At the world’s largest boat show, commonly known as “boot”, which is being held this week in Dusseldorf, Germany, the annual European Yacht of the Year winners were just announced. The prestigious awards are judged by yachting journalists from 12 European yachting magazines who all went to Port Genesta, south of Barcelona, Spain, to test the 16 new boats that were nominated for the awards.
The journalists gave the nominated boats a thorough inspection and extensive sail trials before casting their votes. It is interesting since the inception of the award in 2004, French builders have won 31 Boat Of the Year awards while the next most successful countries, Germany and Italy, have just 16 between them.
Oddly, with quite a few new multihulls coming onto the market in 2019, the judges chose not to give an award in the Multihull Yacht category due in part to logistical problems getting the nominated boats to Port Genesta. Also, with a proliferation of racing boats and racer-cruisers, the judges decided to add a category this year for Regatta Yachts.
The winners of the 2020 European Yachts of the Year awards are:
Family Cruiser Beneteau Oceanis 30.1
Performance Cruiser X-Yachts X4.0
Luxury Cruiser Amel 60
Regatta Yacht Dehler 30 OD
Innovation Award Club Swan 36
For the full report from the European Yacht of the Year awards read more here.