As another Cannes Yachting Festival draws to a close, we take a look at a selection of some of the most impressive boats this year
The Cannes Yachting Festival always serves as the global barometer for the boating industry, and this year’s crop of debuts confirmed that the focus is firmly fixed on smart design, efficiency, and innovation. We spent several days on the French Riviera to bring you a comprehensive look at the new models that truly stood out, revealing the yachts that are setting the course for the year ahead.
What impressed most this year was the sheer variety and quality on display. We saw manufacturers pushing the boundaries in every segment: from Beneteau’s compelling move to make practical flybridge cruising more accessible, to Galeon’s radical, workboat-inspired explorer yacht, and Princess’s stunning reimagining of the high-speed open sportscruiser.
Whether you want family volume, carbon performance, or world-girdling capability, these are the best new boats that made the biggest splash at Cannes this year.
Best boats at Cannes Yachting Festival 2025
Beneteau Swift Trawler 37
Arguably the most exciting thing about the all-new Swift Trawler 37 is the fact that it’s not just bigger and better than the ST35 it replaces, it’s also cheaper. The entry-level Sedan version starts at just €299,000 ex tax and even the flybridge only adds another £16,000 to that. It’s all part of Beneteau’s drive to make boating more accessible after years of above-inflation price rises across the industry.
We’ve no idea how they’ve managed to do it, though, because the ST37 actually looks and feels smarter than its predecessor, in both senses of the word. Clever touches like a transom bench which pushes out over the swim platform to free up more space in the cockpit, a folding radar arch for sneaking under bridges and a paddle board rack and manual crane at the aft end of the flybridge make a big difference to life on board while costing very little. But the detailing feels more expensive too. The cleats are all stainless steel rather than aluminium, the wood veneer is thicker and the fabrics are plusher.
The extra couple of feet have also been used to good effect. The galley is significantly bigger with valuable extra storage, refrigeration and worktop space as well as a television hidden in one of the eye-level lockers. But the biggest win is a much better bathroom with a separate shower compartment so you don’t get wet feet when popping to the loo or brushing your teeth.
The owner’s cabin also feels significantly bigger and brighter, thanks to the beam being carried further forward and larger hull windows. As for the second cabin, that still has bunk beds rather than twins but perhaps that’s inevitable on this size of boat.
Back outside, a bigger flybridge with a reversible backrest on the forward end of the dinette means a couple of extra people can sit facing forward alongside the skipper, while pop-up backrests on the long foredeck sunpads create another cosy bench here.
Exceptional quantities of storage, including a big cockpit lazarette and excellent access to the single Yanmar shaftdrive engine, ensure it should be as easy to maintain as it is comfortable to cruise on. Hats off to Beneteau then for realising what owners really value and giving it to them at a sensible price.
Marex 390
Those of us who enjoyed the award-winning Marex 440 last year got a major treat in Cannes, with the world debut of the new 390. While both the aesthetic and the main deck layout are similar to that of the larger boat, the smaller boat’s aft platform features a set of integrated teak boxes and a removable table so, in addition to excellent storage for your lines and fenders, you also get a charming aft-facing station for your morning coffee. We enjoyed exactly that with company boss, Espen Aalrud, before moving forward to a cockpit that feels very much the equal of the 440.
It’s large, deep and safe with wraparound seating on all sides and a neat transom gate that generates a fifth corner seat in what is ostensibly a square deck. The big table and even bigger sunroof make the most of that seating and, as you would expect, you can also open up the aft doors, swing the integrated canvases around the cockpit and generate an uninterrupted run of sheltered accommodation all the way from the transom to the helm station.
When you head into the saloon, you get a port dinette and a starboard galley, plus a co-pilot position with a fold-up desk, which is much improved on the mechanism we saw on the 440. Happily though, the helm revoices that of the larger boat with outstanding ergonomics and some beautiful features.
The seat uses a push-button manual adjustment system so you don’t have to root around for a catch beneath the seat base. The sunroof is manual too, and while there’s not quite the space on this model for a port door, the skipper’s door and adjustable wheel are both present and correct. And so is the barrel at the wheel base, which shifts fore and aft at the push of a button, enabling you to enjoy the seat’s excellent lumbar support without having to reach for the wheel.
