The tenth Motor Boat Awards were celebrated at a gala dinner hosted by Time Inc UK, the publishers of Motor Boat & Yachting magazine, and sponsor Pantaenius Sail and Motor Yacht Insurance.
An audience of 230 international guests at the prestigious Rosewood Hotel in London saw the 2016 Motor Boat Awards presented to winning boats in eight categories ranging from Sportsboats and RIBs to 100 foot plus Custom Yachts. A further seven boats were highly commended by the judges.
The Awards presentation was hosted by Motor Boat & Yachting’s editor, Hugo Andreae, and deputy editor, Jack Haines.
A panel of five highly experienced marine journalists were responsible for sea-trialling all 51 of the finalists before selecting the winning craft. The international nature of the event was reflected with winners from Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy and the UK.
The Finnish designed Axopar 28 won the ‘Sportsboats and RIBs’ category, which was described as: “A boat that has it all; searing performance, a fantastic hull, brilliant deck spaces, somewhere to sleep and looks to die for.”
From the UK, the English Harbour Yachts 29 Offshore collected top spot in the ‘Wheelhouse and Cockpit Cruisers’ category. Jack Haines commented: “A slice of British built heaven. One of the classiest coastal weekend cruisers on the market.”
The ‘Trawlers, Aft Cabins and Catamarans’ category was won by the French motor catamaran, the Lagoon 630. Praised by the judges as, “The perfect long distance cruiser; a supremely effortless and comfortable liveaboard with minimal fuel consumption and cabins that blow you away.”
The Sealine C330 & S330 took the honours in ‘Sportscruisers up to 45ft’, described by the judges as: “A boat that comes in two forms, both of which are so good that we felt they deserve equal credit. Not only do they look good, perform beautifully and burst with clever features but they’re also impressively good value for money.”
British builder Sunseeker collected the award in the ‘Sportscruiser over 45ft’ category for its Sunseeker Predator 57. Motor Boat and Yachting editor, Hugo Andreae, commented: “Our winner combines exciting looks with generous living spaces, transformative features, top-notch quality and barn-storming performance.”
The ‘Flybridges up to 60ft’ award was presented to a boat that, “Dares to do things differently. Its design is distinctive and instantly recognisable among its rivals and it is a wonderfully composed fast cruising machine.” The winner was the French-built Monte Carlo 6.
Another French builder, Prestige Yachts, won in the ‘Flybridges over 60ft’ category with the Prestige 680. The judges said: “Our winner has turned the interior design of boats like this on its head. By delivering a main deck master cabin on a sub-70ft craft it offers a real hit of superyacht space and luxury at an incredibly competitive price.”
The ‘Custom Yacht’ Award was presented by Alan Harper to the Italian-built Custom Line Navetta 28. He said: “This yacht looks and feels like a true superyacht but manages to dip below that crucial 24m threshold. It delivers heavily on the ‘wow’ factor, too, with four fabulous guest staterooms and a main deck master cabin to die for.”
This year the Outstanding Customer Service Award, sponsored by Lombard, was presented to Boats.co.uk. This category is based on direct feedback from Motor Boat & Yachting readers and the company stood out not just for the number of nominations it garnered but also for the genuinely heartfelt gratitude from the many customers who’d had precious holidays on their boats saved by the prompt actions of this company.
The final award of the night, the Judges’ Special Award, went to Carla Demaria of Monte Carlo Yachts for helping to create an outstanding range of award winning yachts.
