Bot owner

First look

with a hard chine and ending in an open cutaway stern.

But unlike her weight-saving, carbon fibre First siblings,

the Oceanis couples style with comfort, knowing that its

owners prefer to travel speedily, but with sundowner in

hand rather than hiking on the rail.

The greatest developments in the new Oceanis styling

have been centred around the cockpit, where the

philosophy has changed from a working functional

environment, to one more attuned to 90 percent of owners,

where one or two people do the work and everyone else

relaxes and enjoys. As such, the cockpit on the 55 takes

up roughly a third of the deckline. This is immediately

apparent from the moment you approach the stern and step

aboard via the electric-powered swim platform (a modern

equivalent of the hydraulic one on the Beneteau 62) and

have the vista of space stretching forward between the two

helms to full-length cushioned benches on either side of

the four-leaf cockpit table with in-built fridge, and then

ahead again to the twin cushioned sunbads built in either

side of the main companionway, and under the cockpit

arch with built-in mainsheet track. For longer cruises,

fitting the dodger makes these two sunpads ideal lee

berths for the off-watch in a sheltered area immediately

ready for action.

I used to write ‘dropping down’ the companionway, as it

was often the case, but in the 55, Beneteau has redrawn the

steps into more of a stairway than the ubiquitous ladder.

Plentiful deck

space is further

extended with

the floating beach

at the transom

Beneteau

Oceanis 55

34

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