The volume down below is also extraordinary. It’s used for a large bow cabin, a starboard bathroom and a transverse midships double with a settee, a huge cabinet and a changing zone beneath the bright dashtop skylight. The 390 is by no means a showy boat but if you’re okay with that, this is about as lovely as a four-berth 40-footer gets.
Princess V65
While the big news on the Princess stand was the launch of the all-new C48 next year, this year’s excitement was the global premier of the V65. It may share a lot in common with the S65, including the hull, engines and lower deck accommodation, but we were pleasantly surprised by just how different it looks and feels in the flesh.
That largely comes down to one thing – the sunroof. It is colossal, far bigger than anything else we have seen on a 65-footer, and stretches all the way from the top of the windscreen to the aft end of the saloon.
The effect is genuinely transformative. When closed it feels much like the S65, albeit with a load more natural light due to the extra glazing in the sunroof, but when open it’s a different beast altogether. With nothing but blue sky overhead and a refreshing sea breeze wafting through the saloon, it feels for all the world like an old school open sportscruiser with a little extra luxury and plushness.
The other changes are relatively minor but no less welcome. There’s a large L-shaped wet bar in the port corner of the cockpit where the steps up to the S65’s sportsbridge would normally be. This backs onto the galley so that when the window between them is opened, it becomes a natural extension to the worksurface and the ideal place for passing food through to guests. The corner seat on the starboard side of the S65’s cockpit has also been removed, presumably to free up a bit of space.
The rest of the layout is largely unchanged but given how well it works on the S65, that’s no bad thing. With four cabins and three bathrooms, including a lavish full beam owner’s suite with a long bathroom behind it, it’s very spacious for something as sleek as this.
And that, of course, is the other reason for choosing a V65 over an S65. As cleverly disguised as the S65’s sportsbridge is, the V65’s lower profile and purer two-deck sportscruiser lines look ever prettier. The weight of that vast sunroof means it’s unlikely to be much quicker but that’s not really an issue given the S65’s impressive pace. And thanks to that versatile foredeck lounge with sunbeds that convert into face-to-face seating with a chilled locker between them, it still has plenty of outdoor entertaining space.
Galeon 430 EXP
You’ve got to hand it to Galeon. It is, by a country mile, the bravest and most innovative of all the mainstream European boat builders, so it’s no surprise to learn that its first explorer-style yacht is far from conventional.
With its blunt tugboat-style bow, chunky rubber fendering, asymmetric side decks and towering reverse angled windscreen, it is not a natural beauty but there is something rather charming about its refusal to follow the herd. And the fact that it pairs this distinctly workboat aesthetic with an astonishing array of luxury features makes it all the more appealing.
The size of its folding platforms has to be seen to be believed. Stretching from the bathing platform all the way to the front of the saloon, they must be well over 20ft long. Both of these link up with opening windows in the saloon to create a four-seater bar to starboard and an outward-facing settee to port. There’s also a large ‘carousel’ dinette in the cockpit that rotates manually to face inboard on passage and outboard at anchor, plus a hydraulic bathing platform and a tender garage.
The asymmetric layout means there’s no side deck to port but that creates enough room in the wheelhouse for a generous dinette opposite the galley; and skipper’s doors on both sides of the raised pilothouse still ensure easy access to that astonishingly blunt but beamy bow lounge. Steps up from the cockpit reveal an equally spacious flybridge with a U-shaped dinette and wet bar, plus sunpads forward and a single helm seat to port.
The inside helm has a more generous 3-person bench and imperious views forward with a second small dinette alongside it. Steps lead down from here to a very stylish forward owner’s cabin, a shared bathroom with a proper shower compartment and a pretty decent guest double. There is only access along one side of the guests’ bed but headroom is better than expected and we love the secret door leading to a surprisingly big utility room.
It will be fascinating to see how the blunt bow copes in a swell but with single or twin diesels on shafts, the focus seems to be on safe and steady progress rather than high speed cruising. There’s even a folding mast for inland waterway passages. If you can get your head round the styling and the cost of all the extras, it’s a remarkably complete offering.
Bluegame BGF45
Sanlorenzo’s Bluegame division spent millions developing a hydrogen-fuelled foiling powercat as a chase boat for the America’s Cup so it’s hoping to recoup some of that investment with this new BGF45.
