up to 15 or a little higher, the speedo hovered in the 8-to-9-knot range, and I saw 10 and a little more when we cracked off to a reach and unrolled the code zero.

My Beneteau-dealer shipmates suggested reefing the main at 13 to 14 knots. We didn’t, of course, and though we were overpowered a bit, judging by the angle of heel, the boat seemed to like it just fine, and so did we. And when it came time to tack, feathering up even a little quickly tamed things. There is no traveler available for the 53. Instead, the mainsheet runs through a centerline block mounted just forward of the wheels, the theory being that anyone paying in the $1.2 million ballpark for this size boat likely will spend more time cruising than racing.

Down below, Argento and Team Beneteau came up a refreshingly new approach to accommodations. White lacquered bulkheads and panels, coupled with a teak sole and molded wood furniture, kept the interior quite bright. In place of the traditional large dining area found in most boats these days, a well-equipped galley, complete with a home-size fridge, and a small dinette (expandable to seat six or so) took up the port side of the saloon. Opposite was a large L-shaped couch and small table for entertaining. Fiddles on counters and handholds were plentiful. And throughout the boat, lights and other electrical equipment were controlled by Beneteau’s proprietary Ship Control electrical system, which can be accessed using a smartphone.

The owner’s cabin was ­forward, and featured a split head and shower. Two more cabins were aft, with a shared head to starboard at the foot of the companionway. A three-cabin, three-head layout is also available, but it would cost you space in the galley.

The First 53’s hull and deck are cored and infused, with solid glass wherever hardware is mounted. An inner hull liner takes up loads from the mast, chainplates and engine. An 80 hp Yanmar diesel and saildrive come standard; the boat we tested was powered by the optional 110 Yanmar with shaft drive. Beneteau offers several other electronics and equipment packages as well.

If a boat is to be judged by how well it meets its design brief, the First Yacht 53 is already a winner. And did I mention? The sailing was out of this world.

Mark Pillsbury is CW ’s editor.

SPECIFICATIONS – Beneteau First Yacht 53

410-990-0270

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Beneteau First 27 review: sportsboat given the Beneteau treatment

• Rupert Holmes
• June 20, 2022

Has Beneteau managed to turn a niche sportsboat into a fun cruiser? Rupert Holmes sails the Beneteau First 27 to find out

Product Overview

Price as reviewed:.

The original version of the Sam Manuard-designed Seascape 27 (now branded as the Beneteau First 27 SE) has long been one of my favourite small yachts. In 2014 I sailed the prototype in Slovenia on a gusty winter’s day with the wind varying from 12-22 knots. Downwind with a big kite it was absolutely exhilarating, with speed hovering at 13-15 knots and occasionally hitting 17.5 in the stronger puffs.

Yet this was not an edge-of-control ride – the boat handled as though it was on rails, with heaps of reserve in the rudders, even when pressed hard. Given more time we could have enjoyed wonderful downwind sailing for 200 miles or more to Split or Dubrovnik, then put the boat on a road trailer for the upwind return leg.

So why change a winning formula? Quite simply, not everyone wants a boat that’s as optimised for speed: creature comforts and simplicity are also important factors. Hence Beneteau’s adaptation to create what’s now called the First 27 (without the SE designation).

Key changes include a shorter aluminium mast with pinhead mainsail, a fixed fin keel with torpedo bulb and 30cm less draught, plus an inboard diesel engine.

The cockpit benches in the forward part of the cockpit are also new and create a more comfortable cruising style, especially with the optional cockpit cushions. They also provide easily accessible on-deck stowage, in addition to the big lazarette.

The interior is brighter, more spacious and more civilised, thanks in part to the lack of a box for the lifting keel, although you still have to step over the frames in the bottom of the boat and there’s no standing headroom.

The Beneteau First 27 has berths for four, plus cooking and heads facilities, but there’s no standing headroom

There are berths for four, including two comfortable settee/quarter berths in the saloon, plus a double in the forepeak and enough space to stow kitbags. The central folding table can also be used in the cockpit.

Between the saloon and forepeak there’s a small galley to port and toilet to starboard. This is neatly arranged, with the latter closed off, except while in use, when the galley units are then similarly concealed.

Sail area is also reduced compared to the original, by a little under 20% upwind and 13% downwind. At the same time, the inboard engine and other changes add to displacement, which is 300kg higher – a significant 21% increase.

