First 27.7 Review, the Beneteau Mini IMOCA Explained

Why owners call it a mini IMOCA

The First 27.7 occupies a niche almost nobody else filled. Yachting Monthly, testing one more than 20 years after launch, called it the brand's mini IMOCA, and the comparison comes from the designers themselves. Groupe Finot drew the boat in 2002, at a time when its 60-foot IMOCAs had won the Vendee Globe four times running from 1992 to 2004, and the 27.7 borrows their look: a fine entry from the era before scow bows, a broad stern, and a deep, high-aspect keel with a lead bulb.

Beneteau launched it with the idea of seeding a short-handed racing circuit. That circuit never took off, and Yachting Monthly reckons only around 600 boats were built, fewer than 20 of them in the UK. In the US the First 27.7 is rarer still, which is why it surprises people at the dock and why a good one rarely stays on the market long.

Lift keel or fin, and how the lifting system works

Beneteau offered two versions. The lifting keel boat uses a composite shaft with a lead bulb, raised vertically by a hydraulic jack. Beneteau's 2010 inventory gives draft as 0.65 m up and 2.20 m down, with 621 kg of ballast and 2,795 kg (6,162 lb) light displacement; Yachting Monthly measured about 2.1 m down and quotes a 600 kg lead bulb. The fixed keel version is a cast iron fin with a bulb drawing 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in), carrying 870 kg of ballast and weighing 2,995 kg, 200 kg more than the lifter.

Do not think of the lifting keel as a centerboard you trim. Yachting Monthly points out it is effectively a fin keeler when pinned down: you remove the safety pins and raise it only when you are back on your mooring or heading into a shallow berth. Beneteau's inventory describes a manual pump and hydraulic jack with a safety beam system; some boats have an electrically driven pump. The fin keel version gives up shoal draft but gains a cleaner interior without the keel case.

• Lifting keel: about 2,795 kg, 0.65 m to 2.20 m draft, lifting rudder in a cassette
• Fixed keel: about 2,995 kg, 1.80 m draft, fixed rudder, more interior space
• Beneteau rated the fixed keel boat CE category B; the 2006 brochure listed the lifter as C

Twelve and a half knots in 27 knots of wind

Yachting Monthly sailed a 27.7 in about 25 knots of wind, gusting 27 at the nearest beacon. With a No2 jib and one reef the boat reached at just under 8 knots, and with a symmetric kite up it hit 12.5 knots while the crew sailed conservatively, never feeling out of control. The owners reported over 14 knots surfing in the 2023 Round the Island Race, and the designer's polars show 16 knots under spinnaker in over 35 knots of wind. Upwind the boat made speeds in the mid-5s with a responsive helm, and over a 15-mile spin around the bay the test crew averaged 6.5 knots.

There is a catch for racers. The 27.7 has a lot of wetted area and many boats sit deeper than designed, so it is not a handicap bandit. Under VPRS the test boat had to give six minutes an hour to Impala 28s, and its owners accepted struggling under handicap in exchange for a boat that sails beautifully.

Rig and deck for a short-handed crew

The mast is a 9/10 fractional aluminum section stepped on the keel, with a single set of spreaders, discontinuous stainless rigging and a single backstay adjusted by tackle. All running rigging leads aft to eight clutches and four Harken self-tailing winches, two for the genoa and two on the coachroof. A long traveler runs across the transom, and owners often lead the mainsheet tail forward along the boom to a swivel jammer on the cockpit sole so a trimmer can reach it.

Yachting Monthly found the 27.7 forgiving and easy to handle in a breeze, contradicting early reports that it was only for dinghy sailors, but warned that blading out the main is not enough: take a reef rather than hanging on to full sail. Inboard genoa tracks give a narrow sheeting angle, there is an anchor well in the bow and a large cockpit locker to starboard. Bigger winches would not go amiss.

Functional rather than plush below

The interior is laid out around the keel, its case, the post for the lifting mechanism and the keel-stepped mast. Beneteau's inventory lists a forward cabin with a 2.28 m by 1.67 m berth, a port aft cabin with a 1.98 m by 1.30 m double, a head with a hanging locker, a galley to port with a sink, foot pump and 40 L icebox, and a chart table to starboard that sits over the keel hydraulics. Saloon headroom is 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in).

Yachting Monthly called it spartan and functional: a single-burner hob in the galley, no headlining because the deck is vacuum-infused, and structural frames underfoot. It is perfectly workable for a weekend cruise or a two-handed race, and the chart table is good for the size, but buyers who want a varnished yacht interior should look at a cruising 28-footer instead.

Engine and tankage

Power is a Yanmar 14 hp diesel on a saildrive with a fixed two-blade propeller, fed from a 30 liter (8 gallon) tank in the starboard cockpit locker. Fresh water is 50 liters (13 gallons). Those numbers make the 27.7 a coastal boat: you sail it, motor in and out of harbor and refill often. Annual costs run roughly $4,000 to $9,000 including a slip or mooring, insurance, haulout, saildrive service and the hydraulic keel system's upkeep.

Finding and pricing one in the US

With so few in North America, expect to look at imports or wait for a domestic boat to surface. Asking prices in 2026 range roughly from $25,000 for an early boat needing work to around $55,000 for a late 27.7 S with good sails and a sorted keel system. Factor in a survey that includes the keel lifting system, the rudder stock and the saildrive diaphragm.