Like the chase boat, it’s a foil-assisted multi-hull, but whereas the carbon fibre original flew a metre above the water on computer-controlled active foils, this one uses a much simpler fixed foil to lift it a mere 30cm and reduce the hulls’ drag through the water. We’ll find out how well it works in a future sea trial but in the meantime, there’s plenty to admire about the design of this futuristic sportscruiser.
For starters, it doesn’t really look or feel like a conventional powercat. Its beam of 16ft 10in is significantly wider than most 45ft monohulls but not so wide that it feels like you’re piloting a tennis court. The layout reflects that with relatively modest side decks, a big but not excessive cockpit and a full-beam bathing platform that disguises the gap between the hulls.
The result is a sociable and unusually generous outdoor entertaining space that feels more like a beamy monohull than a powercat; the aft sunpad, dinette and wet bar look like they belong to a 60ft monohull sportcruiser for instance. It’s so convincing that when you wander up to the foredeck, you half expect to see an extra 15ft of bow stretching out in front of you rather than two much shorter vertical stems inches from your feet.
The illusion falls apart a bit when you head below decks to find a striking but somewhat impractical full-beam owner’s cabin stretching at waist height across the gap between the two hulls and a second rather dark guest double wedged into the port hull. Two bathrooms are a handy bonus but it’s hard to see when the tiny single crew cabin is going to get much use.
In reality, with the outdoor space, seakeeping and price of a 55-60-footer but the speed, fuel efficiency and sleeping capacity of a sporty 45-footer, it’s more likely to be used as a very stylish and capable day boat/weekender than a true long-distance cruiser.
Absolute Navetta 62
Keen Absolute fans can look forward to a new Navetta 58 and 66 in the near future, but the big news in Cannes was the world debut of the Navetta 62. While a lot of boats claim to have a pair of owner’s cabins, this one genuinely delivers it.
Up in the bow, you have Absolute’s trademark forward-facing bed, with a choice of furniture beneath vast taper-free hull windows, plus an authentic walk-in wardrobe and a spacious bathroom with remarkable headroom up in the forepeak. Amidships is another sterling cabin – this time, a full-beam space with a lovely port bathroom, comprising split toilet and shower compartments through fluted glass doors.
There’s also a central sink and cabinet section with a mirror that drops down at the touch of a button to reveal another big hull window. And on the starboard side, the show boat’s elegant storage cabinet can again be exchanged for whatever you need.
Between these two sections sits a port day heads and a starboard double with access to a utility space and engineering room that runs beneath the forward cabin all the way to the bow thruster. The crew cabin is also a very strong space, not least thanks to an access point on the port side of the transom, which enables the inclusion of a large central window that opens out onto the swim platform.
There’s also plenty of space in here for a pair of beds, a washer dryer and a direct route to the very well appointed engine room.
In terms of the day spaces, the bow lounge is very decent and the freestanding furniture of the aft cockpit is highly versatile. But the stars of the show are the saloon and the flybridge – the flybridge for its sheer scale and the saloon for the loveliness of its layout and finish.
You get a single-level deck with a port galley and a starboard dining station next to a big vertical drop-down window. That leads onto a midships lounge, before ascending to a dramatic twin helm on the starboard side.
And while the space has a lovely flow, thanks to clever lighting, a single-level deck and a combination of plunging windows and cutaway bulwarks, the various zones are also subtly delineated by means of elegant slatted partitions. We’re big fans of the Navetta line and this fusion of style, luxury and practicality is exactly the reason why.
Outer Reef 780 Adventure
The fact that the maiden voyage for Outer Reef’s new 780 Adventure involved a non-stop 2,300nm delivery trip from the yard in Holland to the South of France tells you everything you need to know about this new explorer yacht.
Cruising day and night to get to the Cannes show in time, it achieved this feat without stopping to refuel and without a single reported issue. Given it’s also the first Outer Reef to be built at its new European yard, the first to be constructed out of steel and the first of the new Adventure range, that’s an impressive feat.
Having had a good poke around it, we’re not surprised. Everything about the 780 feels built to last. The steel hull displaces over 100 tonnes and features a full-length keel plus Sleipner curved fin stabilisers to keep it steady whatever the weather.
