2021 Cannes Yachting Festival flooded with new boat reveals

The global boat show circuit has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, with few opportunities for particularly luxury high-end boat brands to showcase their products in front of potential buyers.

However, with the 2021 Cannes Yachting Festival – based in France and one of the world’s premier boat shows – slated to take place in early September, everyone is queuing up for their time in the limelight.

The show is divided between an onshore display of boats less than 10 metres in length, while on the water the boats stretch from 10 metres all the way up to around 45 metres.

Here’s the boatsales.com.au guide to what we reckon are likely to be the global showstoppers.

Cast your eyes on almost 29 metres of high-end living. The 100 Sunreef Power is billed as a luxury bespoke motor yacht designed for all-year navigation in supreme luxury.

Modern in looks, innovative in the amount of autonomous technology it carries, and beamy as, the 100 Sunreef Power features a surprising amount of “alfresco” – that means outdoor – space, including a sunken bow lounge and a swim deck that’s strong enough to support a pair of jet skis, and interior living.

One option we particularly like is the spa on the flybridge.

This is a bespoke build that was announced last year but is expected to be completed by the time the lights go on at Cannes.

The Baglietto’s name refers to the build number, as this 40-metre luxury superyacht is yet to be christened.

It sits on what its Italian maker says is a completely new aluminium hull featuring a plumb bow for the first time, and shaped below the waterline as a fast semi-displacement motor yacht capable of up to 18 knots. 

A custom boat needs a custom tender, and one of the biggest custom tender makers is German jet specialist Agilis.

These tenders feature squared-off bows that greatly increase the amount of room forward.

The range has a big gap between the 355 skeleton console that even has a removable steering wheel option and the range-topping 560 centre console, which the Agilis 460 intends to plug. 

The Finnish boatbuilder is continuing to expand its range. After launching the trailerable Axopar 22 last year – the brand’s smallest model to date – the brand is about to launch a slightly bigger version called the Axopar 25.

The new boat will measure just 8.4 metres long, with a 2.23-metre beam that will make it legally towable on Australian roads. Its weight is expected to come in at around 2.0 tonnes, meaning you’re likely to be able to hook it up to a large luxury SUV to haul it around.

Few other details are known at this stage.

This 14.7-metre dayboat looks like a modern-day interpretation of a classic tender, but the similarities with the older boat end there.

This thing is fast, capable of 34 knots over flat water. Upstairs is lots of open living and entertainment space, while below are luxuries including a cabin for overnighting, including an enclosed head with a separate shower.

It looks as though the Bic Aluminium 48 will be available as both an open-top and enclosed cabin.

This Turkish brand has teased a boat that looks a mish-mash of design but looks the goods as an all-weather family cruiser.

The Dromeas D33SUV features a twin-stepped hull to help with cruising and an enclosed wheelhouse with a forward-leaning windscreen. A plumb bow looks to maximise the amount of interior space in the forward cabin.

The boat stretches 10 metres, can take up to twin 400hp outboard engines, and can carry as many as eight passengers.

Little else is known ahead of the boat’s reveal.

Rigid inflatable maker Zodiac already has an Open 4.2 on its books, so the addition of a little “e” at the start of the model name has piqued our interest.

There’s a growing push in Europe to be lean and green, with marinas starting to crack down on fossil-fuelled motive power within their boundaries. That “e”, then, could mean this is an all-new battery-powered version of the Open 4.2 that helps boat owners get over that petrol-powered last mile problem.

The idea this is an electric boat is fuelled further by Zodiac conveniently omitting the outboard engine performance data from the new model’s specification sheet.

Expedition boats are cool. Just the thought that you can get away to anywhere in the world, drop anchor and take it all in is as romantic as it is likely to be expensive.

That’s where the 40-metre Cantiere Delle Marche Flexplorer comes to the fore. Wearing a trawler-style, almost vertical bow up front and a low, flat aft deck, it looks ready for anything.

One of the features of this boat is that it has a davit strong enough to support an 8.2-metre tender, so it can easily act as a mothership while those aboard head out to explore the surrounding area.

Oh, and being a CdM, it’s likely to be dripping in luxury.

It’s easy for big motor yachts to be a bit, well, derivative. That’s why it’s sometimes refreshing when motor yacht designers try and do things a bit differently, just as they have with the Beneteau Grand Trawler 62.

This 19-metre standalone model sits on a displacement hull optimised for long-range cruising. One of the standouts of the design is one of the largest flybridges in the business, extending right back as far as the transom.

Inside are large, open living spaces, with a flybridge helm supported by a central helm station in the saloon space below. In contrast to more modern designs, the main helm wheel is oversized.

Okay, you’re going to want to push a few boundaries at boat shows. However, Fabiani Yacht has not only pushed the envelope, but it may also have torn it.

The 100 Hybrid Shuttle concept features a “large retractable photovoltaic sail” that appears not only to help the boat along in a following breeze but tops up a set of onboard batteries that can be used to power the 30-metre cruiser.

The brand is showing a range of other concepts featuring fold-out solar panels that make the boats look more like flybridge-equipped aircraft carriers than long-range cruising motor yachts.

The 2021 Cannes Yachting Festival runs from September 7 to 12.