The best Excess yet? Volume and reasonable speed at a competitive price

The Excess 14 is designed to offer a rewarding sailing experience and plenty of volume for a production built price. Toby Hodges sails one from Port Ginesta, Barcelona during European Yacht of the Year 2023 trials. Full report in Yachting World February 2023
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[@biblicaltheologyexegesisan9024]

Toby is my favorite, he is such a great presenter and spokesman nice cat, very nice

[@yachtingworld]

Thank you, that's much appreciated!

[@dancarter482]

@@yachtingworld Power reaching out of the Exumas with Peter Johnston is STILL my favorite Yachting World adventure!

[@Muratshayev]

Great boat. Thanks for the review, Toby

[@johnnyhubbars9893]

Another great review. Thanks.

[@AS-po9pm]

The boat next to you is a beast…

[@bos6782]

Thanks for the review, Ive just recently heard of this brand out of Beneteau

[@rtbinc2273]

Outside of how well you like the layout it's interesting to see how Group Beneteau develops and merchandises their products. What are the features that will differentiate in the market? They seem to really think that steering feel and experience will drive sales while galley layout isn't so important. Customers will sacrifice other things to get that direct experience. I also love the implied criticism of the quality of Lagoon Cats.

[@treywest268]

How does one protect themselves from foul weather when at either of the helms?

[@wackytheshaggy]

Foul weather gear. Or autopilot and go inside if it gets really bad. I’ve sailed a nautitech open 40, which has a similar layout and is shorter, in pretty bad weather and it is no more problematic than on a 40ft monohull. More relaxed I’d say.

[@Maloy7800]

Why do I picture a HUGE fight at the Beneteau office? Monsieur Rockford Cognac from VPLP swinging the couch cushion at Mrs. Josephine Beneteau and yelling "YOU ASKED FOR A CHEAP OUTREMER, YOU WITCH, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT!!!". And Mrs. Josephine Beneteau hitting him back with a frying pan from the galley screaming "BUT I WANT A BIGGER VANITY, TOO, PIERRE-JEAN! SO GIMME!!!" Given Beneteau's tremendous cost-cutting capabilities this will be cheaper than Outremer. But it's already not as fun. No swinging helms, for one... BOOOO! However, there is ONE thing that I would happily have on Outremer - NO BLOODY ROPE SPAGHETTI IN THE COCKPIT!!!!!!!! MY GOD, Outremer is cluttered with lines going everywhere. This is a much neater design.

[@angela1984a]

Would be interesting to know if and how the production differs from what Beneteau i doing in the case of Lagoon...

[@bertramlefarge69]

For the price there's a lot of white GRP on show and i'm not a big fan of those exposed twin helms.. Good space in the hulls but the saloon looked a tad pinched. I'd still take one though :)

[@timrees786]

I would have been nervous berthing alongside Eddie Jordan's Oyster 495, Tortuga! Nautitech 44 Open won EYOTY ahead of Excess, but which do you prefer having sailed both?

[@rustyjeff3007]

like it

[@nivekdeus]

Seems like the same hall as a Nautitech 44 Open

[@Michael-dg4us]

How to Med moor with dinghy on davits against a higher pier? This requires at least 3 m distance. Same issue as on Lagoon 40…

[@wackytheshaggy]

I would really appreciate a bit more of pros and cons or the old style of who is this boat for. Would be nice to use Toby’s immense knowledge to cut through some of the marketing rubbish.

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

2 Exposed helms .... not great thinking for modern cruisers ... Whilst you can sail from the Nav station this isnt where most short handed cruisers will be working from ... The sun shades wont cope with high winds and rough waters and do nothing for cold weather sailing. ... Im wondering why they didnt use the new recyclable resin materials they have launched on the monohulls... Perhapse they will introduce them at a later date? Some nice details and space for a 44ft.

[@SimonCurrey]

A lot of blindspots for the sailing on the Solent e.g. coming out of Portsmouth harbour

[@Anamazing]

I'll take 2 please 😂

[@Anamazing]

For real though. The "workshop/bonus" room is amazing.

[@Ian-gf8id]

Good value for money at face value but given that it's made in the Beneteau group which doesn't have a stellar record when it comes to quality, including Lagoon and their numerous bulkhead failures, I'd have serious concerns.

[@doradosurfcharters]

At least you can squat down whilst steering and take a dump out the back 👍

[@normanshafty]

Isn't that the first thing a true sailor would look for in a boat?

[@berndog3]

I usually deposit my dump. I certainly don't want to take it - anywhere. 🙂

[@dancarter482]

@@normanshafty Bucket n chuck-it.

[@berndog3]

This is a virtual bargain compared to the Kinetic KC54. The KC54 is an all carbon performance cruiser but at 2.7M? The Rolls Royce of cats.

[@dansegelov305]

Great boat. Great price. utterly terrible helm positions! Make a version with a helm with foul weather protection and we'll talk.

[@cartmanrlsusall]

She is a decent boat but I am not a fan of those exposed aft helms

[@JostVanDykeFan]

Thanks for doing these reviews but the sailing characteristics while the boat is not ladden for cruising is fairly useless. What would be more useful is to bring a ton of sandbags and weight the boats down to their loaded displacement tonnage and THEN go sailing. Almost all boats perform great when they are empty.

[@yachtingworld]

@JostVanDykeFan - unfortunately I can't get a tonne of sandbags onto my easyjet carry on allowance...!

[@wackytheshaggy]

Too much width. Too much space. All this faff about speed and sailing feel, and then you through it all away with such enormous hulls. Cut the fat and this would actually be a good fast boat. A shame as I thought the sail setup was better than on the nautitech.

[@wackytheshaggy]

Throw even

[@svZia-Switch51]

Furniture looks cheap, especially that IKEA nav station.

[@Mars21681]

nautitech vibes

[@yehtoon4237]

Hey Toby does any of these cat comes with push button sail?

[@frankjames7272]

push button is so last year the clapper is the, wave of the future.