Naturally it’s Category A rated for offshore use but thanks to a fast displacement hull form, it’s also capable of 19 knots with the largest engines. And with a genuine LOA of 23.99m (rather than a LLL) it can anchor closer to shore in areas like the South of France than many of its nominal sub-24m competitors.
This first boat was fitted with the standard 425hp Cummins engines for a top speed of 11 knots and a claimed range of over 4,000nm at 7 knots or 2,500nm at 9.5 knots. It also had the four-cabin layout with two good doubles and two generous twins, plus a further two bunk bed crew cabins, which could happily function as spill-over guest cabins. But we’d love to see how big the full-beam owner’s cabin would be in the more lavish three-cabin layout.
There’s also a huge amount of toy storage. This one was equipped with a Williams 435 jet tender and a Seadoo Spark on the bow plus a pair of Seabobs in the lazarette but you could go larger on both fronts. In short if you want the range and seakeeping of an explorer yacht with the style, speed and luxury of a modern navetta, this will take some beating.
Delta 72
While Cannes is full of bright and memorable exotica, one boat that delivered the drama in a cool, understated package was the new Delta flagship.
Built from carbon fibre to peg back the weight to just 31 tonnes, the show boat was equipped with twin IPS-1350s for a top end of 40 knots and a range of 500 miles. That’s enough to go from Mallorca to Monaco without a break – and while that’s pretty impressive for a 72-footer, you can also beef things up with quadruple 600hp outboards for speeds in excess of 50 knots.
Though it’s built in Estonia, it’s designed in Sweden with input from the well regarded Mannerfelt studio, so you can expect it to be agile and fuel efficient as well as quick. At 30 knots it burns just 6.5 litres per nautical mile.
The on-board environment also feels very positive. It uses big superstructure windows with narrow mullions for outstanding light and views from the saloon. There are safe, convivial lounges at bow and stern with lots of facing furniture, framed within teak-lined walkaround decks and deep, secure bulwarks.
The four-man helm is also sociable, and so is the central saloon dining station, thanks to a port dinette and facing starboard settee. There’s even a sunbed for up to four people perched on the rooftop so you can escape the party down below. If we’re being picky, the access ladder to the upper sunbeds is steep and a shade awkward but unless your Grandad fancies heading up top, that’s unlikely to be an issue.
As for the lower deck, a very decent ensuite crew cabin does a good job of insulating the owner’s full-beam cabin from the engine bay. The owner’s cabin itself is restrained and classy, and there’s also a VIP bow cabin, a starboard double and a single cabin to port behind the day heads.
With simple styling, pared-back furniture, pale woods and subtle fabrics, the ambience is attractive too. Think high-end Nordic spa vibes and you’re pretty much there.
Aquila 46 Yacht
Powercat specialist, Aquila, appeared in Cannes with one of the most spacious and appealing yachts we’ve ever seen at this length. Of course, with a beam of more than 23ft, volume is pretty good but it’s not actually the beamiest cat in the world. Instead, what makes the difference here are the sensibly sized side decks and a raised bow shape that enables some very cool creativity with the deck layouts.
At the forward end of the main deck saloon, there are steps down to each hull and a third step down to an intermediate deck level where the owner’s cabin inhabits the entire forward beam. A series of letter slot windows look out onto the foredeck, where the raised foredeck also provides sufficient space for a proper bow lounge. That in itself is a very handy feature, as a full-beam cabin and a bow lounge tend to be mutually exclusive on boats at this length.
That raised forward shape also does a good job of keeping the bridge deck well above wave height but the owner still gets a low-level office to starboard and an impressive bathroom with split toilet and shower facilities to port.
If you need more cabins, you can divide that owner’s suite into two or three doubles but either way, the two ensuite guest cabins, further aft in each hull, are entirely unaffected.
Back outside, the big sociable flybridge gets direct access from the bow lounge, plus lots of companion seating for the central helm and a big L-shaped wet bar opposite the dining station, usefully wrapped around the aft stairwell to make best use of space. There’s some additional sunbathing space aft and the lower cockpit looks decent too, not least because of an attractive bar that extends out from the internal galley.
True, the shape of the design means that forward visibility is a shade tight from the main saloon, particularly if you perch at the starboard dinette. But you can still opt for a main deck helm; and while the side windows are usefully deep, the use of ‘floating’ foredeck benches means you get a handy low-level view through the bow cabin’s windows too.
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