Announced! -European Yachts of the Year for 2010

by Nancy Knudsen on 1 Feb 2010 After months of waiting by the finalists, the European Yacht of the Year has been announced in five categories.

The one that is likely to have the most impact with the greatest number of non-competitive sailors is the Dufour 405 Grandlarge, which has won the family cruiser section.

It was recently featured by Sail-World as the most likely to win (See http://www.sail-world.com/CruisingAus/The-new-Dufour-405---family-yacht-for-long-distance-sailing/65981!story.)

In other categories, for those who want a little speed with their cruising, the Performance Cruiser section was won by the Grand Soleil 46, while Halberg Rassy's 372 took the Luxury Cruiser award. In the Multihull section, it was the manoeuvrable Outremer 49 cat that took the honours, and the Special Boat category was won by the light, fun Seascape 18 from Slovenia.

The judges were, as usual, made up from journalists on 11 yachting magazines across Europe, who had the unhappy job of testing the nominated boats in Ijmuiden in the Netherlands in September, and then also in Barcelona in November.

Here were some of the comments by some of the journalists, as they voted for the Dufour:

Batnytt: A happy marriage between taste, volume, design and good gimmicks. She is setting new standards for families with fully acceptable performance, easy-driven hull, qood stability - and with her beefy sections aft, slick downwind speed with, yet very easy to control. This is proof of a careful analysis from designers Felci & Roseau. Window design is original and make Dufour 405 stand out. But it is inside this boat really works: standing headroom for tall Scandinavians, big bunks everywhere, two big heads and a social galley, sums up to a very practical holidayboat. Also the finish will make you happy with the use of goodlooking well varnished Moabi, round corners and high coamings around benches.

Yachtrevue: Ergonomic cockpit; intelligent folding bathing-plattform - easy to handle; the quality of the woodwork is good, and the interior well-designed.

Yacht&Sail: The perfect family cruiser. Good looking, good sailing, good solutions, good build quality (for her class), good price: very difficult to find fault. All in all, maybe she is the best compromise boat in the actual market.

Yachting World: Modest yet appealing looks, simple and effective throughout, her secure, easy to work cockpit incorporates twin wheel steering which provides easy access both throughout the cockpit and to the fold down transom. Below decks she's well finished, practical and represents good value for money. A tidy package.

Swissboat: Without an absolute positive peak but also nothing really negative, the Dufour rises, thanks to the sum of its qualities, from the crowd.

Voile Magazine: A very interesting compromise between performance and volume, and whose modern design inside can appeal to every sailor. A boat you can be proud of, offering coastal cruises to long distance ones.

Yacht: A worthy winner. Well laid-out, properly built. The best compromise in her class of mid-sized and fairly prized production cruisers.

Waterkampioen: No weak points at all. It sails well, is well built for an industrial production cruiser and has a very good price. The design both out and in is very up to date. A yacht that will sell very well without a doubt.

Over the next few weeks, Sail-World will feature each of the winning boats, so keep watching for it, but, in the meantime, here is our own personal choice, the http://www.sail-world.com/CruisingAus/The-new-Dufour-405---family-yacht-for-long-distance-sailing/65981!Dufour_405