Yacht of the year

[potentillaCO32]

Great to see the First 30 winning performance yacht of the year in Dusseldorf. Worthy secondplace for the Dragonfly 36.

Lots of new marques and innovation in the running for the various categories.

 

[Boathook]

The dragonfly 36 would be my preferred option. Just requires a LOT more money in my bank account !

 

[Chiara’s slave]

The dragonfly 36 would be my preferred option. Just requires a LOT more money in my bank account !

You and me both. I daresay that is why the baby Ben won, a great deal more of those will be sold than DF36. Though Dragonfly are booked til the middle of 2028 already. It’s a lot of boat, for a huge amount of money.

 

[mrming]

The First 30 should sell well in Europe, but I don’t think many will make it to the UK. A shame as I’d quite like to have a go in one!

 

[potentillaCO32]

The First 30 should sell well in Europe, but I don’t think many will make it to the UK. A shame as I’d quite like to have a go in one!

I don't think very many of the boats in Dusseldorf will make it to the uk. It ha sbecome a niche market with just a few marques supplying.

 

[ylop]

You and me both. I daresay that is why the baby Ben won, a great deal more of those will be sold than DF36. Though Dragonfly are booked til the middle of 2028 already. It’s a lot of boat, for a huge amount of money.

Is it not that everyone expects a dragonfly to be speedy and the First30 was a bit more “we hadn’t really anticipated Benny going that way”? (Or like many trade awards is it actually indirectly about who sponsors the awards / judges pet projects / magazine adverts?)

 

[fredrussell]

From following the First 30 thread on Sailing Anarchy forum, I think the £100k ‘on the water’ cost might be a bit fanciful.

 

[wonkywinch]

Having written articles for several magazines in the 1980/1990s and been tied up with associated trade shows, back then awards tended to be back handers for advertising commitment.

I'd like to think things are more transparent these days but the award's governing body is just a collection of magazines.

Euroean Yacht of the Year Award | Magazines

Call me cynical?

 

[Boathook]

From following the First 30 thread on Sailing Anarchy forum, I think the £100k ‘on the water’ cost might be a bit fanciful.

I didn't look at the first 30 but it could be £100k on the water. It's all the nice to have extras such as sails, ropes, engine, etc that bump the price up !

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Is it not that everyone expects a dragonfly to be speedy and the First30 was a bit more “we hadn’t really anticipated Benny going that way”? (Or like many trade awards is it actually indirectly about who sponsors the awards / judges pet projects / magazine adverts?)

The Dragonfly is not there because it’s just fast, but because it’s got unexpected other qualities. It’s a nice, livable 36ft yacht that also sails really nicely as well as fast. To us, with a Comparable size Dragonfly to the Ben, the ben is not fast. We look at every 30ft sport cruiser and wonder if it’s the boat that can tempt us back to mono sailing. This one is not it. We wouldn’t notice if it were racing us. It is of course less than half the price of the new version of our boat. Do Dragonfly advertise? I haven’t bought a magazine apart from the odd issue of Classic Boat for years. I doubt they do.
If you did watch/listen to the boat test of the DF36, whilst he does mention speed, itks not the biggest impact unless you spend time looking at the log. You get used to that very quickly. It’s the sense of solidity, the engineering, and the handling under sail they loved. And that’s why we love ours.You can come belting in to a leeward mark at 18kn, miss it with the inside float by 10cm and round up to a beat with a thumb and finger on the tiller. You’ll need a pet gorilla to get the main in for you while you do that, on ours, no electric winches. But once it’s in, you’ll be 40 deg off the true wind at 8-10kn. And cruising, you can do all that with 2 crew, as turning is rather more leisurely. That’s why it was runner up in performance cruiser, and best performance multihull. And that’s why there’s a queue of people who are prepared to spend £700k on one.

 

[ylop]

Chiara, I’m not knocking the dragonfly - if I had the money it would certainly make it to my “give it some consideration” list - and obviously it’s much faster than any mono. The point was whilst other mono builders seem to be heading in the opposite direction Benny did something perhaps unexpected. Dragonfly made another boat in its series which did what you would expect from its siblings? Even though the Benny is much more aligned to my price tag it probably isn’t a boat I’d give any consideration to, but it feels like it’s more newsworthy of the two - which surely matters to editors!

