Yachting's Oscars return to the Arsenale
For the third year running, the superyacht world put on black tie and crowded into the Arsenale di Venezia, the centuries-old shipyard where the Venetian Republic once built a galley a day. On 2 May, the 21st BOAT International World Superyacht Awards handed out its Neptunes: the bronze statuettes that, in this industry, carry roughly the weight an Oscar does in Hollywood.
The comparison isn't just marketing. What sets these awards apart is the jury — current and former superyacht owners, people who have actually lived with these boats at sea rather than admired them from a dock. They're a hard audience to impress. This year, one yacht impressed them more than any other.
Breakthrough's double night
Feadship's Breakthrough — 118.8 metres, the world's first hydrogen fuel-cell superyacht — was named Motor Yacht of the Year, and took the 5,000GT-and-above displacement class on the way there. It's the largest yacht ever built in the Netherlands, and its cryogenic-hydrogen propulsion was novel enough that Lloyd's Register and the Cayman Islands had to write new safety rules to certify it. "It's a step forward technically, and quite an accomplishment for Feadship," as one judge put it. Understated, by the standards of the room.
It was a Feadship night more broadly. The Dutch yard also took the 2,500–4,999GT class with the 100-metre Pi ("I know how difficult it is to make that hull flare — it's a work of art," said one judge), the 1,500–2,499GT class with the 79.5-metre Valor, and Refitted Yacht of the Year with the 57-metre Solace, twenty years old and, in the jury's words, not showing it.
The headline awards
- Motor Yacht of the Year — Breakthrough, Feadship, 118.8m
- Sailing Yacht of the Year — Aquarius, Royal Huisman, 65m
- Voyager's Award — Dolce, Bloemsma Van Breemen, 43.9m
- Legacy Award — Goh Cheng Liang (posthumous)
The full winners list, class by class
Displacement motor yachts, 500GT and above
- 500–1,499GT: Lady Estey — Benetti, 67m
- 1,500–2,499GT: Valor — Feadship, 79.5m (Commendation: Pangea — Damen Yachting, 80m)
- 2,500–4,999GT: Pi — Feadship, 100m
- 5,000GT and above: Breakthrough — Feadship, 118.8m
Displacement motor yachts, 499GT and below
- 30–39.9m: Haze² — Cantiere delle Marche, 30.8m
- 40–44.9m: Andala — Baglietto, 40.9m
- 45–49.9m: RJ — Cantiere delle Marche, 46.7m
- 50m and above: Awandra — Baglietto, 52m
Semi-displacement & planing motor yachts
- 30–34.9m: Mirage — Riva, 34.4m
- 35–39.9m: Angiola — Maiora, 36.9m (Commendation: Lalabe — Van der Valk, 35.3m)
- 40m and above: Orion — Heesen, 49.8m
Sailing yachts
- 30–39.9m: BeCool — Nautor Swan, 39m
- 40m and above: Aquarius — Royal Huisman, 65m (Judges' Special Award: Katana — Perini Navi, 60m)
Refitted & rebuilt
- Refitted: Solace — Feadship, 57m
- Rebuilt: Moonstone — Delta Marine / Amels Refit, 79.2m
- Judges' Special Award: Seawolf — Pendennis, 58.8m
- Commendation: Ursus — Balk Shipyard, 30.4m
The Italians are coming
If Feadship owned the top of the table, the mid-size classes told a different story, an Italian one. Cantiere delle Marche took two Neptunes (Haze² and RJ), with one judge saying the explorer-yacht specialist is "crushing it and dominating the field." Baglietto also doubled up, with Andala and the 52-metre Awandra. The most charming entry of the night was arguably Seawolf: a working tug, rebuilt by Pendennis into a 58.8-metre yacht, given a Judges' Special Award for the sheer nerve of it.
The Legacy Award: Goh Cheng Liang
The evening's most personal moment was posthumous. Goh Cheng Liang, the Singaporean industrialist behind the Nippon Paint empire, who died in August 2025 at 98, was honoured for a quarter-century of pushing multihull design where almost no one else would go. His succession of yachts, almost all named White Rabbit, culminated in the 84-metre White Rabbit of 2018: still the largest trimaran ever built. He commissioned long-range catamarans and trimarans when the market wanted neither, and the market eventually followed him.
What the jury was really rewarding
Two threads ran through the 2026 results. One was propulsion: hydrogen on Breakthrough, hybrid and diesel-electric on Orion, Pi and Valor. Sustainability has moved from press-release language to the spec sheet. The other was the opposite of novelty — a clear premium on bespoke, owner-driven design, and on yachts built to age well rather than dazzle on debut.
It was also, quietly, a farewell. After three editions in Venice, the World Superyacht Awards leave the Arsenale next year for a new home. A fitting last act in the city that has been building remarkable boats longer than almost anywhere on earth.
Photo: Dan Welldon Photography / BOAT International. Source: BOAT International.
