Cannes Yachting Festival – 2019 Summary
The 42nd edition of one of the world’s largest yachts exhibitions, Cannes Yachting Festival 2019, took place from 10 to 15 September 2019.
In 2018, the exhibition attracted 51 thousand visitors from all over the world, to witness 542 exhibitors who brought 638 boats to the Cote d’Azur, including 219 new models. This year, the number of exhibitors grew by 8%, bringing a record number of registrations.
This year’s edition of the show saw one of the most important highlights in it’s organization – the Festival’s programme was divided between the two ports: the Vieux Port and Port Canto, with the latest one fully occupied for the first time in history.
Thus, Vieux Port hosted the ultimate in motor boats while Port Canto became the new showcase for the beautiful sailing boats. The total length of the berths with sailing hulls only will make 400 metres, the same quantity will be left for catamarans. On the ground, 4,000 square metres were provided for sailing yachts manufacturers, twice as much as last year.
Visitors could use the various types of free sea and land shuttles to get from one port to another easily.
The organisers stressed that their goal was to open the largest exhibition of sailing yachts on the water in the world, and the water part of the sailing yachts exposition increased by almost 30% (120 in total), of the motor ones – by 10%, compared to 2018.
Ahoy Club shares the list of some of the most alluring sailing yacht premieres of the show below:
ELAN IMPRESSION 45.1
The medium-sized boat from the Impression series, the Elan Impression 45.1 is a solid cruiser with a design that can be ordered with three or four cabins and successfully used as a charter boat. The interior, decorated with light wood, is well lit thanks to the many glazed hatches. There are also hatches in all three cabins.
On the deck in a spacious cockpit, there are transformer tables from which one can fold one large dining table or turn them into seats, forming two full berths together with sofas. Under the seats for the skipper are bulky storage spaces where you can integrate the grill, sink and refrigerator. A nice addition: a teak on the deck and a folding bathing platform are in the base.
FIRST YACHT 53
This is a luxury cruising yacht from Beneteau. The company places particular emphasis on the word “luxury”: while Beneteau products are perceived primarily as budget and mass, this model has been created by Roberto Biscontini, who had been developing boats for the America Cup for 30 years, and Lorenzo Argento, known for collaborating with the shipyard Michael Schmidt Yachtbau.
They got a minimalistic, smooth, streamlined silhouette with a low superstructure roof, wide open stern and an uncluttered cockpit. Bisconti carefully calculated the centre of gravity and conducted a series of tests so that the body was not only beautiful, but also had good driving characteristics.
The special features of this boat are spacious deck spaces and a garage for the tender.
MICHAEL SCHMIDT Y7
Another luxury cruiser, the carbon-fibre Y7 was designed by American designer Bill Tripp, one of the best naval architects in the world. With a displacement of 29 tons, the sail area of Y7 is 300 squares. This means that on will not need a motor even in light winds.
On board, all new technologies are used to simplify the setting and cleaning of sails, so one can even manage a 70-foot sailboat alone. The vessel has a keel lift and a garage for a tender up to 3.45 metres long is hidden in the transom. Under the deck, there is a huge saloon, a separate galley and two or three cabins, which can be located very differently – there are four layout options.
SWAN 48
The return of the legendary 48-foot Nautor’s SWAN happened 40 years after the boat was first launched. The SWAN 48 concept was traditionally developed by design guru Germán Frers. The boat turned out to be very stable and safe. There is order on the deck – control and relaxation zones are divided, all ropes are put into the cockpit, all ends are stored in separate pockets.
Below deck, there are bright and spacious rooms, three cabins and two latrines with showers. There is also a place to store a fully inflated 2.8-metre tender on-board. The racing version of the yacht meanwhile will be complemented by a long keel and bowsprit, a grotto with a square top and a carbon mast.
During the show, the entire Old Port was divided into zones, with each one dedicated to yachts of a certain size category. For instants, ‘compact superyachts’ of 20–30 metres could be found in the blue Jetee zone, medium-sized boats of 14–20 metres could be found at the new Terrasse Pantiero pontoons. A separate pier (blue zone) was be allocated to motor catamarans, close by a new exhibition of boat engines. Furthermore, for superyachts of 30–50 metres in length, there was the Superyacht Extension.
