MGM Boats have a busy September ahead with full sales teams attending the Cannes and Southampton boat shows.

The Dun Laoghaire international yacht brokers will be at the Southampton International Boat Show from next Friday 13 to Sunday 22 September, exhibiting on the Prestige Yachts and Jeanneau’s sail and powerboat stands for the full 10 days.

Interested buyers are invited to book a viewing appointment before you travel — a list of boats on display is available HERE.

MGM Boats will also have their brokerage stand in the usual spot (E096) where they will be exhibiting their full range of brokerage listings.

If you have a boat to sell, get in touch with [email protected] so MGM Boats can prepare the specification for display.

Ahead of Southampton, MGM Boats will attend the Cannes Yachting Festival from next Tuesday 10 to Sunday 15 September for the first show of the yachting season.

The brokers are exhibiting on the Prestige Yachts stand, with Jeanneau’s sail and powerboats, and on the Lagoon Catamarans stand. The full range for viewing can be found HERE.

Gerry Salmon, Ross O’Leary and Joss Walsh will be available to show you over a host of new models for 2020.

Cannes is a very busy event so many making an advance appointment is highly recommended for your choice of boat.

To make a viewing appointment or for further information on the boats displayed, contact [email protected]

Jeanneau development chief Hervé Piveteau is answering questions in a YouTube live chat today (Monday 27 May) about the new Sun Fast 3300 as its latest video hyping the new craft is premiered.

Described by the French yacht builder as “a bold racing boat, without compromise, designed for success”, the Sun Fast 3300 was launched last December at the Paris Boat Show to great acclaim.

Irish Jeanneau agents MGM Boats were on hand for the unveiling of the new design from naval architechts Daniel Andrieu and Guillaume Verdier, with high-performance features including a double concave hull.

Boat owning these days is an increasing challenge, with unavoidable costs and spiralling maintenance charges always needing to be balanced against the hoped-for return in trouble-free sailing pleasure writes W M Nixon.

It’s very easy to be enchanted by the thought of bringing life back to some once-cherished boat which has somehow fallen on hard times. But in times of economic rigor, a feeling of sympathy is not a sound basis on which to be making a very significant purchasing decision.

In other words, the uncertain Autumn of 2016 is not a good time to be taking on someone else’s problems. On the contrary, if you’re on the lookout for a sensible used boat, take account of the fact that a minimum number of owners with the boat in question, and the sense of her having been well-cared for, will provide every expectation of a relatively trouble-free and enjoyable ownership period for yourself.

The above general rules apply in any boat-buying situation. Yet they might have been written after studying the data available on this Sun Odyssey 36i for sale through Crosshaven Boatyard and advertised on Afloat Boats for Sale. Built 2008, she was commissioned in 2009, but has had only one owner from new. And as broker Hugh Mockler’s video eloquently tells us, even after seven years she’s still quite simply as good as new.

She’s an interesting Marc Lombard design of top-end construction – the “i” at the end of her name is to indicate she was injection-moulded under scientific and carefully-controlled conditions. A very manageable size – big enough to be comfortable without being bigger than most folk would require – her asking price of €82,950 reflects the extensive range of equipment and the fact that she’s ready to go. With good weather forecast for this final Bank Holiday weekend before Christmas, you could be sailing her with confidence this Saturday. As they say in the trade, she’s very well presented – details here

The Leader 30 has received the “Barca Dell’Anno” award, the new award created by the magazine Vela e Motore, with the support of the National Union of the Italian Marine Industry.

Distinguished among four competitors in her class, the Leader 30 has convinced by her distinguished design, her sporty attitude and her livability.

The prize was presented at a gala event at the Genoa Boat Show, on Saturday, September 24th.

The victory highlights the results of the teamwork between Jeanneau and Garroni Design, designer of the Leader 30.

You can sample the latest in French yacht design this weekend in Kinsale, County Cork aboard a new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349.

Jeanneau is hosting an Open day in Kinsale on Saturday (23rd July) with Irish dealers MGM Boats and the Marc Lombard designed SO 349 (pictured above) will be on display. 

Between 10am and 3pm at Castlepark Marina, John McDonald of MGM's Kinsale office will be available to discuss special offers on this boat and other Jeanneau models. 

For more details T: 021 4709600 M: 087 7777322

Following last week’s Afloat report on the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 33i for sale from MGM Boats, the Irish brokerage firm has added new models of Jeanneau's Sun Odyssey 349 and its bigger sister, the Sun Odyssey 449 to Afloat's popular sailing cruisers for sale listings.

