Amel 60 Review and Ownership Guide

Amel 60, the sloop that became the flagship

For most of its history Amel built one or two models at a time, almost all of them ketches, and changed them only about once a decade. The Amel 60 belongs to the yard's second chapter. Launched at the Cannes Yachting Festival in September 2019, two years after the Amel 50 broke the mold, it is a 19-meter sloop from the Berret-Racoupeau studio with a plumb bow, twin rudders and a carbon mast. It won the Luxury Cruiser category of European Yacht of the Year 2020, just as the 50 had two years earlier.

The brief has not changed since Henri Amel's day: a boat a couple can sail around the world with maximum pleasure for minimum effort. What has changed is the look and the performance. Yachting World's Matthew Sheahan put it bluntly, saying Amels have rarely been the prettiest or most contemporary boats, and that the 60 changes that.

Today the Amel 60 and the Amel 50.2 are the only two boats in the range, both built at the yard in Périgny near La Rochelle.

Plumb bow, wide stern and two rudders

The hull follows modern cruising fashion for practical reasons. Volume is carried well aft into beamy sections, which gives more space below and in the deck lockers, and twin rudders keep grip when the boat heels while adding redundancy if one is damaged. Shallower rudders also help when backing into Mediterranean quays. The numbers are big but not extreme: 62 feet 4 inches overall, 55 feet 3 inches on the waterline, a 17-foot 7-inch beam and 7 feet 9 inches of draft.

Displacement figures have crept up. Yachting World and sailboatdata list 26,000 kg (57,320 lb) light, while Amel's current specification gives 28.95 tonnes without options and an average loaded figure of 32.65 tonnes, carried on 7.2 tonnes of ballast. On the earlier figure, the sail area to displacement ratio is about 19.7 and the displacement to length ratio about 151, moderate numbers that point to a boat that moves well in light air without being twitchy.

Construction is resin infused, a technique Amel introduced with the 50, with solid laminate below the waterline and PVC foam sandwich above, watertight bulkheads, insulated compartments and the yard's maintenance-free teak-effect deck.

Cutter, Code 0 or gennaker: the sail plan decisions

Dropping the mizzen was the biggest break with Amel tradition. The yard argues that modern furlers, aft-swept spreaders and twin fixed backstays make a single tall rig safe and simple without running backstays, and that a higher aspect sail plan is more efficient. On the 60 the carbon mast is standard, the genoa and mainsail furl electrically, and a stainless bowsprit carries the anchor and light-air sails.

The interesting choices come on the options list. Sheahan's test boat had the self-tacking staysail, which turns the boat into a cutter and works as a heavy-weather sail on its own; he called it an obvious box to tick at just under 20,000 euros. The furling Code 0 at 18,000 euros adds a light-air upwind gear, and in 6 to 7 knots of true wind on flat water the 26-tonne test boat sailed at 5.4 knots. He was less convinced by the 12,500-euro furling gennaker, given how fast downwind sail handling is evolving.

• Mainsail 77 square meters and genoa 88 square meters per Amel's current spec
• Optional staysail 39 square meters for a self-tacking cutter rig
• Air draft about 26 meters (85 feet), check bridges on the Intracoastal Waterway
• Hull speed about 10 knots on a 55-foot waterline

The doghouse cockpit and its one ergonomic flaw

Security is the core of an Amel and nowhere more than the center cockpit, which is deep, largely enclosed under a rigid shelter and topped with a sliding solid sunroof. On the 60 the hardtop also carries photovoltaic panels. The offset helm station sits forward with guest seating behind it, and all sail controls are centralized on a panel within reach. Solid stainless rails run around the whole deck, higher than most guardwires, and the side decks are uncluttered.

The flaw Yachting World identified is that the electric sheet winches sit behind the helmsman. It would be easy to activate one without seeing a hand on it, or to miss an override. The answer is discipline, always looking aft before pressing a button, though that means looking away from the bow. The mainsheet winch beside the companionway, within the helmsman's reach, earned praise.

Under power, the twin rudders and lack of propwalk make tight turns awkward, which is why the optional retractable stern thruster, added to the standard retractable bow thruster, is worth having. A large hydraulic bathing platform with an integrated ladder makes the stern useful at anchor.

Three cabins, three bathrooms, owner aft

Below decks the layout is conventional for a center-cockpit cruiser. The saloon sits amidships with the navigation station tucked to port and a longitudinal galley opposite, the owner's cabin is aft, and two double cabins are mirrored either side of the centerline forward, each with its own shower and head. Amel says the boat sleeps six comfortably and can take eight people in total.

Isabelle Racoupeau designed the interior around light, and the result is bright and modern, finished in light oak or walnut; mahogany is no longer offered. The galley shows the Amel approach to equipment: microwave, induction hob, washer-dryer and dishwasher are standard, and an icemaker, wine cooler and second freezer are sensible extras.

Best-in-class engine access and the standard kit

Lift the cockpit floor on its permanent gas struts and the whole engine room opens up in seconds. Yachting World called it the best engine access you can imagine, and the big opening lets the space cool and ventilate quickly. It is insulated and sits in its own compartment, with generous bilge storage around it.

Amel quotes a 175 hp diesel in the current specification, while early reviews listed 180 hp. Tankage is 900 liters (238 gallons) of fuel and 700 liters (185 gallons) of water. The standard list covers the electric furlers, electric winches, bow thruster, hardtop and bathing platform; air conditioning, heating and a watermaker remain options because owners use the boat in very different climates.

An options list that fits on two pages

Sheahan joked that the entire boat could be specified over a lunchtime drink, since the options list does not fill two sheets of A4. The flip side is that the bottom line makes rival salespeople wince. Yachting World quoted 1.65 million euros ex VAT at launch; add a staysail, Code 0, air conditioning, heating and a watermaker and you are past 1.75 million euros before delivery.

For a US buyer in 2026, a new Amel 60 commissioned on this side of the Atlantic is likely to land between about 2.0 and 2.6 million dollars depending on options and exchange rates; that range is our estimate. Amel delivers each boat with a week of handover by a factory technician, and the company has long kept a service base, Amel Caraibes, in Le Marin, Martinique, which suits owners heading south.

Finding a used Amel 60

Amels rarely come up for sale early, and the 60 is no exception. Most boats are in Europe or the Caribbean, so US buyers should budget for survey travel and possibly a delivery. Because almost every boat leaves the yard with the same core equipment, price differences come down to build year, the option boxes ticked and the condition of electrical systems such as winches, furlers and thrusters.

Do not confuse the 60 with the Amel 64, a ketch built from 2010 to 2019 with a different hull and rig, or with the smaller Amel 50 and 50.2 sloops. The 60 is the only Amel flagship with a sloop rig and a carbon mast as standard.