Yachting news, Sunday, 1 November 2026

Royal Huisman's 85 m sloop nears the water

Royal Huisman's Project 410 is close to completion at Vollenhove, and a move to a deepwater site near Amsterdam for her launch is planned this month. Designed by Frers with interiors by Wetzels Brown, she is set to become the largest sloop-rigged sailing yacht once delivered.

BOAT's October round-up also notes that Ferrari's 30 m foiling Hypersail is in the last stages of construction at Pisa, with delivery due next year. Lionel Messi, meanwhile, has ordered a 26.8 m Sunreef Ultima 88 catamaran, under construction at the yard's UAE site, for his Balearic-based fleet.

Fort Lauderdale closes with new deals for the Americas

The show ends today, and two Turkish builders have changed how they sell in the Americas. IYC is now the exclusive representative there for Bering Yachts, covering the whole range from aluminium catamarans to steel explorers of more than 500 GT. Sales consultant Josh Marshall will lead the work. The first 33 m Bering 110 is in build.

Numarine has gone the other way. It has opened its own Fort Lauderdale office, ending its exclusive arrangement with Denison Yachting, and its boats in the region can now be sold by any broker.

Brokerage: Navis and Norma Jean back on the market

Only months after her last sale in June, the 55 m Admiral Navis, formerly Silver Star I, is for sale again with Smart Yachts at €29.5 million. Delivered in 2023 and lying at Loano, she has interiors by Giorgio Armani, takes 12 guests in six cabins and has a range of 3,500 miles at 10 knots.

In Fort Lauderdale, the 45.7 m Palmer Johnson Norma Jean, a 2009 Nuvolari Lenard design known for her red waterline, has returned to the market with Michael Selter of IYC. Twin MTUs give her a 22-knot cruise and 27 knots at full speed, and she sleeps 12.

Ursus rebuilt as a 30 m pocket explorer

Balk Shipyard at Urk and Mulder Design have turned an Acico Yachts vessel of under 24 m into the 30.4 m Ursus. A new bow and stern account for six metres of the added length, and there is more volume in the saloon and sundeck, as well as a two-level beach club. She also gained diesel-electric propulsion with Veth azimuth drives, dynamic positioning, an upgraded bridge and an extra crew cabin. She has spent the last 11 months cruising the Mediterranean.

Williams brings Formula 1 battery know-how to yachts

Williams Grand Prix Technologies, based alongside the F1 team at Grove, will show its ES10M battery to the superyacht trade for the first time at Metstrade in Amsterdam. Each module stores 9.8 kWh at 200 Wh/kg, and systems can scale from 39 kWh to more than 12 MWh, enough for compact racks on 50 m yachts or several banks on boats over 100 m. Lloyd's Register class compliance is still in progress. Managing director Selin Tur speaks at The Superyacht Forum on 16 November.

Class40: the biggest fleet in the Rhum looks forward to a puzzle

The 49 Class40s form the largest class in the race, 39 of them scow-bowed and just ten with pointed bows. Their lock passages out of Saint-Malo were scheduled for early this morning. With a high above 1,040 hPa blocking the usual weather patterns, forecasts are thought reliable for only the first four days. Ian Lipinski on Crédit Mutuel says he prefers this to a straight run into the trades, while Guillaume Pirouelle on Sogestran Seafrigo expects a wide-open race decided by routing.

EarlyBird keeps the ClubSwan 50 world title

Hendrik Brandis's German crew on EarlyBird retained the world title in the Gulf of Naples, ahead of Cem Bahadir's All in One and Marcus Brenneke's Hatari, which also took the Nations League. Eleven boats from six countries took part in a stop-start week, with a sudden wind shift on the first day and no racing at all on the third. Tactician Manu Weiller now has four world titles in the class. The 2027 season opens at Bonifacio in May.

First national match racing title for Josh Hyde

Josh Hyde swept Ethan Fong 3–0 in the final of the New Zealand Match Racing Championship at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, having come through a 3–2 semi-final against Harry Thurston. Thurston took third place. The event was back in Farr MRX keelboats for the first time since 2011, and the loss of the opening day's racing meant one round robin was dropped.

Foiling: youth titles in Greece and a first wing worlds in Ibiza

The iQFOiL Youth and Junior Europeans ended yesterday at Varkiza in Greece, with 290 sailors from 31 nations. Kfir Nov of Israel won the under-19 men and Russia's Taisiia Stopchenko the under-19 women. Spain's Enric Patiño Riutord took the under-17 boys, and Ece Melis Bas led a Turkish clean sweep of the under-17 girls.

Next up, the first X-15 Wingfoil World Championships run from 4 to 8 November at Club Mare Nostrum in Ibiza. There are 112 riders from 26 nations, 53 of them in the youth divisions, on one-design gear. They include Norway's Athens 2004 gold medallist Siren Sundby.

Family rescued from Alvor cliffs and brought to Portimão Marina

A Danish couple, their nine-year-old child and their dog were stranded on a hard-to-reach part of the cliffs at Prainha, Alvor, on Friday afternoon. The alarm was raised at 17:00. The Ferragudo lifeboat crew reached them and took them by boat to Portimão Marina, where the Portimão volunteer firefighters treated their minor injuries. The local Polícia Marítima command took charge of the incident.

Desalination row: minister says most work can continue

The government is seeking to overcome Albufeira's embargo on the Algarve's desalination plant, reported here yesterday. Environment Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho says an initial legal reading suggests it applies to the land rather than the works, so most of the job can carry on. She warns that funding will be lost if it is not spent by 2029. The project's monitoring committee, chaired by the Portuguese Environment Agency, meets on Wednesday 4 November, and she says more simulations of the disputed outfall may follow.

A coalition of environmental groups, including Almargem, Quercus and ZERO, has separately asked the ministry to drop the plant altogether. It argues that the money would be better spent on the roughly 27% of water lost from the region's urban networks and on reusing wastewater, which currently accounts for only about 2%.

After the Inclusion Worlds, Portimão's training centre is due to start

This month is when the adaptive and inclusive sailing centre at Portimão Marina is due to begin work, with full operation expected in January 2027. No opening date has been published. It follows October's World Sailing Inclusion Championships, the first held in Portugal, which brought 222 athletes from 40 countries here. Portugal won four medals: gold for José Campos in the ILCA 6, silver for Carlos Santos and João Pinto in the Hansa 303 pairs, and bronzes for Pinto and Rodrigo Pereira. (Reported on 9 and 13 October.)

Nanny Cay breakwater complete as dredging begins

The 435 m breakwater for the south marina at Nanny Cay, Tortola, has reached full length, part of a US$30 million project. Dredging has now started on a new 4.3 m entrance channel, due to take about two months, with a temporary channel open for boats meanwhile. Visitors planning a British Virgin Islands season should note the targets: boatyard and 150-ton haul-out by April 2027, and the 112 slips of the south marina by November 2027.

Villasimius eyes an 80 m berth, if the concession allows

Marina di Villasimius in southern Sardinia is planning a €5 million revamp that could include an 80 m superyacht berth, up from its present 65 m limit, along with electrical upgrades. Director Amedeo Ferrigno says seasonal superyacht visits have risen from about 40 to 450 over the past decade. The timing depends on upcoming maritime concession tenders.