However the OP suggested dragonfly came runner up to the Benny - I think that’s not quite right is it? They both won separate categories?

I dont recall either advertising in PBO recently but I suspect that’s not their target audience.

My understanding is nominations come from the editors (who are also the jury) and that a condition of nomination is you make a boat available for the jury to play in for its trials. Obviously that gets you great magazine coverage (even if you don’t win). A cynic might also suggest it gets editors the ability to play with their mates on some amazing boats on all expenses paid trips!

Whilst there is some logic to the jury being the mag editors - it is a 100% male panel and from their photos a fairly similar age bracket! There’s no publicly listed criteria, or even categories so it’s hard to take it too seriously.

 

[flaming]

The point was whilst other mono builders seem to be heading in the opposite direction Benny did something perhaps unexpected.

100% this.

Every other performance mono available to buy today is over twice the price.

Whilst I wouldn't swap my JPK for one, I can absolutely see the appeal.

 

[potentillaCO32]

What is great is the large numbers of new and innovative boats hitting the market. The day boat category is becoming incredibly popular. The Tofinou 7.9 is a lovely boat. Being increasingly bought by charter companies for weekend lets.

Clearly none of this will see the UK and probably doesn't really work in the uk climate or mindset.

 

[potentillaCO32]

100% this.

Every other performance mono available to buy today is over twice the price.

Whilst I wouldn't swap my JPK for one, I can absolutely see the appeal.

The 100k target is quite a marketing win. The smaller seascapes 24 and 27 and great boats as well.

 

[flaming]

From following the First 30 thread on Sailing Anarchy forum, I think the £100k ‘on the water’ cost might be a bit fanciful.

I had a long chat with Kristian from seascape at Mets. If you're happy with the entry spec, i.e no traveler, basic sails etc, then it looks like it's circa 110k Euros + vat.

 

[seeSimon]

Having written articles for several magazines in the 1980/1990s and been tied up with associated trade shows, back then awards tended to be back handers for advertising commitment.

I'd like to think things are more transparent these days but the award's governing body is just a collection of magazines.

Euroean Yacht of the Year Award | Magazines

Call me cynical?

When was the last time you read a new boat test that said something like "this thing is a dog/waste of money, don't buy it"?

Car magazines broadly similar, be it catastrophic depreciation, or barely semi-functional electronic systems/interfaces. Hardly worth a mention, it appears...imho...

 

[seeSimon]

I had a long chat with Kristian from seascape at Mets. If you're happy with the entry spec, i.e no traveler, basic sails etc, then it looks like it's circa 110k Euros + vat.

So that's something like a 35% excess over the £100k figure quoted? For a basic boat.
Hmmm...

 

[John_Silver]

Voiles et Voilers have a "price of a well specc'd boat" section in theit tests. Full First 30 test here. Prices are Euros inc VAT. Test dated June 2025



Auto-translate translate: Square = Carre = Saloon​

 

[Chiara’s slave]

So that's something like a 35% excess over the £100k figure quoted? For a basic boat.
Hmmm...

No, it’s bang on. Being quoted ex vat is a bit of a fiddle I’ll grant you, but 110k Euros is 10lk £ give or take small change.

Ok, so when it’s got a spec more comparable to a DF28, it’s also not much cheaper. Yet would be utterly annihilated on performance. The 28 is a 6 berth cruiser racer too, if we wete looking at a new boat, those 2 would be the comparison if we were making one. But we’d just dig deeper and get the Dragonfly. Monos in any price bracket have still got a lot of catching up to do.

 

[lustyd]

The day boat category is becoming incredibly popular

Or is it becoming the only category most people can afford? I saw a Rustler 42 advertised at £720k recently, which feels like the punchline to some joke I don't understand. I'm sure it's a lovely boat, but back in the day we'd call that three quarters of a million pounds. £100k for a 30 footer feels like a lot to me too but at least it's a racing toy, and the Dragonfly's have the excuse of being extremely niche