Sailing the Beneteau First 27

On paper this looks like a potential disaster, but the reality is different. I sailed the new Beneteau First 27 in Barcelona a few months ago in very light airs, with only 3.5-6.5 knots of true wind and three of us on board. These were perfect conditions to discover whether the boat lacks power.

Close-hauled in 4 knots of true wind we only managed 2.8 knots of boat speed, but the boat came alive in just 5 knots of breeze when it accelerated to four knots, rising further to 4.5 of boat speed in 6 knots true. When fully powered up, maintaining 6 knots upwind shouldn’t be a problem – this is therefore a model that should out-sail many much larger cruising yachts on all points of sail.

Beneteau’s First 27 is fast, predictable and great fun to sail

Bearing away onto a beam reach, we set the nylon furling gennaker, initially in 3.5 knots of breeze which gradually built to 6 knots. Boat speed throughout matched the wind speed. Bearing away further to a true wind angle of 120° on our return to harbour we maintained 5.5 knots of speed in 6.5 knots of true wind.

The helm was super light throughout, with the boat beautifully responsive both to accurate sail trim and to distribution of crew weight. In the very light airs at the start of our test, sitting to leeward and shuffling forward had a noticeable effect on both the feel in the helm and speed.

A boat that’s so responsive adds significantly to both the fun factor and the sense of satisfaction you get from sailing, which was a welcome change for me at the end of a week testing 45-60ft yachts. However, the Beneteau First 27 has more than enough inherent stability that it’s not dependent on crew weight for this, so you can sit wherever is most comfortable or convenient.

The Beneteau First 27 is light on the helm and easily driven

Historically one of the downsides of small boats like this has often been when conditions get tough. However, this boat can be pushed far harder than most owners would contemplate, so the boat will remain safe in this respect, even if caught out in more challenging conditions than expected.

One drawback though, is the relatively short stanchions and pushpits. While they meet all the regulations for a boat of this size, a full height rail would give a better feeling of security.

The inboard engine is a 15hp with shaft drive. It’s a powerful unit for such an easily driven hull, but was chosen as it’s the smallest model that satisfies the emissions requirements of the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency.

Seven knots at cruising revs is easily attained and at full throttle we left the stern wave behind and accelerated to 10 knots! This makes it a very interesting option for a weekender, or even a quick summer evening sail, where the ability to return quickly to base is an imperative.

If you enjoyed this….

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This is an appealing fast cruiser that stands out for a number of reasons. Its sailing qualities promise far more satisfaction for daysailing and weekend jaunts than most cruisers can offer. Although compact, the interior is welcoming and provides for all basic needs. And it’s a boat that will be very easy to look after. It’s therefore an interesting option for someone who usually sails in the sun, whether on their own boat or with others, but wants a capable and fun yacht to keep near home for daysails, weekends and occasional longer trips. Indeed it’s clearly cross-Channel capable in decent weather and in experienced hands, with the potential for a fast passage in the right weather. Compared to the SE version, this offers the benefits of simplicity, comfort and the convenience, without sacrificing the key ethos of a boat that’s enormously enjoyable and satisfying to sail.

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Beneteau 393

The new 393 benefits from big-company protocols in the production process. The basic design is nothing radical, but the layout and details incorporate a lot of owner feedback.

Beneteau is one of the few builders (along with perhaps Catalina, Hunter, and its own corporate cousin, Jeanneau) whose volume of production can generate significant “economies of scale.” Boatbuilding is not, of course, like automobile building or most other assembly-line processes. Boats and the way that they go together are complex; there’s more to launching a successful sailboat than buying parts in quantity and piecing them together. Nevertheless, when you look at a new boat like Beneteau’s recently introduced 393 you can see how the size, reach, and clout of the parent company can pay off.

Our review of the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 43 two months ago made the same point: Big, established, boatbuilders with meticulously organized production systems can afford to work out the kinks without passing along too many of the costs to buyers. They have a system, and it works.

Founded in 1884, Beneteau originally built fishing boats for the Bay of Biscay. Still a family-run concern, it turned to yachts and has built sailboats throughout most of the 20th century. For more than a decade now it has been building boats onboth sides of the Atlantic. (There’s a large facility in Marion, SC.)

Without doubt, the biggest recent company move was the acquisition of French rival Jeanneau. Though the two builders continue to offer separate lines, taken together they produce more auxiliary sailboats than anyone else in the world. Thus one of the benefits of “economies of scale”-the Beneteau/Jeanneau combination can drive a pretty good bargain on materials, hardware, sails, and so on.

