Sitting in the Uerige brew house in Düsseldorf’s charming old town, sipping glass after little glass of the dark Altbier and munching my way through perfectly crispy pork knuckle, it was difficult not to feel more than a little content with life, as if I’d fallen plumb into the most gemütlich of German clichés.

It was the perfect opportunity to reflect on everything I’d seen at the ‘world’s biggest watersports show’. Boot Düsseldorf has always been the place where yacht builders go to unveil to the world their latest designs for the very first time, and historically everyone who was anyone in the industry was always there.

This year, amidst global uncertainties and rising costs, environmental consciousness and a close eye on purse strings pulled a little tighter than before, it was a rather more select group of exhibitors. Notable absences included the mighty German yards of Hanse (including Dehler and Moody), and Bavaria, leaving two large holes, along with a few smaller but no less notable yards, including Rustler, Nordship, Arcona and Elan, leaving just two halls dedicated to sailing boats, and a few gaps around the edges.

Nevertheless, with the exception of the Hanse 360 (which we’ve already tested), anyone who had a new boat to launch was there with some really quite exciting vessels, some of which hint at the directions in which the industry is moving, and the kind of boats we will be sailing now and in the future.

Lofty aspirations

Buying a new yacht is never going to be a cheap endeavour, and some of the most striking new arrivals are aimed at the top end of the market. Standing out with a thoroughly futuristic hull shape that sees the return of tumblehome and reverse sheer was the Wauquiez 55, with a well-protected centre cockpit and absolutely palatial aft cabin, complete with gullwing door.

For rugged cruising, the Bestevaer 54 is a boat that will take you absolutely anywhere and keep you totally self-sufficient, while the Heyman 42 PPH (pocket pilothouse) squeezes in total luxury on board a modestly sized boat driven by some genuinely original thinking on hull shape and comfort at sea.

Finally, X-Yachts XC 47 was new last year, but I managed to get a look around her this year and was impressed with how much thought has gone into the design details.

Performance cruisers

Speed is absolutely on trend, and performance cruisers are aiming to deliver pure sailing with varying degrees of luxury aboard. There’s also some genuine innovation about how to make new boats more affordable.
Making fast, fun sailing easier to achieve on boats that don’t need a full racing crew (and sometimes no extra crew at all) is the name of the game.

The new Saffier SL46 is very much true to this fast and stylish brand while being its first large cruising boat. J-Boats unveiled its new J40 that promises ultimate sailing refinement and a smart fit-out in a remarkably affordable package, while the Dragonfly 36 trimaran packs in what would have been a generous monohull cockpit a few years ago, with almost the same 24-knot potential of the bigger 40, plus the comfort of heated helm seats.

Affordable fun

At the other end of the scale, the Tricat 690 uses a similar hull-folding mechanism to the Dragonfly, and will offer spartan camp-cruising at real pace for up to four people.

Encouragingly, there were some new, sensibly-priced 30-footers, which we haven’t seen for a while. The Maxus 31, made in Poland, manages eight berths, a galley, heads and chart table, to what looks like a good standard for around the £150k mark, while Beneteau’s First range now includes the First 30, which it claims will plane easily in cruising mode, or when racing, with entry prices just sneaking under the £100k barrier.

And for a little bit of fun is was what claims to be the world’s smallest yacht. At just 2.3m, the Deltania has sitting space for one. So if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to sail a model boat, you finally can!

Beneteau First 30

Not before time, the industry finally seems to be waking up to the need to build new boats that are not massive and that don’t cost the earth. Sure, the €100,000 base price is still a fair bit of cash to find down the back of the sofa, but it is a significant mark that they’ve managed to get a boat down to that price, especially if she’s genuinely competent.

Now, Beneteau claims to have invented a new category of boat: the ‘planing cruiser’. That might be a bit of hyperbole, because small, cruise-capable boats such as Pogos, Djangos and other mini-Transat derived boats have been doing that for years.

Doing so in a package that is easy and uncomplicated to sail, even at speed, and to do it for a sensible price, however, is something genuinely new.

The fit-out is basic, but done elegantly and neatly and I could genuinely imagine cruising with a couple of friends or my young family for a few days very happily; there are six berths aboard. I don’t mind doing without pressurised hot water systems and diesel heating (in the summer at least).

The galley is almost the same size as that of the First 36; there’s 120 litres of water under the forward berth and a seawater tap for washing-up can help eke that out. Fabric magnetic cabin doors and removable canvas bulkhead lockers offer privacy and stowage space, and the lockers can be taken home.

