Beneteau and X-Yachts were the big winners in the cruiser categories in this year’s European Yacht of the Year awards presented on the flagship night of boot Düsseldorf, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

This year’s winner in the Family Cruiser category was the Beneteau Oceanis 30.1, one of the stars of last autumn’s Southampton International Boat Show and the Beneteau stand at boot Düsseldorf alike.

BJ Marine are the Irish dealers for this touring yacht, which is built by Beneteau subsidiary Delphia Yachts in Poland and offers a remarkable degree of luxury and comfort despite its compact dimensions, as the jury determined.

X-Yachts‘ new X4⁰ was picked by European Yacht of the Year judges as the best of the Performance Cruisers

In the Performance Cruiser category, meanwhile, the winner was X-Yachts’ new X4⁰ which had its first media appearance at last year’s show. Judges liked the Danish boat’s readily available power alongside tasteful and comfortable furnishings.

European Yacht of the Year 2020 also recognised the ClubSwan 36 with the Winner Innovation Award, the Amel 60 as the best Luxury Cruiser and the Dealer 30 OD as top of the Regatta Yachts.

X-Yachts’ new X4⁰ has been nominated for European Yacht of the Year 2020 in the Performance Cruiser category.

Often referred to as the Oscar of yachting, the European Yacht of the Year Award is widely considered the most important and influential boatbuilding prize in the world.

Initiated by German sail magazine YACHT, it was first presented at boot Düsseldorf in 2004.

Today 12 magazines from across Europe make up the jury, each of them the leading voice in their respective countries and respected beyond national borders — and they will make their decisions during the next boot Düsseldorf from 18-26 January 2020.

Previous X-Yachts winners in the European Yacht of the Year include the Xc 38 in 2011 and the Xc 45 in 2009, both in the Luxury Cruiser class.

More recently, the X46 was nominated in the Performance Cruiser class last year, and the X43 in the same category two years previously.

A full list of 2020’s nominees can be found HERE.

Meanwhile, the first race for the newly launched X4⁰ took place this past weekend.

The Silverrudder is one of the largest singlehanded sailing events, with more than 400 boats participating.

In this year’s edition, more than 50 X-Sailors were on the starting line to challenge themselves and their skills on a demanding 130-nautical-mile race course around the island of Funen in Denmark.

X-Yachts employee Anders Bastiansen was sailing with the X4⁰ Xelebration in the Large Keelboats category, and took second place with a time of 22:32:32.

The company's founders also took some time to return to the water in their first ever build from 1979 after a dedicated restoration project: