Jeanneau Prestige 50S

Un Jeanneau d'or

» As featured in the 2008 edition of trade-a-boat's 'Big Boat Collection'

We went hunting for a sun-drenched beach, a perfect anchorage, a spot where we could hangout and soak-up up the warmth.

That we found just off a little-known place in Sydney Harbour called Milk Beach where, ahem, we milked the last vestiges of a classic winter's day. But there was something missing. Who brought the lunch? Stony silence. Where are the refreshments? Not a murmur. And I could do with the daily paper while kicking back on those huge sunpads after eating myself silly.

 It was at that point a crewmate quietly tossed a daypack over his shoulder, trounced down the teak decks to the transom, bent down and pressed a little black button. This was followed by the unmistakable sound of a hydraulic ram or two and, hey presto, quick as that the garage on Jeanneau's jolie (that's French for pretty) Prestige 50S opened up like a crypt. What lay inside?

With a pull and a tug, the tender - no ordinary tender I should add - was in the water and waiting. Our scout leapt aboard, attached the safety lanyard to a toggle on his white shorts, turned the key and vanished in a curtain of spray. The UK-built Williams 285 Turbojet, a performance tender sporting an 104hp Weber four-stroke turbocharged jet engine, has a top speed of almost 100kmh. Suffice to say, lunch is never far away with one of these babies in your garage. Same deal should you choose to dock a jet ski.

But as fun - and frightening when you floor it - as that tricky tender was, the mother ship is what really wowed this writer.

Jeanneau, the French giant yacht and, to a lesser extent, powerboat yard, has produced its best boat by far with the flagship 50S in the Prestige range.

This new boat, a sports yacht if you will, is pitched right where the market here and abroad is at, offering deck living with views and weather protection for cruising. And, fittingly, the 50S has been launched during Jeanneau's 50th anniversary.

An avant-garde sportsyacht, the Prestige 50S as tested has some extra ticks in all the right boxes and some more. There's that garage, which can house a RIB up to 3.2m in length, fore and aft sunpads; a sport or hardtop with electric sunroof; big lunch setting for up to eight; impressive amenities centre with fridge and griddle; twin electronic diesel engines (Volvo 575hp D9s); bowthruster; and, in case you want to do more than just lunch, two cabins with two heads in an interior courtesy of Italian designers.

BREAK THE MOULD
With both power and sail, Jeanneau has broken out of the traditional mould in recent times and is wowing the crowd with its daring design, which is certainly a point of difference on the Prestige 50S. While it's always been great with the fibreglass mouldings, and the French boatbuilder has added some nice bumps and curves to boats in its hip and happening Prestige ‘S' range, it's not too Italianate. Instead, there's a nice balance of European flavour that, unlike some Italian boats, doesn't compromise practicality in its effort to look sexy above all else.

The 50S has a solid GRP hull and composite decks, and is built to CE Category B for up to and including Force 8 winds (34 to 40kts) and four-metre seas. On a champagne cruise around the harbour or bay, even somewhere rough like Port Phillip Bay, the boat is rated to carry a party of 14 in Category C. And, by my reckoning, it's a wonderful entertainer on the anchor, with a big lunch setting and sunpads for at least eight.

Matched with a pair of Volvo D9 575hp electronic diesel engines with conventional shaft drives, the 50S shows how a well-designed hull can outperform a lesser one fitted with Volvo's latest IPS forward-facing drive system. With a cathedral-like hull, prop tunnels and transom-hung rudders, the boat turned snappily for a shaft-driven sportsyacht, underscoring that it really is more sport than just yacht.

However, it must be said this writer found the engine room pretty tight by today's standards and, I am supposing, it's been designed more for the employed European skipper, hired hand or little Frenchman than the local enthusiast. But the upshot is a big tender garage and a full-beam owner's aft stateroom. Given the choice, most will want accommodation over engine-room space.

Also, engine-servicing room is improved when you enter via the tender garage rather than through the cockpit deck hatch. Once inside, I thought the engineering was very good, with fan-forced ventilation, underwater exhausts, Racor fuel filters (with solid bowls you can't perform at-a-glance filter checks), good access to the oil dipsticks and sea strainers, and a Kohler generator (nice and quiet) for the air-con units and more. All the seacocks were labelled, too.

DANCING ON THE DECKS
You have to love the bow-to-stern access on this wonderfully welcoming boat.

The walkaround decks are backed by a bowrail with lifeline, moulded toerails, and diamond-pattern non-skid runs to the bow. En route are decent peanut-shaped cleats for throwing on the springers, plus fender baskets on the bow, a Lewmar windlass, deep anchor locker, decent bowsprit and fairleads.

But with a helm-mounted windlass remote, the primary reason for trouncing forward is to kick back - post lunch - on the huge sunpad. It's traced by stainless steel rails, drink holders and, importantly, the mattress is fixed with tracks not just press-studs, so it shouldn't go flying when left in place while cruising. At rest, the bow acts as a second, private lifestyle deck and, as such, will be a popular teen retreat.

