The Boot in Düsseldorf, the world’s largest indoor boat show, closed its doors last Sunday, recording a slight increase in attendance with over 200,000 visitors from more than 110 countries.
The flagship of the First range was unveiled. Six years after the rebirth of the First, marked by the launch of the First 53 in September 2019, the new 60-foot unit broadly takes up its codes, XXL-style.
The First 60 launch press conference gave the Beneteau teams the opportunity to set the scene.
The “First Saga” began in 1977, when a young Beneteau executive suggested to Annette Roux, the brand’s president, that she take inspiration from a 30-foot regatta boat (in this case a Half Tonner, the Impensable) to develop and market a production sailboat that would be fast, solid and comfortable. Until then, Beneteau had only produced fishing and pleasure boats, and no one expected them to enter the racing-cruising market. Thus was born the first First, which would become the First 30.
50 years and 30,000 Firsts later, Beneteau unveils the First 60. The naval architect is none other than Roberto Biscontini, already behind the First 53 and 44. Lorenzo Argento is in charge of interior and exterior design.
As is now standard at Beneteau, it is possible to order this boat with an increased air and water draught, thanks to a higher mast and deeper keel, allowing this racing-cruiser to bounce off the water.
One innovation is a mainsail winch located under the cockpit. While this system is well known in the Mini Maxi world, it has never been seen before on a 60-footer. The main advantage of this system is that it frees the winches in the cockpit and prevents the mainsheet slack from clogging the deck when the mainsheet is furled.
While strolling the aisles of the show last week, Skippers stopped by the Beneteau stand to discover this novelty, and took the opportunity to shoot a walkaround video, which we invite you to discover here.
Jules Verne Trophy
The start of the week was marked by the setting of two new Jules Verne Trophy reference times: the round-the-world crewed record and the round-the-world women’s record. The first was set by the Ultim Sodebo, skippered by Thomas Coville, in 40 days, 10 hours, 45 minutes and 50 seconds, almost 13 hours less than the previous record held by IDEC Sport. The second was set by Alexia Barrier and her crew aboard The Famous Project CIC in 57 days, 21 hours and 20 minutes.