A separate heads includes access to a generous cockpit locker, a shower, and a well-drained open wet locker hanging space.

In short, this is a smart, genuinely practical cruising boat that could, they say, get you up to 18 knots. The finish is ‘raw’ in places but reveals no rough edges, suggesting the First 30 has been properly built.

Maxus 31

Maxus sailing yachts have been around for less that 20 years, but the Northman yard draws on impressive technical expertise in fibreglass boatbuilding in Poland – many larger yards get their hulls moulded there and then fit them out in their own factories.

The 31 was one of the most interesting yachts at the show for me as, like the Beneteau First 30, it gets under the £100k mark for the base price with a finished and taxed boat likely to be possible for £150k.

It is also a proper little cruising boat, and while it may feel a little more cramped than other new boats out there, very few yards are building a boat this comprehensively fitted out in the size. Beneteau’s Oceanis 30.1 would be a rare comparison.

Her diminutive length includes three double cabins, a heads with separate shower/toilet compartment, L-shaped galley, a reasonable saloon that also includes a folding nav table, and a pretty good cockpit with wheel steering.

That’s a whole lot of boat, and she feels reasonably solid too – one of Maxus’s big markets is the charter sailing scene in Poland, so while the veneers may feel a little synthetic, they are tough and well protected with solid wood edging.

They’ve got some neat little ideas too, like the bathing platform that includes a fold-up helm seat and the wide bowsprit to aid bows-first boarding. She’s currently rated a RCD Category B, though this may improve once her stability has been officially tested.

Dragonfly 36

Dragonfly trimarans have long stood out as almost the sole proponents of medium-sized cruising trimarans that can fold to fit into a normal marina berth. Multihull alternatives are either huge fixed trimarans such as Neel, or one of the many large cruising catamarans, while the nearest folding tris tend to be small trailer-sailors such as Tricat or Astus.

For monohull sailors, the feeling of sailing is far more satisfying on this style of boat than most other multihulls, with the downside that accommodation space tended to be limited.

The new 36 fills a gap for Dragonfly between its flagship 40 and the smaller 32 (with smaller 28 and 25 models also in the current range), and stepping aboard, the space they’ve found is impressive – not that far off a 36ft monohull of a few years ago.

Twin wheels, all lines led aft, and even heated helm seats make this an extremely easy and comfortable boat to sail, and she’ll easily cruise at 15 knots, with potential to hit something like 24 knots (depending on whether you pick the Touring or Performance version). The cockpit has been designed with a centreline table with space for non-sailing guests to sit and relax.

Clever design has worked around the solid ring-frames to facilitate a double berth cabin forwards, and a large double ‘owner’s’ cabin aft, with heads forward of the large saloon. Stowage of much of your cruising clobber is accommodated in the floats, and the inboard engine is pushed right aft for space and to minimise noise below. Other innovations include the all-composite hinge mechanism for the floats, which help keep weight and build costs down.

J/Boats J/40

One of the stand-out best sailing boats I’ve tested recently is the J/45. She may not have been the largest, the most spacious, or even the most luxurious boat of her length, but the feel on the helm as she effortlessly powered along at full speed is hard to match. She also came with a punchy three-quarters of a million pound price tag.

J/Boats have gone back to the amazingly reliable drawing board of Alan Johnstone to work the same magic, but this time five feet shorter and over £300,000 cheaper.

Replacing the hugely popular J/112, of which over 200 were built, is no small task, and J/Boats, which prides itself on timeless designs, only wanted to build a successor if she was going to be both a more comfortable cruising boat and offer genuinely improved performance. Well, if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.

J/Boats set about doing this by ignoring both faddish trends and the strictures of the rating rules, believing that both of these push boats to extremes and preferring to design a simply fast all-round sailing boat.

To do this, it’s designed a hull with slightly more powerful (fuller) forward sections than the J/122, and one that is also more slippery to perform better in the light airs in which much racing and cruising actually happens – the stern is appreciably less beamy than most new boats.

Next, they stripped the weight out of both the hull, vacuum-infusing every last piece down to the bathing platform, and out of the accommodation, opting for simplicity wherever they could (getting rid of recessed lighting under the saloon seating is just one example), with a limited range of options and systems to keep costs down.

