Beneteau First 30 (2025) Review, the Planing Cruiser and Its Two Namesakes

Which Beneteau First 30 are you looking at?

Type beneteau 30 first into a listings site and you will get three unrelated boats. Beneteau used the name for its debut sailboat of 1977, for a Juan Kouyoumdjian racer-cruiser launched in 2010, and since January 2025 for the Samuel Manuard planing cruiser most people now mean. This page covers the new boat in depth and gives the older two their own section, so their numbers never get mixed up.

The 2025 First 30 measures 30 ft 8 in on deck (9.35 m), weighs about 6,700 lb light and stretches to 33 ft 11 in with its fixed bowsprit. Beneteau calls it the first planing cruiser, and the independent tests we read largely back that up. It was a SAIL Top 10 Best Boats winner for 2026 and the smallest, least expensive entry in Cruising World's 2026 Boat of the Year fleet.

From Slovenian sportboats to a Beneteau cruiser

The new First 30 is really a Seascape product with a Beneteau badge. Seascape was founded in 2009 by Mini Transat sailors Andraz Mihelin and Kristian Hajnsek and built light Manuard sportboats from 14 to 27 ft. Beneteau took the company over around 2018 (its own accounts say 2017 and 2018) and rebadged those boats as Firsts. The First 36 followed in 2022, and the First 30 is a scaled-down version developed and built by the same team in Slovenia.

Manuard drew the hull, Lorenzo Argento did the styling, SITO the interior and Pure Design and Engineering the structure. Mihelin now runs the First range, and Beneteau's marketing chief told SAIL that the boat's real competition is a wing foil or a kiteboard, not another keelboat. That explains both what it is and what it leaves out.

What planing in 13 knots of wind actually feels like

Three independent tests line up well. Yachting World sailed the boat for two days in Denmark and logged 6 to 6.5 knots upwind, 8 to 9-plus knots two-sail reaching and 8 to 13-plus knots under spinnaker. In a Force 5 it never came off the plane under the fractional kite, holding 10.5 to 13.5 knots, and in 20 knots plus it averaged 13 to 14 knots for a long spell. In only 10 to 13 knots of true wind under the masthead kite it still planed almost continuously at 8 to 10 knots, with the wake separating at about 8.4 knots.

Cruising World's Herb McCormick saw 6-plus knots upwind on Chesapeake Bay and more than 12 knots under kite, with the helm going light at speed; Beneteau's ambassador told him the boat had touched 19 knots. SAIL's tester, in 12 to 22 knots, found the planing smooth and quick but the boat over-canvassed at times with main and gennaker up until a reef went in.

Upwind it tacks through about 80 to 85 degrees and holds the low 6s in 8 to 10 knots of breeze. Pinch above that and the planing hull stalls and parks, a trait SAIL thought would make a good teacher. Under power the 14 hp Yanmar pushed Cruising World's boat past 6 knots at 2,500 rpm.

Heel, a busy kite and other honest caveats

The reviews agree on the weak spots. At 9 ft 9 in the hull is narrow for a modern 30-footer, and even with a ballast ratio near 35 percent and a deep keel it heels hard close-hauled. Yachting World described a workout for the helm, braced on molded foot supports against the lifelines. Backstay, cunningham and outhaul depower the bendy Z-Spars mast well enough that the tester never needed a reef.

Spinnaker work is busy without an autopilot or a sock, and both Yachting World and SAIL rounded up while distracted. The helm cannot reach both jib sheets, and short-handed crews will want the sheets led aft. Buyers moving from a heavy cruiser should expect to sail actively once the breeze passes 15 knots.

Cruising cockpit or racing cockpit

Beneteau offers two deck plans. The cruising version uses a mainsheet bridle and German sheeting so the cockpit floor stays clear; the racing version adds a traveler and a direct fine-tune mainsheet. Controls run to two clutches each side of the companionway, the jib is on a furler, and twin foam-cored rudders of the type used on Class 40 racers connect to a simple tiller.

