Not even a raft of cancelled flights caused by a major technical failure in the UK’s national air traffic control system could keep visitors away from this year’s Cannes Yachting Festival.
Nearly 120 world premieres, many of which were available for sea trials, were among the 500 plus dayboats, RIBs, and superyachts on display across the week-long event this September.
Highlights included the new PIRELLI 44 | Ducati Edition speedboat, limited to just 26 specimens as a tribute to 1926 (the year Ducati was founded), and the anticipated debut of the Forte47 Gran Turismo; the 47 representing both the boat’s length in feet and hair-raising 47 knots achieved on sea trial.
More surprising, however, was the volume of noise coming from the multihull category, currently the fastest growing sector within the sailing yacht market according to Stefan Zimmermann Zschocke, seasoned yachtsman and CEO of British boatbuilder Oyster Yachts, which led the charge by unveiling its Oyster C60, the brand’s first ever bluewater sailing catamaran.
“The evolution of the brand over the past 50 years has been dictated by what owners want,” said Oyster’s owner and chairman Richard Hadida, addressing a packed stand at Port Canto. “For the past few years, that’s been flat sailing close to shore with more space for multigenerational living in a New York-style apartment – something we couldn’t provide, until now.”
The 60-footer, developed in conjunction with naval architects Berret-Racoupeau, combines comfortable extended cruising with practical requirements, from sail handling to tender use – “it’s a bluewater sailing yacht first, and a catamaran second,” affirmed Zimmermann Zschocke. Yet Oyster wasn’t alone with its multihull advances.
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Among the winners of the show’s second edition of the Innovation Route Awards was the Excess 11, a 37-ft hybrid cat that won Best Innovative Boat for its space, comfort, and engaging sailing experience. Prestige Yachts’ 65-ft M8 also stood out with an exceptionally large owner’s cabin that spans the power cat’s full 29-ft beam, while the Ocean Lounge on the new Sunreef 88 drew approval from both visitors and tennis superstar Carlos Alcaraz, who has signed for the third hull.
There were no catamaran announcements from the Ferretti Group, though the Italian giant more than impressed with its whopping collection of 22 yachts at Cannes, including four world premieres from its Itama, Riva, and Custom Line brands. The Riva 56 Rivale Super was a case point, eliciting sighs of approval with its “spherical crystal windshield” and metallic denim-colored Blu Sera hull, while the Itama 70’s cockpit, which is designed “to be at the heart of life on board,” served as a symbolic endorsement of Stassi Anastassov’s key messaging. The Group’s newly appointed global CEO banged the “owners buy experience” drum throughout the course of the week, a mantra that was epitomized by Goal, the first hull of the Custom Line Navetta 35.
Goal, whose female owner took delivery in July, is an evolution of the Navetta 33, one of Ferretti’s most successful models with 37 units sold. Goal not only packs an additional 10 gross tons of interior volume (largely felt in the spacious lower deck guest cabins) but has a new layout that eliminates an exterior staircase on both the main deck cockpit and upper deck aft. “Stairs take up a lot of room on a yacht, so by relocating them to the side, there is a lot more usable deck space for guests to relax and entertain,” Chiara Massarani of ACPV ARCHITECTS told Elite Traveler.
More strong female leadership came to the fore aboard Ikigai, the first hull of the Sirena 118. It’s owner, İpek Kıraç, company president and chairwoman of the board of Sirena Marine (and heir to Koç Holding, one of Turkey’s largest industrial conglomerates), engaged the daughter of renowned yacht designer Cor D. Rover to lead on the yacht’s maximalist interior design. Inspired by “ocean explorers of the past,” it features riveted hulls, aircraft fuselage-styled design, and vintage navy portholes, not to mention a duplex owner’s suite. Ikigai is the first iteration of a platform that the yard believes enables owners and designers to “take bold colors, unconventional materials, and bespoke details beyond pure visual expression.”
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It’s an approach that also played out aboard the Azimut Grande 44M, which won a Special Jury Innovation Route Award for its carbon-fiber superstructure and technology to reduce weight by up to 30 percent. It resonates with the ICONA 70, the inaugural model from the newly established ‘ICONA inspired by Mangusta’ range, which is born form the vision that “the future of yachting below 24 meters belongs to those willing to challenge convention,” and again aboard Benetti’s Oasis 36M, which derives from owner insights. According to Sebastiano Vida, head of product at Benetti, the yacht is a representation of “this collective intelligence,” demonstrating how yachting today is not just for owners, but very much by owners, too.