All of which is a simple (and simplistic) explanation of why Beneteau can sell an attractive, commodious new cruiser like the 393 for a base price of under $140,000. Even then, it’s not like Henry Ford’s color option list for the Model T (you could have any color you wanted, as long as it was black): While the 393’s styling, playpen cockpit, and most of the standard parts can’t be customized on a whim, there are a couple of choices in accommodations that will extend the range of the boat’s appeal considerably.

Getting back to being big… Beneteau is in a unique position (selling to a worldwide market, supplying boats to dozens of charter companies, and introducing new models at a pace virtually unequalled in the industry) to collect feedback. The company has maintained its popularity by paying close attention to what customers want. As with politicians and constituents in a democracy, this can be good and bad.

According to Wayne Burdick, President of Beneteau USA, there have been 72 copies of the 393 ordered since the boat was introduced just last year. Volume like that means commissions, and commissions make naval architects happy. That makes working with Beneteau hard to resist. The designers who have done so are distinguished-the Groupe Finot and Bruce Farr notable among them. Since the late ’80s, however, the most influential designers in the Beneteau camp have been Jean Berret and his partner, Olivier Racoupeau. The two have had a lot to do with the establish-ment of the First (racer/cruiser) line. These “dual purpose” boats have been notably popular. Both designers have superb credentials in the grand prix arena. Berret, for instance, designed the Beneteau One Ton that won the Admiral’s Cup in 1987 and virtually got Beneteau into the racing game.

Throughout the ’90s Beneteau has also sold cruisers-the Oceanis line.These have no racing pretensions.

Rather they emphasize “being in touch with the sea.” They have been the leaders in evolving the molded, sleek, straight-sheer look that we’ve come to call “Euro.” They are remarkable, too, for their light, room, space, and comfort. When swim platforms were new, they had open transoms complete with outdoor showers. Says Wayne Burdick, “When you think of the dark, deep, dank caves that we used to cruise in and look at how open, light, and bright boats are today, you have to credit a lot of that change to the Oceanis line.”

As new models have come on line, Beneteau has sought to improve their performance. As finkeeled/balanced rudder boats the Oceani are lively in maneuvering and can record good passage times. However, acceleration, sail-carrying power, and weatherliness have not generally been their strongpoints.

Masters of working within rating rules, of wringing speed from compromises and limitations, Berret and Racoupeau have consistently whittled away in hopes of making each new Oceanis a better performer.

Accommodations

First and foremost, the 393 is roomy. You can’t help but notice the legroom, elbow room, generous seat backs, and open space in the cockpit. The walk-through coaming aft creates a good combination of openness and security. While the well is a bit too wide to brace across (and only one of the three cockpit table versions offered provides a footbrace) it’s hard to find any other quibble- sight lines are good, protection is stout, surfaces are contoured for comfort, and space is carved out around the winches to let you work them efficiently. It’s a big, comfortable, efficient, livable, modern cockpit. (If someone could figure out how to make mainsheet and traveller controls operable by the helmsman, though, it would make shorthanded sailing more realistic.)

She’s also roomy below. Headroom in the after part of the saloon approaches 6′ 6″. Light adds to the open feel, thanks mostly to the three overhead deck-windows (which come with sunshades).

There are two different interior configurations, a two-cabin version that accentuates privacy and yields a deep cockpit locker; and a three cabin version that offers two quarter cabins aft. The two-cabin layout has the galley in a traditional portside nook next to the companionway, with a settee to starboard opposite the dining area; the tri-cabin set-up removes the facing settee and puts the galley there in a linear arrangement with an array of finished cabinets and drawer stowage. “More and more people want more and more stowage,” says Burdick, “so we’re giving it to them.”

There are advantages and disadvantages to both arrangements. In most cases we’d counsel the sacrifice of bunks in order to make room for more “working” areas. In this case, though, the trade-offs are too close to call. The tri-cabin version has a dedicated nav station where the two-cabin version has none. It has an extra hanging locker to port, but lacks the good cockpit locker. The linear galley seems to us more intrusive, less convivial, and less safe in a seaway than the U-shaped version. That layout also suffers from a lack of support for moving around below in a seaway; the more traditional layout is “narrower” and would offer better security. Maybe the cabin choice depends on how many kids or friends you sail with, or whether you own a charter company.