The cockpit locker swallows an inflatable and a sail, the open transom has a swim platform, and the boat is certified Category A for two people and Category B for six. Steering gear is reached through tight panels from the locker and the port aft cabin, worth checking before fitting an autopilot.

Painted GRP, cork floors and magnetic doors

Below decks the First 30 is honest about priorities. Much of the interior is painted fiberglass, with cork flooring on the hull in the galley, a veneer table and plywood bulkheads slotted into a liner. Yachting World found it wipe-clean and functional, if plain where lining meets bare hull.

The forward double matches the First 36's in size, according to Beneteau. The saloon settees are 2 m long with backrests that fold outboard, and the table seats six. The galley has a gimbaled two-burner stove, a sink, a fold-down extension and an icebox or optional fridge, and the enclosed head has a marine toilet and shower. The aft double under the cockpit is cramped for two adults, as both Yachting World and SAIL noted.

Headroom is 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) at the foot of the companionway. Thin magnetic panels replace doors, and stowage comes from removable textile lockers that cost extra.

How Beneteau keeps it near 6,700 lb

The hull and deck are vacuum-infused around a PVC foam core with vinylester and polyester skins, and a glass composite grid spreads the loads of the cast iron T-keel. Cruising World counts 17 separate molds. The standard keel draws 6 ft 6 in; the shoal keel draws 5 ft 6 in and carries about 2,910 lb of ballast against roughly 2,359 lb.

Power is a 14 hp Yanmar 2YM15 on a saildrive with a 10.5 gallon tank, and sailboatdata lists an optional 5 kW Krautler electric motor. Water is 26.4 gallons. Lifting the companionway steps reaches the oil, impeller and belt, but Yachting World warns that gearbox oil and filter changes will be awkward. Bridge clearance is 48 ft 3 in.

The 1977 Mauric original and the 2010 Juan K boat

The original First 30 grew from Impensable, the 1973 Half Ton Cup winner. Beneteau bought the molds, André Mauric reworked the keel, coachroof and interior, and the boat appeared at the 1977 Paris show. It is a 29 ft 4 in masthead sloop of about 7,600 lb with a skeg-hung rudder, sold in the US as the Beneteau R/C 30. Beneteau's history says 824 were sold; sailboatdata and Yachting Monthly put it near 1,000. European asking prices run about 6,000 to 18,500 euros and US listings are rare.

The Juan Kouyoumdjian First 30 was unveiled at Annapolis in October 2010, with input from Michel Desjoyeaux, and built until about 2015. It is 32 ft 2 in overall with a plumb bow, sprit, chine, twin rudders, a backstay-free square-top main, an optional carbon mast and a 20 hp Yanmar 3YM20, and it displaces about 8,267 lb. SAIL saw well over 5.5 knots close-hauled in light air. Beneteau's own retrospective calls it a failure, so numbers are small; a Swiss listing for a 2011 boat asked 75,000 francs.

Between them came Jean Berret's First 30 E of 1981 to 1984 and then the First 305. To tell the namesakes apart, look aft: a skeg-hung rudder means 1977, a very wide transom with twin rudders and swept spreaders means 2010, and an open stern behind a low coachroof means 2025.

Price, running costs and the right owner

Beneteau America lists the First 30 from $167,351 before taxes. Sails, electronics, commissioning and options take a realistic sail-away figure to $185,000 to $215,000, and Cruising World's test boat came to about $200,000. Early used boats trade close to that because the order book filled quickly.

Budget roughly $7,000 to $16,000 a year for a slip, insurance, a haul-out, a clean planing bottom and sail wear, which grows quickly if you race. The ideal owner is an active sailor, often from dinghies or windsurfing, who wants speed and simple weekends aboard. Families who prize stowage and an upright ride will be happier in an Oceanis 30.1.