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European Yacht of the Year Award 2023 - Oyster 495 WINNER - Luxury Cruiser

Red Dot: Product Design 2022 - Elan E6 - Winner

Sailing Yacht International Yacht & Aviation Awards 2022 - Elan E6 - WINNER

European Yacht of the Year Award 2021 - ELAN GT6 - NOMINEE

From Elan Yachts:

Our groundbreaking new flagship model, the 49ft Elan GT6, has been shortlisted for the international boating industry’s most prestigious awards – European Yacht Of The Year.

Designed to be easily handled by a couple, yet capable of exhilarating performance across a wide range of wind and sea conditions with a thoroughbred ‘feel’ at the helm, the GT6 is optimised for fast, medium-range offshore passage-making. Its hull, drawn by Humphreys Yacht Design, combines race-derived features with the ability to carry a full cruising payload. As its name implies, the GT6 is a seagoing Grand Tourer.

Above the waterline, the GT6 is the first ever sailing yacht designed and styled by Studio F. A. Porsche, with an elegant silhouette and iconic good looks that will turn heads in any marina. Key features include a next-generation ergonomic cockpit with gull-wing helm pedestals and a fully flush foredeck.

Below decks, Studio F. A. Porsche’s interior design flair brings game-changing levels of comfort and luxury to Elan’s new flagship model, while preserving the practicality of the boat as a family cruiser. Premium materials are used throughout, showcasing the fine craftsmanship of Elan’s artisan shipwrights.

‘We’re delighted that our innovative new flagship model has been nominated for the European Yacht of The Year Awards,’ says Marko Škrbin, head of the Elan Yachts shipyard. ‘The Elan GT6 offers a unique combination of style, speed, comfort and easy handling that’s ideal for fast-paced yet relaxing family cruising.’

European Yacht of the Year Award 2020 - IMPRESSION 45.1 - NOMINEE

European Yacht of the Year Award 2020 - OYSTER 565 - NOMINEE

British Yachting Awards 2019 - OYSTER 565 - WINNER BLUE WATER CRUISER

Oyster 565

The Oyster 565 enjoyed a long gestation period, with the plans initially unveiled back in 2016. The wait has been worth it and this British designed and built bluewater thoroughbred is the winner against a heavyweight line-up of bluewater yachts. Her lines were penned by Rob Humphreys, who has created a luxury yacht that a couple could handle easily themselves, cruising around the world in some comfort. The boat seems to signpost the way to a bright future for Oyster Yachts, which was taken over last year by new owner Richard Hadida. Oyster calls the 565 its  ‘pocket superyacht’.

Cruising World Award 2018 - OYSTER 745 - WINNER BEST LUXURY CRUISER

Best Luxury Cruiser

It’s a rare year that the Boat of the Year contest boasts a pair of yachts with price tags of $4 million, but for the big bucks, the Oyster delivers big time.

By Herb McCormick (December 12, 2017)

It’s a rare year indeed that the Boat of the Year contest boasts not one but a pair of yachts with price tags north of $4 million. And in many ways, the two boats that fit that bill for 2018 could hardly be more different, one being an exquisite monohull and the other a no-holds-barred catamaran. But they both shared some similarities, including being set up to be run and operated by a professional crew. In fit and finish, they are both examples of state-of-the-art boatbuilding and technology, which is why the HH 66 and the Oyster 745 vied for the title of Best Luxury Cruiser.

Perhaps the most intimidating — yet cool — yacht in the competition was the amazing all-carbon HH 66 cruising catamaran. Judge Tim Murphy said, “It displaces less than 40,000 pounds and, with the exception of the Stiletto, had the lowest displacement-to-length ratio in the whole fleet, at 61. It’s a boat where they talk upfront about flying hulls on a cruise-worthy catamaran. Along with foiling, that’s a rather new thing — to go out there and fly a hull on purpose — in the way we sail our boats. And the build quality was just gorgeous.”

In around 10 to 12 knots of breeze during sea trials, the HH 66 trucked upwind at 12 knots. “I didn’t know that sailing a 66-foot performance cat with a tiller was on my bucket list, but I’ve now added it to my list and checked it off,” said Bill Bolin. “It’s a very impressive boat, very high tech.” Among the features in the molded helmsman seats are push-button controls for the mainsheet,

traveler and daggerboards. To have instant access to critical sailhandling and boathandling tools at one’s fingertips is truly remarkable.

“The tiller is light and easy. It really responds to every move you make,” said Ed Sherman. “That was a treat. This is a systems-rich boat, and the systems work great. It’s truly a boat for a pro crew — and one that knows what it’s doing and has a lot of experience. But without a doubt, it was the boat I had the most fun sailing in the entire fleet.”

The HH 66 blew the judges away with its superb sailing performance.

The HH 66, however, had a worthy adversary in the Oyster 745.

“This boat absolutely blew me away for a lot of reasons,” said Sherman. “It was an extremely complex boat. It’s got a day generator and a night generator. It’s a big shaft-drive engine setup with a lot of systems. But when you climb down into the engine room, all the primary systems are located around the perimeter of the space, with really great access. So there are no problems with that.”

“This boat is beautifully built, nicely engineered, and the systems were good and accessible,” said Bolin. “I think you do need a pro crew. It’s not a couples cruising boat. You need someone to take care of it, maintain it and even sail it for you as well. That being said, the crew’s going to be pampered. There’s a beautiful crew cabin forward. I also made a note that this was the first boat with a real companionway that wasn’t a ladder. It was a stairway to heaven. Plus, the speed and manoeuvrability surprised me. It felt good. It was easy to move around on deck and below, and very comfortable. I’d like to spend more time on it.”