The (brand new) Sun Odyssey 349 comes with a very high specification including performance pack, autopilot, fold down transom platform, sprayhood, trim level preference pack, lazybag, electric windlass. Priced at €144,900. Advert is here

Also added is big sister in the Sun Odyssey range, the 449. This well specified boat, according to the advert has three cabins and two heads. Bow thruster, auto pilot, bimini, teak cockpit, electric windlass and electric coachroof winch. The yacht has a fin keel, standard mainsail and furling headsail and priced at €227,500. Advert is here

Jeanneau is one of the most popular sailing cruiser brands in the world. The massive French boatyard has produced yachts since 1957. The marque has been part of the Bénéteau group since 1995. MGM Boats are long time all–Ireland agents for the French brand.

See the full range of sailing cruisers for sale in Ireland through Afloat.ie here

When Jeanneau’s new Marc Lombard-designed Sun Odyssey 33i made her debut in 2010, the description “modern classic” sprang readily to mind writes W M Nixon. But then it has to be admitted that at the time, with the international yacht-building industry making special efforts to produce something that would tempt a nervous buying public into make a decision as the first tentative signs of economic recovery were hinted, all the major companies were putting in an extra effort in the design department.

Yet six years down the line, the Sun Odyssey 33i has stood the test of time very well indeed. She still looks crisply modern as she rolls off the Jeanneau production line. Here she is in all her stylish practicality, a family performance cruiser which could give a very good showing for herself in local or even national racing. Yet as the photos show, she has very pleasant accommodation with it, providing an admirable fast cruiser.

Amidst the many boats of Dun Laoghaire, her looks stand out. Photo MGM Boats

The practical accommodation works well through not being over-crowded

Certainly in the years since, new features have been added to new boats in the standard version. But the basic boat is still the same. The difference is that, if you put your name down now for a virtually new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 33i (they ceased production a month ago) with comparable equipment to this 2010 boat, you’d be looking at paying €130,000 all in. So how come this six year old boat is attractively priced at €77,500?

Well, it’s a mixture of realism on the part of the vendor, the fact that modern production boats depreciate in value in much the same way as cars, and beyond that the costs of boat-building have never stopped rising even despite the fall in oil prices.

But one thing which most emphatically isn’t a factor in this case is that the boat has in any way been neglected. On the contrary, the one owner has been beyond fastidious in looking after this boat. And back in 2013, though she didn’t really need it at all, he decided to give her the Christmas present of the underwater hull being stripped and epoxy-coated.

Extra features include an electric windlass, Webasto heater, and – this is one for the connoisseurs – a Brunton autoprop. Were you thinking of buying a new boat, these are features which would be high on the list of requirements. But this well-presented boat has them already installed. Definitely worth a look. She’s right there at the pontoon beside MGM Boats’ office in Dun Laoghaire. See the full advert here.

Marc Lombard’s handsome design of 2010 has stood the test of time very well

Irish yacht brokerage firm MGM Boats has got 2016 off to a flying start at the London Boat Show this week with an order for five new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 389 yachts. According to John McDonald of MGM, the order for the Marc Lombard designs comes from Gibraltar–based sailing school Allabroad Sailing Academy and expands its Mediterranean fleet from six to 11.

For all those who have ever wished for a little help at the helm, Harken and Jeanneau have announced the result of a three-year collaborative effort to re-imagine cruising and shorthanded sailing. This collaboration has produced an advanced system to make sailing easier for families, cruisers, shorthanded crews, solo sailors, and those with limited mobility.

Jeanneau will debut the Auto Tacking and Auto Trim packages on its Sun Odyssey range under the name Assisted Sail Trim (AST). 

Jeanneau is represented in Ireland by MGM Boats

#jeanneau – To celebrate their recent appointment as Jeanneau distributors for Northern Ireland, leading Irish boat sales firm MGM Boats are rolling out an Autumn/Winter sales campaign.

The campaign features a 'Kickstart! 2015' offer. The offer is for a 2015 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 33i delivered, commissioned, launched and vat paid for just €99,950, saving the customer almost €15,000 off the full retail price.

In addition to this, MGM Boats will reimburse flights and accommodation (limitations apply) for anyone who orders a boat at the Paris boat show which runs from the 6th to the 14th of December.

'We are seeing a large increase in enquiries for new boats and with a number of hulls delivered this year we are very much looking forward to seeing what 2015 has in store. We were keen to create a special offer that represented real value to mark our appointment as dealers for Northern Ireland,' says John McDonald of MGM.