One of the highlights of the exhibition was definitely the just delivered 108-metre Benetti superyacht IJR anchored at Cap d’Antibes. The side programme of the show, meanwhile, was full with noteworthy events, such as La Regata, the regatta of small catamarans taking place for the first time in the Gulf of Cannes.
Another point of attraction, Concours d’Élégance parade demonstrating vintage boats took place in the Old Port. Last year, the 1935 Triple Cockpit built by Hacker-Craft Shipyard won the main prize among vintage display items, while Cockwells titanium tender took ‘the most impressive modern boat’.
Ahoy Club was delighted to inspect the Okean 55 tender and attend her sea trials during the show.
Making her debut in the Mediterranean, this ultimate day boat features sides that can be open at stern, increasing from 15 ft to 20 ft. The yacht is fitted with a lounge convertible to dining area for 8, open and comfortable deck space, BBQ, centre line galley. With a hydraulic platform, she features a top speed of 32 knots. She can accommodate 1 guest and 1 crew across 2 cabins.
The boat will be available for viewing at the Monaco Yacht Show and Fort Lauderdale as well. Get in touch with Ahoy Club to arrange an inspection.
Meanwhile, below there are some other interesting motor yacht debuts of the Cannes Festival:
MANGUSTA GRANSPORT 45 (45m)
The latest Overmarine Mangusta GranSport series combines the brand’s traditional sporty burrows (26 knots max) with the transatlantic range (3,500 miles). Last year at the Monaco Yacht Show, one could see the flagship of the new line – the 54-metre EL LEON. This year, Overmarine brought to Cannes the middle sister El Leon, the 45-metre Project Capri.
A unique interior from Alberto Mancini, a special decor developed personally by the owner’s wife, a beach club with three folding sections, an overflow pool with a waterfall and a Mangusta “chip” – underwater windows in the floor through which the play of light is transmitted through the water column into master cabin, – this is an incomplete list of the yacht’s most alluring features.
CANADOS 120 CAESAR (37m)
The 37-metre LADY ELAINE is the first Canados 120 yacht and the first major release by the shipyard after the purchase by Michelle Carcenty. The boat was built for an experienced owner who previously had three Canados yachts, and he or she did made some changes to the project. For example, they removed the garage for the tender from the stern to increase the area of the beach club. To store a 5-metre tender, a 1.5-ton cargo crane was installed on the deck.
The renowned Cristiano Gatto was engaged in the interiors of Lady Elaine, with all the built-in furniture on board was hand-made by Canados craftsmen. The salon boasts glass walls, and the master cabin has hinged balconies.
Maiora 30 (25m)
The Maiora 30 is registered as a 24-metre boat, while in fact she is 30.5 metres long and 7.5 metres wide, and in terms of interior volumes she can even be compared to a 35-metre boat.
She features four cabins (master suite is on the main deck), a spacious living room, a garage for a 4.2-metre tender and a sundeck with a dining area for ten people, a bar, a Jacuzzi and a bunch of sun loungers. The captain’s bridge is raised, and the walk-around concept is implemented on all decks, that is, one can get around them around convenient large walkways.
VAN DER VALK BEACHCLUB 660 FLYBRIDGE (20m)
This 20.5-metre boat is the first long-awaited flybridge model from the innovative BeachClub line of the Dutch shipyard Van der Valk. Its innovation consists in the rejection of the traditional engine room and the transfer of engines closer to the stern, in a niche under the bathing platform. The decision allowed to free up useful space for organizing a truly unprecedented beach club in this size segment.
The engines deployed by the vessel, are the Volvo Penta D13 pair equipped with bottom speakers with IPS-1050 counter-rotation screws. It was for this type of drive that the BeachClub series housings were developed, so its maximum speed makes 30 knots. The draft of the boat is 1.6 metres, which, combined with a large number of outdoor recreational areas, makes it ideal for cruises anywhere in the Caribbean.
Among other exciting news from the show, Sunseeker previewed the 40-metre 133 Yacht that will join the Superyacht series, following new Chief Executive Andrea Frabetti’s expansion plans.
Some of the other debuts included the Palm Beach GT50, and Princess Yachts’ new F50 flybridge and S66 sportbridge models. Arcadia Yachts debuted the SHERPA XL, and from the Turkish yard the new SIRENA 88 was introduced, Aquila showcased drawings of their new 70 cruising cat and finally the Ferretti Group launched no less than six world premieres with a line-up of 26 yachts across their eight brands.