“It’s a fundamental piece of the boat’s DNA to have professional crew,” added Murphy. “With the quarters the boat provides, they’ll attract top talent. We’ve seen a lot of Oysters over the years, and I think we’ve found the boat where the company really knows where its feet are and hits the sweet spot. It’s a little bit out of Cruising World’s target, it’s the extreme top end of what we’re looking at, but I think they’ve done a spectacular job.”

Murphy’s mates agreed, and they unanimously named the Oyster 745 the Best Luxury Cruiser for 2018.

Cruising World Award 2018 - ELAN GT5 - WINNER BEST MIDSIZE CRUISER

Winner: Elan GT5

This is going to be a tough category,” said Bill Bolin of the Best Midsize Cruiser 40 to 44 Feet division. “We have three very different but very good boats in this class — the Elan GT5, the Hallberg-Rassy 412 and the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 440.”

To begin, Bolin said of the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 440, “It’s the best Jeanneau I’ve ever seen.” The judging panel agreed, crowning the boat the fleet’s Most Innovative design for 2018.

And what, exactly, led to that designation? “One big reason is the side decks,” said Tim Murphy. “One of the design features is wide-open side decks all the way aft” that permit easy egress going forward without the need to scramble over cockpit coamings. “It’s a clean path ahead,” he noted. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, it’s something we expect to see on more boats, including a scaled-up Jeanneau 490, in the very near future.

“You go down below and, maybe for the first time, Jeanneau has separated the mast compression post from the main bulkhead,” he added. “Now there’s just a compression post that runs down into the main saloon, and the main bulkhead that would’ve come to that position is now several feet forward. So they’ve opened up more space in the main cabin and taken it away from the forward cabin, where they’re arguing you don’t need it quite as much. I think that’s also a fine change. It has twin rudders, and under sail, I thought the helm was beautiful. It’s a solid boat.”

The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 440 features wide-open side decks that are carried all the way aft to permit easy passage going forward.

So, too, thought Bolin, was the Hallberg-Rassy 412. “This is the largest aft-cockpit model Hallberg-Rassy has built,” he said. “There is a 40-foot center-cockpit model, but this is a different hull entirely, optimized for upwind performance, with a code zero sail for downwind work. There’s a retractable bow thruster — we saw a lot of those this year — to reduce drag and get the thruster deeper in the water and farther forward as well. The boat we inspected had upgraded sails, and when we went sailing, they were spectacular. There was a beautiful full-battened sail and the boat sailed very well.

“It had a slippery hull and moved nicely,” he added. “We sailed it in 12 to 14 knots of breeze, so there was decent wind. Most of the time we were making 6.5 to 7 knots. As we fell off on a beam and then a broad reach, I think this was the first boat where we didn’t see a drastic drop in speed. It performed well on all points of sail. It had a nice big wheel and great visibility forward. It would be an easy boat to singlehand. I really like it.”

“This is a mainsail-driven boat, and I think that might explain why it’s so peppy off the wind,” said Murphy. “So the sail plan is a small jib with a big main. They’re one of the few remaining builders that are giving us a true traveler but also genoa sheet-lead controls from the cockpit, showing that they’re concerned about sail shape, and rightly so. Going down below, it’s the classic Hallberg-Rassy mahogany interior, and it’s just lovely, as lovely as it ever was. We’ve talked about good handholds, but on this boat, they weren’t just good, they were also beautiful. The fiddles are these beautiful rounded shapes that are perfect for your hand. They look great and feel great. Very nice.”

That left the Slovenian-built, 43-foot-4-inch Elan GT5. The company builds dedicated lines of racing and cruising boats, but, said Murphy, “The GT5 is sort of a hybrid between those two lines. It has a high-performance hull and a very comfortable cruising interior.

The full-battened sail on the Hallberg-Rassy 412 helped deliver stellar sailing performance to the Swedish-built cruising boat.

“Sailing it was pretty joyful,” he continued. “We sailed in very light air and it was still moving very nicely. It looked really good on the water. It really seemed to have answered the performance side of Elan’s DNA.”

“The company is doing some progressive things in terms of systems,” said Ed Sherman. “The electrical system on the boat has a nice, graphically designed power distribution panel with push buttons that light up things to let you know, for instance, that the running lights are on and that sort of thing.”

“I was really taken with this boat,” said Bolin. “It looks like a race boat from a distance, and as Tim mentioned, its DNA is rooted in that. But you go below and it’s very unique, with lots of special features. I like the galley-forward arrangement a lot. You come down into the main cabin and you’ve got max beam where the living quarters are, you have a great sense of entry. Figuratively speaking, you’re not walking through the back door and the kitchen to get into the house. I think this layout makes very good use of space. And there’s lots of storage. Finally, I’d say it’s a high-tech boat, vacuum-bagged with 100 percent vinylester. There’s a lot to like about it.”

At the end of the day, Bolin’s colleagues agreed, which is why they chose the Elan GT5 as the Best Midsize Cruiser 40 to 44 Feet.

European Yacht of the Year 2012 - OYSTER 625 - WINNER BEST LUXURY CRUISER

European Yacht of the Year 2011 - ELAN 350 - WINNER PERFORMANCE CRUISER

International Superyacht Society 2008 - ERMIS 2 - WINNER BEST POWER YACHT 24-40m