Grand Soleil 52 Performance - a first look aboard this latest Italian style merchant

[@DennisMacdonald-r7d]

Toby ur amazing thanks again

[@maxhood5999]

Toby thank you so much for these reviews, best on the net

[@yachtingworld]

Thank you! 😊

[@joealphons5772]

Good review, but...I would like to see you reporting about these boats while crossing the N. Atlantic or around cape Horn. How do they fare in the real world vs. being on show in marinas?

[@yachtingworld]

How many folk take new production boats around Cape Horn?! When we do tests of bluewater cruisers we do try to at least stay aboard and sail them in a range of conditions. But I don't think sailing around the Horn is for boat reviews is very achievable!

[@moonhand8311]

Why no comment about important stuff, like the structure of the keel fixing... glued grid, or is it not that now?

[@yachtingworld]

A 'first look' is just that - shot at a busy boatshow, which doesn't give the time to pull up floorboards and show structures of all the new boats unfortunately - although we do try to do that during full tests

[@deerfootnz]

I would argue that wide beam hull shapes very much DO NOT work for cruising. The immersed hull shape becomes very assymetric when heeled which gives high steering moments and loads. Waves only makes things worse. And while the extra beam increases righting moment it also increases drag at about the same rate. It works very well for race boats which are limited or rated by length. It's better to take the same displacement & volume and build a longer narrower boat for cruising: it's the same size boat, it costs the same to build, but it will be faster, easier to sail and have lower loads.

[@dennisrobinson4588]

Nice boat, looks as though it is a performance yacht. Like to take it for a cruise! Thanks

[@bos6782]

Thank you for the tour of the very nice yacht. I appreciate your content Toby.

[@edtheplumber5307]

Owners cabin in the bow? Must be made for the Med. No thanks, I will take the port aft cabin. Also, I like the 50/50 sail arrangement, but this will lead to an immense load on the reefing gear. I worry the marketing team have more power than the yacht designers.

[@maxhood5999]

No one seems to do aft master cabin anymore. Shame because it’s the largest space on a yacht

[@mac-doien9298]

It's a one of a kind work of art and that's what make this a rich 🤑💲💰 mans toy. They broke the mold and used zero "off the shelf parts" which means they can change ridiculous prices for repairs. A practical sailor has to be a master craftsman and assemble a sailboat from the hull on up.. imo. To make it affordable and sustainable a sailor should know every detail it's strengths and limitations. Alternatively the captain will learn the expensive way😢😢 paying with wasted time though and effort.

[@TheJamesthe13]

Lovely “racer” , not taking it out of the pond though. Wouldn’t trust that thing in a proper seaway if you paid me.

[@dba1222]

Can you explain why? I know nothing about sailing

[@srantoniomatos]

Bet a bunch of people are gonna sail her around the globe, for decades, while haters spit theorical "wisdom" from the living room...

[@GroppeljohannKlotenkempe-vr6oh]

@@srantoniomatos that surely won‘t happen. I bet no one will try to circumnavigate with this party boat. Way too dangerous and uncomfortable

[@puertola7186]

Nice. But it is no Swan or Euphoria...

[@andrewcusack9046]

Grand Soleil make some luxurious looking boats. On the 52, what is the electrical appliance across from the galley, it looks like an oven?

[@RichardCollette]

I don't get the lack of comfortable seating at the helms. Low profile hand rails, cool. The overall fit seems "platicy", not that I'm looking for a cherry smoke room finish. Stove opening, you can't stand in front of it when opened. Overall, not impressed.

[@AdeboFunkyVoodoo]

Something negative for no good reason!

[@majik-k8j]

Why do all new boats look like they are designed by a computer and built by robots? I am sure they perform magnificently for intended market. Happy for those who can afford one and have the time to sail it.

[@jeremiahwilliams6433]

Yeah, they look nice but I've noticed that a lot of new boats have an IKEA aesthetic to them.

[@rtbinc2273]

One answer is that your comment is largely true. A lot of the manufacturing process is done by robots and designed on computers. Ikea is a good broad base point for what European Design looks like. Look at Pearl Yachts - Kelly Hoppens is a UK based South African designer, and her stuff looks like Ikea too. Look at pictures of European Hotel rooms on Hotel sites, they look a lot like this. Then there is all these boats are built of the same stuff using 90% the same technology. Very little stick wood is used. It's all large sheets of plywood with veneer or manufactured wood products like Alpi wood that is shaped - and fiberglass. All these boats are optimized to sail in the irregular low winds and warm weather of the Mediterranean. They motor half the time or more and they need to provide recreational space because they 80% of they're time at anchor with people "recreateing" off them. They may not be so good pounding through the short chop of Long Island Sound in February.

[@donaldvanvliet9039]

@@jeremiahwilliams6433you’re getting things mixed up. The thing about ikea is that they try to provide cheap furniture that looks like (expensive) modern design. These boats have some of the modern design that inspire ikea, not the other way around. And the quality of materials and craftsmanship is definitely not ikea at all.

[@jeremiahwilliams6433]

@@donaldvanvliet9039 yeah dude, I'm not saying these are IKEA quality boats, I'm just saying the interior design reminds me of IKEA. I know they're built way nicer than that.

[@AdeboFunkyVoodoo]

Because you're taste is stuck in the past.

[@ohnezuckerohnefett]

At this point: why bother with boats normal people could even dream about. Give it a thought, please.

[@rtbinc2273]

What price range are you thinking about? This is under a Million $, a 52 foot motor yacht is pushing 2 Million $ and sometimes more.

[@keithmoorechannel]

Hey, at least this is the baby of the line up. Toby could have shown the 72 or 65 that were docked next door! 😂

[@rtbinc2273]

@@keithmoorechannel He has, just check the channel.

[@rtbinc2273]

Another thought - multiple short comments are better for the ALGORITHM - the used boat market if larger than the new boat market. There are a few US/Canada based KZbin channels that look at used boats that are much more reasonably priced than these. You can also look at the early boats on this channel and price those, and hope depreciation is your friend.

[@AdeboFunkyVoodoo]

Because most normal people can't afford any boat at all.

[@thomaselliott573]

Those shrouds are so light they are a joke, but, then again, this is just a marina / Saturday toy as opposed to a real yacht. That hull is extra ugly, but that is the way things are now.