Cannes Yachting Festival 2018: novelty guide
Reviews and test drives

Cannes Yachting Festival 2018: novelty guide

Motor and sailing premieres, monohulls and multihulls, foil yachts and transformer yachts - all the highlights of the Cannes show.
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What: Cannes Yachting FestivalWhen

:
from 11 to 16 SeptemberWhere
: Quay de Croisette, Cannes (Old Port and Port Pierre Canto)

Why go? Because this is the biggest yacht show in Europe. In 2018, the Cannes Yachting Festival will host more than 620 boats ranging in size from 5 to 55 meters. Of these, 230 are new boats and 130 are world premieres. As festival director Sylvie Hernou says, «everyone will find something different»here.

Motor Yachts

The biggest (per meter) Cannes premiere of this year is the 48-meter Baglietto, designed by Francesco Paszkowski and equipped with an advanced stabilization system. The shipyard did not engage any third party designers to create the interiors of the Baglietto 48M T-Line at its own expense. Baglietto CEO Michele Gavino calls the interior furnishing of the 48M T-Line a «matter of personal pride». You can read about other Cannes Yachting Festival 2018 superyachts in our previous article and here we will continue to list this year's loudest premieres.

One of the biggest stands among the motor manufacturers this year at Azimut. The company will bring 18 (!) yachts to Cannes, including three world premieres - Azimut S6, Grande 25 Metri and Grande 32 Metri. All three boats have the recognizable look of Stefano Righini. The closed 18 metre S6 is the most awaited of Azimut's novelties. Its trump card is good speed performance: three Volvo IPS 700 engines and a lightweight carbon-fibre superstructure give a «maximum» of 35 knots. It is also beautiful, like all Italians.

If you are a fan of Italian Longitude Vita, do not pass by the Ferretti Group booth. However, it will not be easy to do: the group has five positions on the list of world premieres. The long list includes Ferretti 670, Custom Line 120', Custom Line Navetta 42, Riva 110' Dolcevita and Riva 66' Ribelle. The 20.24-meter Ferretti 670 is one of the most anticipated boats of the festival. In the three cabin version, she has a chic master suite with a study with windows overlooking the water surface. The rest area on the bow is transformable - two tables are lowered to form a large sunbed.

In general, the segment of medium size flybridge yachts has many interesting premieres. For example, the appearance of the 15-meter Absolute Navetta 48 is very recognizable (albeit ambiguous). A great deal of attention is paid to optimizing the interior space. The master stateroom in the bow has an angled layout, which allows the bed to be bypassed on three sides, while the VIP has a dressing room and a dressing table.

The 18.7-metre Prestige 590 master suite is located on the midships and has a separate entrance, a VIP double bed extends to form two single cabins.

The 22.8-meter Sunseeker 74 Sport Yacht borrowed the hull from the high-speed Predator and shows 38 knots «of peak». In addition to the crew cabin, which has become standard for this segment, she also has a tender garage in transom.

The 29.2m Pearl 95 is more of a «pocket superyacht». Inside, there are five or six cabins with a master on the main deck. But the main weapon of this boat is a large beach club formed by hinged sides and a windbreaker hidden in the transom.

Also on display are two premieres for those who do not care about the flybridge and want to save money on it. The Jeanneau NC37 is 11.5 meters, two cabins in standard with the possibility of enlarging it to three with storage space. The cost of a bare hull is from €291,224.

Bénéteau Swift Trawler 47 - 14.7 meters, three cabins, berths for eight with a convertible sofa in the salon. Prices will start from €466,400.

Sailing yachts

Sailing yachts consistently occupy one fifth of the exhibition at the Cannes Yacht Festival. This year the official banner of the exhibition finally has a silhouette of a sailboat going aft with a motorboat.

The palm of the championship on the meter at the upcoming exhibition belongs to Southern Wind 96. The concept of the 29.3-meter cruiser was developed in accordance with the slogan of «simplicity - the essence of good design». The boat runs well in low winds and its deck layout allows for both short transitions and offshore cruises with equal comfort.

The 24-meter Swan 78 is the second longest (but not the most important) premier of sailing Cannes. It is a sea-going ocean cruiser with a clever layout (up to five cabins) and good speed performance. Russian dealer of Nautor's Swan Mikhail Kondratyev was one of the first to test this boat and share his impressions with itBoat.

The third interesting representative of the luxury sailing segment is Baltic 67 Performance Cruiser. While the Swan 78 carbon fiber is only partially (carbon reinforcement in the hull), the 20.5-meter Baltic cruiser is entirely made of carbon fiber, which has resulted in a significant weight reduction compared to competitors. The Baltic 67 PC has a displacement of 21 tonnes (by comparison, the Swan 78 has a displacement of 42.6 tonnes).

Below is a list of world premieres of sailing cruisers of more modest sizes.

The 14.9m Grand Soleil 48 has been nominated for the «European Boat of the Year Award 2019». The hull has been calculated using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, and the superstructure elements have been structurally analyzed using FEM - finite element method. In the racing version it is possible to remove part of the interiors, thus freeing up space for the storage of sails and lightening the boat.

The 14.6m Oceanis 46.1 borrowed its «big sister»'s step body, the Oceanis 51.1. Its main trump card is ease of operation: the mainsail is wrapped up in a mast, there's a stacker truck and all the halyards are led to a single winch at each of the two control posts.

Multihulls

Since 2016 multihulls have been given a separate section of the exhibition. All key manufacturers of catamarans (both sailing and motor) are represented here, which makes it quite clear who is who in this market.

Sunreef has the richest booth: three world premieres. They also own the largest representative of the family of multihulls - 30.5-meter Sunreef 80. It is 300 square meters of living space and an extravagant mixture of teak, fused quartz and metal accents in the interior.

The Sunreef booth is also interesting for the world premieres of Sunreef 60 and Sunreef 40 Open Power Diamond edition. The first conquers with a Jacuzzi on the flybridge and a classic marine theme in the interior in a modern reading. As for the second, the name says it all. The Sunreef 40 Open Power Diamond edition is the first yacht in the world to have a diamond-coated hull.

Let's turn to other curious premieres. Thus, 20.4-meter sailing Fountaine Pajot New 67 will attract attention with an abundance of possible layouts.

Those who prioritise the eco-friendliness of the boat will be interested to take a look at the 16.7m Silent 55, which is fully solar powered. This means that it has unlimited range, produces no noise and no harmful emissions. According to representatives of Silent Yachts, their brainchild in addition to «virtually no need for maintenance».

Recent trends

The Cannes Boat Show is an indicator of all current trends in the yachting industry. This year's chips are foils, «green» technology and hull transformability.

You can get an idea of how hydrofoils are used in the construction of yachts at the Princess, Enata, SeAir and Fliteboard stands. There you will see all kinds of foyles - T-shaped (like a Princess R35 speedboat or Fliteboard), and curved «with a fishing hook» (like a Foiler from Enata or SeAir ribe).

The stands of Arcadia, Silent, Solarwind, SolarImpact and Wasabi illustrate the application of solar panels, the stands of Greenline, Liso and Rand Boats - the latest developments in the field of electric motors, Silverfin - a new type of semi-displacement hull, which guarantees stunning fuel efficiency (more than 400 miles of autonomous driving at 12 knots for an 11.9 meter boat).

If you want to see transformer boats with folding sides, sliding hull, etc. look for the Evo booth.

Tenders and water toys

Tenders and water toys this year are fully concentrated in the port of Pierre Canto. Brokerage boats are also moored here. This was done in order to free the entire Old Port for the new motor and sailing yachts, which are increasing every year.

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