The result is a 40-foot boat that weighs under eight tonnes, will be up and sailing in the first zephyrs of a breeze but with the stability to handle a big blow. It has the promise of some serious pace, yet looks like a stylish and comfortable boat for cruising.

If the J/45 is anything to go by, she will be delightfully refined on the helm. She will probably do very well on the race course too – if that’s what you desire – though that’s not her primary goal.

X-Yachts Xc47

X-Yachts claims the Xc 47 is the best cruising boat it has ever built. The cruising boats (compared to X-Yachts’ Performance, Pure and Racing ranges) are defined by deeper, more rounded hulls for better load carrying and a more forgiving motion, while the subtle hull chines and wider stern of the Xc47 increase her ability to stand up to her canvas when heeled.

This is the first semi-deck saloon that X-Yachts has built and it has pooled its creative resources for a stunning boat. Innovations include jib car tracks that are hidden under hinged panels to give access for running lines – lines which are then led aft through straight tunnels. Those tunnels cross the deck saloon windows, making them stronger and reducing friction.

In the cockpit, the helm pedestals form forward-facing backrests for crew. Down below, every possible nook is used for stowage, and the forecabin wardrobe and drawers are some of the most impressive I’ve seen. The saloon has a small square table, the corners of which fold out to double its size, or lower down to create a huge daybed/double berth. A proper chart table and massive galley add to the mix, as do the elongated hexagons of the hull windows.

She may be 15 tonnes, but that’s still six tonnes less than one of her competitors, the Moody DS 48. The Xc47 is a boat that makes other Scandinavian cruising boatbuilders look they have been resting on their laurels.

Saffier 46

Saffier Yachts in the Netherlands builds some of the most refined, fast and achingly modern luxury day-sailers on the market from 24ft to 37ft (plus a couple of more traditional little hulls), all of which have beautifully fitted-out but minimal accommodation on board. So for the yard to build a 46ft cruising boat is something of a departure. The founding brothers, Dennis and Dean Hennevanger, grew up blue-water cruising, however, so they know a thing or two about what makes a good cruising boat.

The SL46 is in many ways a scaled-up version of the smaller Saffier boats, identified by her low freeboard, twin wheels pushed well forwards, and vast expanse of aft deck for sunbathing and socialising. Displacement has been kept light and performance, along with the ability to sail the boat singlehanded, is still paramount, so all lines are led aft to the helm, where both winches can be controlled from either side at the push of a button.

There are also two versions – the Med having a large, open aft deck with sliding sunlounger seats, while the North has a raised quarter deck to enclose the cockpit and provide space for a tender garage.

Below, her styling is razor sharp and homely at the same time, with comfortable seating and a stunning galley, plus beautiful cabins too. The only downside of the forecabin is that the bunk is too high to sit up in bed, which seems like an oversight when the rest of the boat works so beautifully. Still, the Saffier 46 should go like a rocketship while your guests sip champagne from the fridge handily located in the cockpit table.

Tricat 6.90

A 22ft trimaran is never going to be palatial, and you’ll have to not mind about the Porta Potti only being usable in the middle of the saloon/cabin/galley. With just one space for everything, this is definitely closer to dinghy cruising or camping than a luxury floating apartment.

Otherwise the fit-out is very simple but nicely done, with small areas for sink and hob, and a few stowage pockets.The cruising spec will add on more creature comforts, while the basic version gives you the bare minimum to get you sailing. But if it’s the best boat speed for your buck you’re after, then a lightweight cruising trimaran has got to be at the top of your list. €63,000 all-in will easily get you 15 knots, and maybe almost up to 20 knots.

We’ve tested some of the Astus trimarans of a similar size in this magazine, and I can vouch for the fact that it’s possible to cruise for a few days with a family of four on a boat of this size. We also loved the fact that 8-10 knots upwind at just a few degrees of heel was entirely realistic.

The Tricat 690, a European Yacht of the Year 2022 winner, uses a hinged float-folding mechanism similar to that of the Dragonfly so that she can be moored in a normal berth and trailed on the road. Very large floats make this boat extremely stable, while daggerboards in the float mean there’s no noise or water in the main hull and valuable space isn’t taken up.

Flat hull sections aft and an all-up displacement in cruising mode of just 900kg mean this boat will quickly leave her hull speed behind. On the 690 construction is vacuum infused GRP Corecell sandwich, and the foils are carbon fibre, while the float arms are aluminium with a GRP cowling. On larger models the float arms are made of carbon.