Meanwhile, back aft, there's that brilliant garage with tender storage and additional access to the engine room, which also has room for stowing watersports gear, plus teak-topped swim platform and decks, offset swim ladder and H/C deck shower. Another huge central sunpad atop the garage has room for two or even three couples.

Details like moulded aft fairleads and Italian LED deck lights – switchable from blue to white – add to the style as you trounce up either port or starboard steps from the swim platform to the saloon deck area.

SALOON DECK LIVING
Shaded by the moulded hardtop and extended canvas cockpit cover, the deck saloon's highlight is a lunch setting revolving around opposing circular lounges and a teak table. Ordinarily, you walk past the table to reach the transom, but when you extend the table leaves and swing out the base to create a gob-stopping al fresco or en plein air area for eight, the thoroughfare isn't so good. So lunch or swim.

The obligatory moulded amenities centre boasted a fridge (icemaker optional), griddle, deep sink and some food-prep space. Headroom extends through the undercover saloon deck, however as touched, on there's no headroom at the helm. Thankfully you don't need it, as the vision is great when cruising.

Besides, the aforesaid circular lounges, up to four guests or crew can ride on the Cleopatra lounge opposite the helm. At rest, it might double as a daybed. Either way, ventilation and the onboard ambience is helped by the electric sun or moon roof, which has a nice fast actuator, the sliding opening side windows, and the trick LED lighting plan.

FRENCH FLAIR
Styling below decks comes courtesy of Italian designers Garonni. The joinery is all high-gloss moabi timber, which has a reddish hue and is somewhere between cherrywood and mahogany. Italian door handles, portlights and bathroom fittings, and trick minimalist light switches add gloss, but there's still an air of French flair consistent with Jeanneaus from the past. Even though the joinery is all cut by CNC routers and robots, this boat appeared better assembled than some I've previously seen.

Headroom is a highpoint in the saloon, where skylights, more LED lights and opening ports direct light indoors, while Roman blinds, clip-out carpets and caramel-coloured upholstery soften the mood. The U-shaped dinette and lounge can cater for four, with room for fitting a flatscreen television linked to a Bose Lifestyle system within viewing range on the wet bar or hung off the timber bulkhead forward. There is a simple AC/DC control panel that you won't need a degree to operate.

Opposite, the L-shaped galley is a cut above, with solid counters and infills over the sink and stove. In the latter case, the infill is reversible so as to double as serving tray for the petit fours. Amenities include twin sinks, a two-burner stove, big domestic-size fridge, dishwasher and microwave oven, and an underfloor pantry space as well as a big spread of cupboards for appliances, garbage and more. All very serviceable.

There is a layout option on the 50S by way of a portside aft (crew or kids) cabin with twin single berths, but the demo boat had a more luxurious accommodation plan, with a full-beam aft stateroom and island double beds at either end of the boat, plus en suites.

Away from the water slopping on the chines, the full-width aft stateroom will afford good sleeping. There's an offset double bed, a dresser that could double as an office, opening portlights for fresh air and views, and chic bedding in natural hues. A cool aqua-coloured sliding circular Plexiglass shower screen, electric head, vanity with sink, timber trim and mirror are features of the adjoining en suite.

Guests get to retire in the for'ad cabin with a similarly accommodating island double berth dressed in a mocha-coloured spread, but with a massive walk-in wardrobe and full-length mirror as well. Opening ports and an escape hatch can be called on for fresh air when the air-con's not running. The en suite with second shower stall and electric loo doubles as the boat's day head. With 640lt water supply, you can do a week aboard. With the communal living areas above and below decks, you're set.

JUMPING JEANNEAU
The helm seat has room for a couple to cruise together and scope to fit a 12in combo plotter/radar/sounder with TV screen and closed-circuit cameras, and autopilot on the smart dash. Most of that was to come. Among the inventory were electronic EVC Volvo controls, (optional) Lenco trim tabs and Maxpower bowthruster, a spread of Volvo Penta gauges for the D9s, as well as the electronic monitoring panel and, best of all, a demister on the windscreen that will allow you to pull out on dewy mid-winter dawns. And with reverse-cycle air-con this is very much an all-seasons cruiser.

On water, the 50S appears rakish and racy, with plenty of glass to enhance the views and tinted side glass to help cut glare and provide privacy - passing boaties will really struggle to see inside - plus big wipers in case the weather turns turtle. But it's thanks to the hull shape, with aggressive water-trapping tunnels and chines that the boat lifts horizontally and, therefore, leaves vision unobstructed at the helm. This is just as well as the driving position is, as mentioned, seated only.

But with hydraulic steering and transom-hung rudders this was a very responsive boat for a shaft drive, and a joy to drive at kick-back cruising speeds and something faster.

The slippery hull held plane at 1200rpm and 10.5kts, whistled along at 2000rpm and 23.8kts, and seemed to sit in a smooth cruising groove at 2100rpm and 26kts.

Top speed was anywhere from 33 to 34.5kts, so the Prestige 50S is definitely a sporty number, much like its jet tender which, to be honest, we took no further than for some eye-watering flings around the mother ship.

Lunch on deck and a sunbake or sleep will have to wait till next time. But even with just the promise, this is Jeanneau's best boat yet and there's more of the new 'S' series to come.

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