EUROPE REPORT
The Cannes Yachting Festival is one of the largest in-water shows in the world, and this year it celebrated its 45th birthday. Founded in 1977, the show normally takes place every September. However, it missed out in 2020 because of Covid-19 restrictions, but it was back in 2021, posting the best performance results ever.
This year, the show was held Sept 6-11, and featured a fleet of about 700 boats, ranging in length from 3 to 50 meters. It included motor and sailing vessels, monohulls and multihulls, inboards, sterndrives and outboards, diesel, petrol, waterjet, hybrid and electric, tenders, RIBs and others displayed in the two main city ports of Le Vieux Port and Port Pierre Canto. This year, more than 56,000 visitors attended the show.
The new Polish Sunreef 80 Eco was the star of the festival. The all-electric, fully autonomous luxury catamaran of 23.87 m in length, 164 m2 covered with solar panels, is a unique boat in the industry. This luxury catamaran is equipped with ultra-light batteries with a density of 5.2 kg/kWh. The innovative system is entirely created and produced by the company itself offering the best efficiency in the marine world.
The builder also presented its Sunreef 60 and Sunreef 70 catamarans, standard versions equipped with twin Yanmar 75/110 HP and 180/225 HP respectively. Both models are available in eco versions. Talking with the builder’s representatives we found out that the demand for the whole range of Sunreef motor and sailing catamarans is so high that it is opening shipyards in Turkey and Dubai.
The Motor Segments of motorboats, sports cruisers, luxury yachts and superyachts are doing well, thanks to the pent-up demand for boats and boating in the previous two years. Boat builder’s order books are full, with many stretching out to 2025.
The main issue facing manufacturers, and causing production delays, is a lack of materials and components. Other problems include a lack of production space and a lack of skilled workers. Despite these production issues, most builders of motor yachts and superyachts are happy with the current situation. At the same time, they are less optimistic about their post-2023 order books because of financial and political turbulences.
Internationally recognized builders as Azimut-Benetti Group, Ferretti Group, San Lorenzo, Sunseeker, Fairlane, Sirena Yachts, Galeon, De Antonio, Windy, Fjord, Sunreef power and many others displayed their selected yachts in the Vieux Port. Here are some of the most innovative ones that we saw.
The Benetti 30M B.Yond Explorer made of aluminum for long distance voyages was one of the most impressive superyachts. It is “the greenest boat” in its class, using a unique e-mode hybrid propulsion system created by Siemens Energy. The auxiliary propulsion system works with electric engines in parallel with two diesel MAN V12-1400 engines.
San Lorenzo’s SP110 is the first cruiser from the builder’s “Smart Performance” portfolio and ranks in the top five boats by speed in the world. The hull of the boat is optimized for the hydro jet propulsion. Studies made by the builder show that this type of propulsion has an advantage over a propeller as it is less sensitive to variations in the boat’s weight and therefore more versatile.
Arcadia’s Sherpa XL is an open and very innovative yacht of 23.9 meters, promoting slow and greener yachting. It is equipped with solar panels producing up to 2 kW of energy sufficient to power all on-board energy systems. It is powered by two Volvo Penta IPS 1350 engines. Cranchi launched its 20.8 meters flybridge 67 Sessantasette built from hi-tech materials used for the first time in the pleasure boat industry. The new generation boat is powered with two IPS Volvo Penta of 1000 HP engines.
The Sailing Segments of monohulls, catamarans and superyachts were presented by the main players in the segment such as Beneteau, Jeanneau, Bavaria, Hanse Yachts, Solaris Yachts, Swan, X-Yachts, Fountaine Pajot, Oyster, Lagoon, Bali, Outremer, Neel, Balance, and many others, in the Port Pierre Canto. We saw about 120 sailing yachts, including 20 world premieres.
Sailing monohulls and multihulls are more popular than ever. New boat sales have been growing 5% to 10% annually. Bali, Lagoon and Fountaine Pajot manufacture hundreds of yachts per year. They are available in different sizes and finalization levels. Eco friendly versions are offered as well, and installation of solar panels is a common feature. Suitable for private or chartered use, they are sold all over the world. Sales numbers are excellent, but production struggles to keep up as some components purchased on the international market often are not available.
The world premieres that we saw included Fountaine Pajot’s Aura 51, eco-friendly 15 meters catamaran equipped with a 2000 W solar panels and an electric engine, using a small generator as a backup. The German Y Yachts displayed for the first time its carbon sailing yachts Y7 and Y9. They are 22-meters and 27.4-meters luxury yachts with hydro drives and solar panels on the sunroof.
Mylius Yachts from Italy presented its 23.39 m yacht entirely made of carbon. It is a beautiful, ultra-light and high performance racing sailing boat. It is powered with Yanmar 220 hp engine. Wave from Poland launched its Wave 50 catamaran. It is a hybrid catamaran equipped with two 60 HP Volvo Penta engines and two electric 18.5 kW engines. The builder does not have any production issues since all parts are produced in-house. Slovenian Elan launched its 47 feet performance sailing boat powered with Yanmar 57/80 hp engine. Yearly production is about 60 units. The builder has some concerns about the coming year’s demand, especially for boats ranging in size from 10 to 20 meters, considering the financial challenges Europeans are facing.
Windelo is a French family-owned company founded in 2018 with a vision of producing ecologically friendly and fast cruising catamarans. The first boat in the range was the Windelo 50 launched in 2021. This year, the Windelo 54 was launched for the Cannes Yachting Festival. The boat was named European Yacht of the year 2022. The 16.24 meters sailing catamaran is equipped with an electric hybrid drive system having two 20 kW electric engines, a battery bank of 1120 Ah in 48 V and different charging solutions as solar panels up to 4800 W for a complete charge of the batteries, wind turbines of 400 W to charge the battery bank and a hydrogenator that recharges the battery bank in 24 hours when the boat is under sail. Current production capacity is six units per year.
The builder is booked until 2025 completing production of 19 new boats. The goal is to produce 25 units per year. Two new models, Windelo 47 and Windelo 57, are planned to be launched in 2023/2024.
One extraordinary project is a catamaran under construction shown by the French Modx, a brand of OCEAN development. The boat, scheduled to be launched in July 2023, combines features of performance sailing and renewable energy management in a marine environment. The objective is to create a new generation yacht “reaching full autonomy and zero carbon emission.”
The 21.33 meter catamaran combines 250 square meters of inflatable wings propulsion connected to hydrogeneration, 70 square meters of solar panels, a 230 kW.h LFP battery bank, twin electric engines Torqeedo of 40 kW ensuring 2 hours anatomy and two water collectors with 800 L capacity.
This is more than just a highly ecologically performance sailing yacht. It is a modern boat with 185 square meters of space and capacity for eight to 10 passengers. The project won the award from the 2022 competition i-Nov7 for Sustainable and Intelligent mobility.
Today’s yachts offer more open space, closer contact with the sea, and more enjoyable interiors than ever before. Builders use ecofriendly biomaterials and recycled materials for interiors and lighter materials for super structures to decrease fuel consumption.
Builders participate with engine manufacturers in the development of improved performance and sustainable propulsion systems to produce new hybrid and electric propulsion systems. The transition from traditional to “green boating” has started, but more efforts on a large scale must be made before we see real changes. PSR
Natasa Mulahalilovic is Marine Analyst – Europe, for Power Systems Research
