I am Toby Hodges from Yachting World. Looking around you think we must be on
board some sort of luxury cruiser, right? But no this is 2019 version of a
Beneteau First, the 53-foot performance cruiser which aims to undercut the
competition in this area price-wise and match them for performance, so let's see
what this has got. Plenty of features above and below decks to point out on
this boat, I'm gonna have to get off this exceedingly comfortable sofa to show you,
as you can see we are sailing and not a lot of breeze, 6 knots, typically
making 7 or about a knot and a half over true wind speed
using the code zero and going with the swell. Going into the swell we're still
doing over half a knot more than the sort of 5-7 knot true wind speed.
Not bad going for a 15-tonne cruising yacht with a fully fitted interior like
this. Yes, this sail plan helped, so this is the performance version, it has a tall carbon
mast taller than the standard, aluminium V-boom, performance saile package from
North 3Di and this code zero which is obviously helping us generate our own
breeze as well. standard feature of a bowsprit integrated bow roller so the
furling coattail, you can set up that tack line for the asymmetric, recess furler hidden
below decks there for the genoa, anchor locker and a big sail locker under here,
which is large enough to be converted to a skipper's cabin with heads, very
very flat line of the coachroof going aft was important
they wanted to keep that as low as possible, to do that a reverse sheer is
used, so the sheerline
reducing aft, and you also notice how this bulwark increases going aft as well.
Subtle features, but it makes a big difference overall. There is an optional
spray hood, which clips onto here, there's no well for it because again they didn't
want to impact the coachroof height, there is a spray hood
that fits on and an optional Bimini as well, and then cockpit tables in the cockpit,
fairly good sized cockpit, they've had all the lines brought back to where one of our
two Italian designers are here, Lorenzo who's done all the styling of the boat and the
interior design, handling the main sheet, and Roberto Biscontini, who has done
the hull design. So in terms of sailing the boat, its kept very much oriented
around being able to cruise it short-handed, so those lines as you can
see hidden through the coachroof coming aft to these two powered winches
each side, with a bank of clutches neatly hidden there, do mean you end up
with a lot of sheet tails here, but it just has to be well organised with that,
the benefit is that the cockpit is kept free of lines and for I guess traditional
performance. First enthusiasts might question why you don't have a traveller,
it's not an option, they've gone for single-point main with the option for a
main sheet plinth here to power that, combined with a powerful vang because
really the boat is designed as safe for cruising rather than round-the-cans
racing, so the majority of time Beneteau think the boat will be used for cruising
doing the odd regatta as well.
The important feature of this aft-deckr area was also bringing the the curved line of
the coach roof aft here, but not all the way to the transom, which means you
have this area to easily walk out of the cockpit, you're not walking over the
coamings to walk out and around the side deck this way, it also looks pretty cool
and gives the helmsman a perch as well to sit out and steer from. Recessed genoa furler,
standard, nice clear cockpit walk through, below where I'm standing access to the
dinghy garage, so tender garage was important, you see along the V boom's not standard,
but the Harken switch track is to bring the mainsail height lower to be able to stow
it easy. Nice wide easy access down the
companionway into this very neat Italian-designed
interior and yeah it's very different. So why is it different? Well I guess in
layout terms because you get a huge sofa area compared to the size of the dining
area, which matched with the convivial nature of the large galley makes this a
big living area, less room for dining, I guess that comes from Lorenzo Argento's
experience with superyachts where the majority of time is given to the
relaxation area, so Beneteau see this yacht as being used by couples more,
so not hosting big dinner parties, most of the time it would just be two, maximum
four people sitting around this table, but the table does extend out and the
seating to sit six around it. I will try and show that, but you get a very, very
comfortable sofa and that area linking to the galley
there, a lot of attention to design and the quality of fixtures and fittings and
the perceived quality in this yacht as well, for example Beneteau have gone
back to using curved woodwork, molded woodwork, which is really nice, insistence
again of Argento to give bring back that traditional First feel like they used to
use, so they take this Amalfi woodwork and they laminate it, multiple layers,
layers and layers, to create this good solid feel to the curved fiddles, gives
you something to grab hold of even though you have these nice long
handrails as well. Moving forward in the boat, these magnetic latches,
not push-button latches, soft closing drawers, really neat hinges,
fixtures and fittings in general, so the door handles are magnetic, with this hull
shape you get a generous island berth forward and lots of stowage in here
and the impression of a very large cabin thanks to splitting the heads to one
side and this is big shower area to port, it makes a lot of sense,
it's larger than a shower you'd have at home with a proper
bench in there as well, heads and wash basin area to starboard and plenty of
stowage and drawers below there, a large lit wardrobe on each side
and all this natural light, big hatch above, hull ports with sliding blinds
across them and 1.6 meter wide berth with your head facing forward.
Again you've probably noticed a marked difference - no chart table.
So the yard think that people will be able to use this area as a desk if it's
not being used for dining, if it is being used for dining as I say it
can extend out and this will butterfly open and the seat below it pulls out, so
you end up with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 being able to sit around the table,
and there's going into, I guess, desk mode you would sit here, laptop out, charts on,
VHF below here, but the whole system on these size of Beneteau now use a shift
controller system, that means everything can be done from your computer, iPad or
phone, switchboard hidden behind here and this is the heart of the ship, controller
system, so you can monitor your tanks, batteries, all the electronics
and systems on the boat, and on this side 12 volt system and if you do need to
access fuses and wiring behind it's easy to do so, however as all of this
controller is available as I say on mobile platform or on your computer,
it's hidden away a lot of the time. I'm sure there'll be people that will want a
chart table, but not an option in this current three-cabin, two-heads format,
with a third heads available, so if you were to choose a third heads
this fridge area here would move forward, you'd lose that part of the work surface
and you can see where the heads would meet that
hull line and drop in through that part of the aft cabin, so
that means both of these double aft cabins will end up with their own heads,
so just a question of how much you value your galley space against having a third
heads. Big domestic-sized, front-opening fridge/freezer, more in a drop-down fridge
here, lift top and plenty of stowage beneath the floorboards as well, so the floorboards are
on gas struts, I believe, the bilge stowage for bottles in there, you notice
actually while we're here rubber lining on these, on top of a
stainless steel grid, so this stainless steel grid takes all the furniture, which
sits on top of the GRP structural matrix, that means that they the yard can use a
lower thickness of grid rather than using GRP for the furniture structure,
and also means it's all very stiff, this you notice probably here there's not a
lot of noise going on here.
More stowage in the galley, this woodwork is Alpi teak or oak available, again on
the floorboard, so not laminated floorboards, and then leading into the
starboard aft cabin the heads has its own access to this heads as well, heads and
separate shower, and again another light cabin, you just notice where the dinghy
garage impacts this cabin only marginally because of the huge beam, same
again on the port side five metres of beam aft means there's room for that
dingy garage without it overly impacting these cabins, and two port lights, coach
roof opening hatches, this one has an extra one, I guess if you have the heads
there and a large hull port light as well, so plenty of headroom in here and
natural light and again good amount of stowage in there and below the berths as
well, and size of tanks, there's 700 litres of water on this, so not bad.
Slight slept step down in this galley.
Very inviting interior overall, quite surprising for a performance yacht. So
this boat is €480,000 ex. VAT base price
for the First 53. The boat we're on costs about €850,000 with the options. Hope you
enjoyed the tour, give us a thumbs up, comment and let us know what you think,
we're back for more soon.