Heyman 42 PPH

Gabriel Heyman used his vast design and sailing experience to create a boat that defies both neat classification and current mainstream thinking. The PPH in its name stands for pocket pilothouse, given that this is smaller than most other new pilothouse yachts out there. This is a boat unlike any other 42-footer you will step aboard.

Starting with the hull shape, she has been drawn with the twin purpose of achieving a shallow draught, along with a comfortable motion at sea without compromising a respectable boat speed.

To do this, the bow is much finer and deeper than most high-volume cruising boats, with the volume required to support her displacement added further aft. The keel is located for optimum handling, then continued well aft in a long-cord fin to support the necessary ballast. An unballasted centreboard extension is an option to reduce leeway.

On deck, especially stepping aboard via the sole-level bathing platform, the sheer size of the cockpit strikes you, aided by the fact that it is on the same level as the saloon on the other side of the full-width window/doors. Seating is aft as well as on benches either side, with separate cockpit tables on either side.

Inside (you don’t really go ‘below’), the deck-level saloon offers L-shaped seating around a low table and drawers, which folds up into a seat around the main dining table. The galley is a step lower and of huge proportions. From here you step down again to the guest cabin to port, which has a huge bed and reasonable space, opposite a lower saloon.

The forward cabin, however, is truly magnificent. A 160cm wide queen-sized bed is square all the way forwards, and where you can enjoy your panelled and teak or mahogany-fitted suite and the views out. In the bow is a vast bow locker that is almost big enough to count as a fo’c’sle workshop as well as chain locker.

Bestevaer 54

Ever wondered where your old drinks cans and tin foil go? This is it – the impressive new 54ft go-anywhere aluminium beast that is the Bestevaer 54 from KM Yachtbuilders in the Netherlands. Apparently over 60% of the aluminium used is recycled.

What is brand new, however, is that this is a custom-built expedition yacht called MicMac, designed for German owners, with the aim of heading to some of the world’s furthest flung corners, and to do so in comfort and safety. We don’t normally cover bespoke projects, but if you wanted (and could afford one), I’m sure KM would be happy to oblige, as aluminium yachts aren’t built in a mould, so every one is more or less a one-off anyway.

That said, this boat is based on its Dykstra Bestevaer designs that go down to 36ft, with the slight variation that it is a proper deck saloon, where most of the range are pilothouse boats, that is, with space to keep watch in shelter at deck level with the saloon down below, while this boat has a stunningly modern saloon above an equally cool galley.

Clever use of timber makes this boat a delightful mix of rugged practicality and varnished beauty. There are just two cabins, giving plenty of room for two heads, a proper navigation station and a large technical room.
On deck, a large and comfortable semi-enclosed cockpit leads to a fixed bathing platform, while the solar-panel arch doubles as a movable dinghy davit.

The lifting swing keel and double rudders allow the boat to take the ground and dry out, while an innovative third rudder keeps the boat manoeuvrable at slow speeds and in shallow water.

Wauquiez 55

It’s not often that a boat completely rethinks a well-worn format and comes up with something new. The Wauquiez 55 is a centre-cockpit bluewater cruiser with the helm under the protection of a large bimini-cum-doghouse – nothing new about that, although it does offer a remarkably safe and protected place from which to sail and keep watch, closely connected to the comfortable and sociable cockpit space.

The hull shape, however, with its marked tumblehome is designed to reduce excessively open deck spaces, making going forwards safer at sea, and the reverse sheer means that cockpit is well above the water, while sunbathing pads and access to the water become progressively lower aft.

Most remarkable, however, is how the concept of the owner’s cabin has been rethought, so that the steps down to the transom bathing platform form a full-width window above the owner’s berth, giving stunning views out, and the gullwing hatch door gives direct private access to the water. Below, the huge cabin is more like a suite with a settee, desk, and palatial heads.

The saloon is equally spacious, making full use of the boat’s 5.35m beam with a large table to port and two comfortable armchairs facing it to starboard. Aft of these is a large forward-facing chart table, and to port is the L-shaped galley, which forms the walkthrough to the aft cabin.

The technical room, housing twin 75hp engines and saildrives has full standing headroom for four people, so working on any of the systems is easy, and next to this space is a bunk cabin. The forward cabin, for your guests, is also en suite and is easily as large as most owner’s cabins.

Sailing should be enjoyable, with options for a fixed keel or deep swing keel and twin rudders, with all lines controlled from the helm.

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