Beneteau has always done a good job with interior wood. Far from seeming “knocked off” or mass produced, the furniture, cabinetry, and trim of the 393 live up to custom standards of fit, precision, and harmony. That’s because the company has purchased wood widely (and wisely) and because its wood shop is a two-acre masterpiece of computer controlled milling, routing, spraying, and fitting. Aside from the somewhat unsettling impression of living inside a grand piano instead of a boat, the result is impeccable.

The 393 offers a great deal of light and air. The decklights are the biggest light source, but the boat has six house ports, six hull ports, and seven overhead hatches, plus two cockpit ports. There’s plenty of cross ventilation to make forecabins and quartercabins habitable.

The 393’s nav station (in the three cabin layout) is big and well-designed for comfort. There’s an argument that with so much navigating being done in the cockpit these days, especially on shorthanded boats, the need for a good nav table is diminished, but we don’t think so. It may not need to be big enough to spread out a full-sized chart, but a cruising sailor still needs a desk, even if its just a surface for a notebook computer.

Hanging lockers are bigger and better (cedar-lined) than average, and there are even a few drawers. The overhead (an amalgam of some fiberglass, some fabric, and some wood) is attractive and (albeit with difficulty) removable. “Condensation is never a problem with our boats,” Burdick says. After sailing one dry through a drippy week in Ireland we can agree.

Access to the 40-hp Westerbeke diesel is superb. From beneath the companionway or via either quarter cabin you can attack it all. Foam insulation is a cut above industry standards and the faint humming of the monster below while we were underway suggested that it has been deployed well. Tankage (35 gallons fuel and 130 gallons water) doesn’t encourage world-girdling, but it’s substantial for a boat like this one.

A shallow bilge is an unfortunate by-product of a relatively flat-bottomed design. This one at least has a deep sump that should keep water from sloshing into vital areas below.

The galley is a modern marvel, with good handholds, safety bar, ventilated cabinet fronts, pot stowage, garbage cuddy, and a standard two-burner propane range/oven.

Construction

Beneteau has been building boats of solid glass reinforced with a fiberglass structural grid for at least 20 years. The method has been refined in light of material changes and streamlined in places for better efficiencies, but it remains essentially the same process that has yielded every First, Oceanis, and (now that the company has reverted simply to its own name to designate its boats) modern Beneteau.

These boats are clearly and cleverly “designed to be built,” using the minimum possible time and labor. As we’ve pointed out, in a production process this big and efficient, those can be considered good qualities. You might question the weight, quality, and composition of the hull laminate. You might theorize that there’s a weak point at the bond between hull and liner. You might focus on the fact that all-around taping of structural bulkheads demands excellent quality control. You might want a simpler, more-robust anchor for the 393’s chainplates. But at every turn your analysis butts up against the intended uses of the boat, which in this case should mean extended coastal cruising, and the enviable track record of durability racked up by hundreds of its cousins in the charter trade.

The hull/deck joint is an example of the sort of technique that is quick but not necessarily dirty. An inward turning flange receives the deck. Bedded on a rim of “5200-like” sealant, the deck (balsa-cored except where it receives hardware, and along its outer rim) is bolted through the flange in the area of chocks, stanchions, and cleats. Then machine screws on 6-inch centers tack down the remainder. The joint’s integrity is ensured by “chemical bond, plus mechanical, plus efficiency in meeting shear loads,” says Burdick.

While lead is the ballast of choice throughout most of the industry, Beneteau generally uses cast iron, as they do on this boat. Lead is denser by far than iron, and so will make for a much heavier keel in the same area and volume (or can be smaller to achieve similar weight). Lead, however, will also cost almost twice as much.

While economy may be Beneteau’s main reason for using iron keels, Burdick points to another advantage: “The keel root [where fin meets hull] is a significant source of turbulence. You reduce that drag by making the foil as thin as possible at that point. That’s much easier to do with cast iron.”

In any case, for obvious reasons, coverings and coatings on iron keels must be scrupulously maintained to make sure the ferrous metal never meets the watery medium directly.

Like the iron-keeled Oceanis line that have come before, the 393 depends less on ballast (at a minimal ballast/displacement ratio of 31 percent) than on shape (with a substantial 13′ 1″ beam) for stability. Were she to sport a similarly sized fin made of lead, it would lower hercenter of gravity (a positive move in terms of stability), but it would make her an appreciably heavier, costlier boat, with a “dead weight” liability to overcome in her performance.

Also, were Berret and Racoupeau to pare down the size of her keel by using lead, it would diminish lateral plane and hurt upwind performance.

