Benetti B.YOND 57M

Tony's estimate is a 20 to 30 percent reduction in annual fuel cost against a conventional yacht of this size, most of it earned in hotel mode rather than underway. That is his number, not a Benetti figure, and it depends heavily on how much of your year is spent at anchor.

The logic is simple. You are transiting for a small share of the time you are aboard, and the rest of it a conventional yacht runs generators to keep lights, air conditioning and galley alive. E-Mode covers that load on electric power instead. For most owners the quiet is worth as much as the diesel.

Take the 57M if you have already owned in the 100 to 150-foot range and know what you actually use. At 187 feet it gives you six guest cabins, 13 crew in eight cabins and a sun deck that works as a full social deck, where the 40M is a tighter, more owner-focused boat at 130 feet 11 inches.

Both share the same argument: steel and aluminium, hybrid propulsion, 5,000 nautical miles at 10 knots. The question is the scale of your hosting, not capability. Tony's line is that the 57M suits the owner bringing family and business partners aboard without anyone losing privacy.

Benetti provides eight crew cabins for 13 crew on the B.YOND 57M, so junior crew are not hot-bunking, and the crew mess and laundry are sized to match. That matters more than it sounds. Crew turnover is the cost most owners underestimate, and quarters are the first thing a good captain or chief stew inspects.

Keeping the same senior crew for more than one season cuts training costs and lifts the guest experience at the same time. Tony's read is that Benetti spent volume here instead of on a double-height salon, and on a boat you plan to use 60 nights a year that is the right trade.

The exterior is by Lobanov Design and the interiors are by Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture, the same pairing Benetti used across the B.YOND line. The hull is steel with an aluminium superstructure, which is the right combination at 1,020 gross tons: steel for the displacement and stability an ocean crossing needs, aluminium to keep the upper decks from going top-heavy.

The 34-foot-9-inch beam does real work in the layout. It creates genuine separation between guest and crew areas without making the interior feel like a commercial vessel, and it is why the main deck can carry a full-beam master forward without squeezing the corridors around it.

Yes. The B.YOND 57M carries 80,000 litres of fuel, 21,134 US gallons, and covers 5,000 nautical miles at 10 knots. Cruise speed is 12 knots and maximum is 16 knots, so leaving Fort Lauderdale for the Azores without a fuel stop is a routine plan rather than an ambitious one.

The hybrid E-Mode system is what makes the number hold up in practice. It runs hotel loads and low-speed manoeuvring on electric power without the mains, which is where a conventional yacht this size quietly burns most of its diesel. Range like this changes how you build a season, because the itinerary stops being a function of fuel docks.

The B.YOND 57M sleeps up to 12 guests in six cabins. The full-beam master sits forward on the main deck, which puts the owner in the quietest and most stable part of the yacht, and the VIP and remaining guest cabins are on the lower deck so foot traffic stays away from the owner's spaces.

Crew accommodation runs to 13 in eight cabins. The sun deck is the social centre, large enough for a proper dining setup, a bar and lounge seating at once, and the flybridge helm is positioned to give the captain sightlines without putting the bridge in the middle of guest space.