First 40.7

The Beneteau 40.7
Peter Bentley tests the latest racer/cruiser from Beneteau

by Peter Bentley
Yachts and Yachting

There are features on the Beneteau 40.7 that work well while others are far from perfect. This is a package that offers compromise sailing by the bucket load. Certainly not an out-and-out racer, the 40.7 has some aspects of cruising ability that have been biased more toward performance than one might expect from a boat of this type.

Practical Sailor, November 1, 1999

This Bruce Farr-Designed speedster performs well in round-the-buoy races, yet its three-cabin interior also makes it a comfortable seasonal cruiser.

Beneteau began building boats in France in 1884 when Benjamin Beneteau opened a shop for the purpose of constructing trawlers a Croix-de-Vie. Eighty years later, under the direction of his granddaughter Annette Roux, Beneteau built its first fiberglass sailboat. It is the largest builder of production sailboats in the world, producing twice as many boats as its nearest competitor.

The Beneteau 40.7 has swept IMS racing around the world this summer

Whichever way you look at it, the racing successes of the Beneteau 40.7 have been quite phenomenal, and it would seem that its bigger sister, the Beneteau 47.7, is heading in the same direction. It doesn't seem to matter which system of handicapping has been used, the 40.7 comes out on top; and the 47.7 proved at Ford Cork Week and Cowes Week that it is an able performer as well.

by Bob Perry Sailing World, Dec. 1998 Now let's take a look at what the French company Beneteau, with the help of the Bruce Farr office, can do with the same general racer-cruiser parameters. The Beneteau has 3 feet, 2 inches of LOA on the X-Yacht, and that shows in the accommodations. But, like the X-Yacht, this design is being marketed as a boat that lets you have the best of both worlds.