Her mast is deck-stepped. Here, we believe, the company probably listened too closely to people who said they didn’t want a hole in the roof and a tree trunk in the saloon. The interior compression post is pretty, and the weldment at the top that accepts though-bolts to fasten on deck hardware is clever-but we think a boat this size should have a keel-stepped mast. As it is, the rig requires a babystay to help it stay in column.

Beneath the grid the keel is affixed (sealant and machined-in bolts) in a leakproof but removable bond.

Performance

To date the Oceanis performance evolution has been pretty straightforward. Each new boat has been (relatively speaking) a bit lighter, and each new sailplan has been proportionally larger. Thus horsepower to weight (sail area/displacement) characteristics, the “muscles” of performance under sail, have been groomed and refined over the years. ”

The 393 replaced the Oceanis 381,” says Burdick, “and you can note the same sort of improvement [from a SA/D of 14.45 to a more robust 16]. But these numbers aren’t all there is to performance. The 393 was given a substantially longer waterline [35′ 1″ as opposed to 32′ 10″]. That provides a more open ended speed potential that can boost passage times. Those are the numbers that sailors can really appreciate.”

Berret and Racoupeau have made some other changes. The 393 is very beamy for her size. The 381 was a beamy 12′ 11″ wide; the 393 pushes that out to 13′ 1″. Taking a page from today’s long-distance racers, the designers have made their own modest foray into the area of “beam for speed.” The 393 certainly benefits from her above-average volume when it comes to accommodations and payload, but hers is also a shape designed to enhance performance rather than weigh it down. The initial stability that she achieves via beam means that she needs less ballast. Her powerful after sections permit faired waterlines and flattened buttocks that minimize wavemaking turbulence. By easing the turn of the bilge her designers gave her semi-circular sectional shapes that cut down on parasitic drag (and improve light-air performance).

LOA: 39′ 3″

LWL: 35′ 1″

Beam: 13′ 1″

Draft (standard) 5′ 1″

Draft (deep keel) 6′ 3″

Displacement: 17,152 lbs.

Ballast: 5,357 lbs.

Fuel: 35 gallons

Water: 131 gallons

SA: 643 sq. ft.

D/L ratio: 178

SA/D ratio: 16.0

Auxiliary: 40-hp Westerbeke

The proof is in the pudding. On a sail after the Newport Boat Show last fall, Wayne Burdick offered us the wheel and we sailed close-hauled into a 12-knot southeaster heading past Ft. Adams toward open water. We noted that she seemed at least as close-winded as the boats around us. Pinching her up to around 30 degrees apparent wind angle caused her to skate off to leeward, but when we sailed full and by (at something closer to 40 degrees) she was a different boat-balanced and weatherly. We doubted that punching through chop would be a strongpoint, but in this relatively protected water the 393 went upwind with power and efficiency. Her balanced spade rudder made tacking (consistently inside 85 degrees) a pleasure. When we cracked off to test her stability it was remarkably hard to get the foils to ventilate. The steering control created by her powerful after sections and deep rudder was excellent.

Reaching and running are what the 393 was made for. A conventional poled spinnaker would add cruising versatility and the standard mastfurling mainsail lacks the effective area of a conventional main (now offered as the optional “classic”), but these quarrels have more to do with the modern cruiser in general than with the 393 specifically.

Conclusions

For cruising in comfort and sailing with ease it’s hard to top modern designs like the 393. Openness, creature comfort, and smooth-running systems put boats like these well ahead of the “narrow, dark, cavelike” designs of just a few years ago. However, if your need is to claw off a lee shore in a gale, to go where the waves are bigger than you are, or to cast off with “anything goes” readiness, these new coastal cruising designs aren’t as good as the old.

That’s not to say that the 393 can’t go far afield, but if we were doing it, we’d choose the deep-keel option for better lift, the “classic” mainsail arrangement-and we’d dote on the rig and all its terminals.

Beneteau has harnessed its design and purchasing resources to produce a boat that combines performance and comfort in an attractive package. Designed in large part according to the demands of customers to fit the cruising that they actually do, it’s a triumph of stowage, light, air, and space, and is gratifying to sail.

Despite focus groups and styling details, despite corporate bigness, and the difficulties inherent in making a good thing better, it seems to us that the company has again brought an honest boat to market.

Beneteau USA, 24 North Market

St., Suite 201, Charleston, SC

29401; 843/805-5000.

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Very informative work that addressed many of the questions I had about Beneteau and this model specifically. Well done

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