The BENETEAU First 30 has been awarded the prize European Yacht of the Year 2026 in the Performance Cruiser category by a professional jury made up of the test directors and editors-in-chief of the twelve most important nautical magazines in Europe, what it means the fourth and, with difference, most significant international distinction for our new planing cruiser.
The Performance Cruiser category had an impressive list of participants this year: el Beneteau First 30 competed with the overall winner of the Rolex Fastnet regatta, el JPK 1050, ORC XR world champion 41 and even the incredible Dragonfly high-performance trimaran 36
The jury's decision confirms what the sailors, the public and the industry have been saying all year: el First 30 has changed the rules of the game.
What the Jury Said
Affordable and fun. The new First 30 wins in the “Performance” category, but it would also be perfect for a hypothetical “Young Sailing” category.. It's a small boat, easy to handle and excellent value for money. If we add the price-performance ratio, without a doubt it is at the top of the podium.
Alberto Mariotti, Italia
Cruise with incredible smoothness and speed, both upwind in rough seas and downwind in strong breezes. Handles and surfs like a boat, easily at double digit speeds. Both Beneteau and the Seascape shipyard carried out challenging development and production work to create a product with an excellent quality-price ratio and make it available to a wide audience..
Marinus van Sijdenborgh de Jong, Netherlands
THE SUCCESS OF A TEAM
First 30 is the result of an intense and close collaboration between BENETEAU and Seascape, who have joined forces to create something almost contradictory: the pleasure of gliding, previously reserved for very experienced sailors, now available to everyone.
Working with a great team of highly trained but equally opinionated people was always a challenge, but this award shows that we have hit the mark.
We thank the jury and we couldn't be more proud.