The lineup of 21 new sailboats vying to be named European Yacht of the Year for 2024 has been confirmed by the awards’ 12-strong jury panel.

The European Yacht of the Year Award (EYOTY Award), founded in 2004, is often referred to as the ‘Oscar’ of yachting and reaches an international audience of several million sailing enthusiasts, boat owners and industry executives. The jury panel comprises editors from 12 leading sailing magazines across Europe. Since the first outing, the jury has sailed more than 40,000 nautical miles together to find the best new boats.

For 2024, unlike in previous years, the nominees have not been grouped into categories before judging. Organisers say this is because there are ‘more and more crossover concepts that make it hard to characterise a boat without having experienced it on the water.’

The jury will wait until they have conducted sea trials before assigning boats to their respective class. Sea trials for all the finalists take place in La Rochelle mid-September and in Port Ginesta near Barcelona mid-October.

The contestants for the European Yacht of the Year Award 2024 are:​

 ● Arcona 50 

Arcona 50

Arcona 50

● Bavaria C46 

● Bestevaer 36 

● Cape Cod 767 

● Contest 50CS

● Dufour 41 

Dufour 41

Dufour 41

● Flaar 24 

● Hanse 410 

● HH44 Catamaran   

● Elan Impression 43

Elan Impression 43

Elan Impression 43

● Jeanneau Yachts 55 

● Maxus 35 

● Neel 52 

Neel 52

Neel 52

● Oceanis 37.1 

● Outremer 37.1 

● Pointer 30 

● RM 1380           

● Saffier SE 24 LITE 

Saffier se 24 lite

Saffier se 24 lite

● Shogun 43 

● Sun Fast 30 OD 

● XC 47 

XC 47

XC 47

The final announcement of this year’s winners will take place during the Flagship Night on the first evening of boot Düsseldorf, on 20 January 2024.

All images courtesy of European Yacht of the Year.

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