Beneteau is a French sail and motor boat manufacturer, with production facilities in the France and the U.S..

History

Shipwright Benjamin Beneteau founded his company in 1884, at Croix-de-Vie, France to build sailing trawlers. In the mid sixties Benjamin's grandchildren Annette Benneteau Roux and her brother Andre Beneteau introduced a line of fiberglass boats. Madame Roux is still active in leadership.

Beneteau Today

The company is a large and recognized boat builder, commanding a substantial worldwide market share for sailing yachts, predominately in the United States, France and the United Kingdom. It has five factories in the Vendée region of France and one US plant in Marion, South Carolina. The Beneteau USA plant opened in 1986; since then the factory has nearly doubled in size to about 250,000 square feet, with roughly 25 million of total capital invested in the US. This is considered to be an advanced marine factory; it is newer than most of its competitors factories.

The Beneteau group also owns the following brands:

Note in the models below that the First Series is much faster than the Beneteau Series (lower PHRF means a faster boat), the latter series have similar performance ratings to similarly sized Catalina models.

Beneteau Models

NOTE: PHRF shown is for Northern California Base Rate full keel standard mast unless otherwise described

First Series

These are racer/cruiser sailboats, with a higher emphasis on the racing aspects, yet are substantially equipped for comfortable cruising. Equipped with tall fractional rigs, high performance keels and upgraded deck hardware.

• First Class 8
• Beneteau First 27.7
• Beneteau First 31.7
• Beneteau First 10R (32.75 feet)
• Beneteau First 36.7 PHRF 81 (Southern California rating)
• Beneteau First 40.7 PHRF 51 (Southern California rating)
• Beneteau First 44.7 PHRF 39 (Southern California rating)
• Beneteau First 50

Beneteau Series

These are more traditional cruising boats, though these boats are viable for Performance Handicapped Racing Fleet (PHRF) handicapped racing.

• Beneteau 323 PHRF 144
• Beneteau 343 PHRF 151
• Beneteau 373
• Beneteau 37
• Beneteau 393 PHRF 150
• Beneteau 423 PHRF 102
• Beneteau 46
• Beneteau 49

Flagship Series

The largest boats produced by Beneteau. There is more focus on amenities than in other Beneteau products.

• Beneteau 523
• Beneteau 57

See also

• List of sailboat designers and manufacturers

External links

• Beneteau Corporate website (France)
• Beneteau USA
• Beneteau Owners' Association website