Beneteau First 36 Review, the Planing Cruiser That Won Everything

The Beneteau First 36 is a cruiser that planes

The Beneteau First 36 does something no mainstream production cruiser had done before it: it gets up and planes in a moderate breeze while still offering three cabins, a galley, a nav station and an enclosed head. Beneteau says it starts planing in about 14 knots of wind and hits double figures easily; Yachting World recorded it planing at high-8-knot boat speeds in around 12 knots, and European Yacht of the Year jurors saw 14.5 knots under spinnaker in 20 knots.

The awards followed quickly. The First 36 won the performance category of European Yacht of the Year 2023 with a unanimous jury, was a SAIL Top 10 Best Boats winner for 2023, took Sailing World's top Boat of the Year prize, and earned a judges' special Best Sportboat award from Cruising World. It also returned the First name to what made it famous: a boat you can race on Saturday and cruise with the family on Sunday.

From a Slovenian brief to the Annapolis docks

The First 36 was conceived in 2018 by the team at Seascape, the Slovenian sportboat builder that Groupe Beneteau had bought, as the bridge between its small sportboats and the larger French-built First 44 and 53. Samuel Manuard drew the hull, Lorenzo Argento styled the boat, Pure Design and Engineering of New Zealand optimized the structure, and the Slovenian studio SITO worked on the interior. It debuted in the US at the Annapolis show in fall 2022.

SAIL reported the market research that shaped it. Buyers wanted a boat that planes easily, a saloon for lounging rather than formal dining, a real nav desk, and a comfortable forward berth, which they valued more than a large head. Every one of those choices is visible aboard, including the compromise on the head.

Everything aboard is structure

The First 36 is built more like a race boat than a typical Beneteau. Hull, deck, bulkheads and even the furniture modules are foam-cored and vacuum-infused, bonded together so that each part contributes to stiffness, with a keel grid that reaches up to deck level. Yachting World noted the swim platform weighs just 8 kg and that the yard achieved this without exotic materials, and Beneteau quotes a lightship displacement of 4,800 kg (10,580 lb).

The numbers explain the speed. Sailboatdata calculates a sail area to displacement ratio of about 28.7 and a displacement to length ratio of about 124, figures normally associated with race boats. A cast iron T-bulb fin carries 1,550 kg (3,417 lb) of ballast at a draft of 2.25 m (7 ft 5 in), and the reverse sheer keeps the bow and stern low while preserving coachroof height.

Twin rudders, twin wheels and a cockpit that changes shape

Manuard told Yachting World that twin rudders were essential: with this hull shape even professionals would struggle to control it under pressure with a single blade. Jefa steering links the high-aspect rudders to twin wheels, and testers at all three magazines praised the light, precise helm. Wheels are standard because Beneteau's customer data showed that the great majority of buyers order them, although Yachting World argued many racers and shorthanded sailors would love a tiller option.

The cockpit converts. Removable bench extensions and a table turn it into a cruising lounge; take them off and you have an open racing cockpit with elevated, canted primary winches, a full-width traveler on the sole and lines that can be cross-sheeted to windward. SAIL counted four tack points (two on deck, two on the bowsprit) and halyards for masthead and fractional gennakers, two jibs, a code 0 and a staysail. Standard spars are a Z-Spars aluminum rig with Dyform shrouds and a fiber backstay; a carbon Axxon mast is optional.

Three cabins, an island fridge and a folding sink

Below, the First 36 has twin aft cabins that can be set up with single or double berths or used for storage, a full-size double forward and a single head, also forward, with a shower and a sink that folds up over the toilet. Yachting World called the head compartment small and fiddly, the one real weakness of the interior. The L-shaped galley has a sink, two-burner stove and oven, and a standalone fridge island at counter height that braces the cook and can be bridged to the galley with a removable cutting board.

The saloon has straight settees either side of a drop-leaf table, usable as sea berths, and a sit-down nav station. Headroom is about 6 ft 2 in. There is enough wood in fiddles and trim, Cruising World noted, to keep the interior warm rather than clinical.

First 36 SE and First 36 Spirit

Two variants now share the hull. The First 36 SE (Seascape Edition), unveiled in 2025 for 2026 deliveries, is about 400 kg (880 lb) lighter, has a tiller instead of wheels, soft non-skid foam in the cockpit, a carbon rig, carbon interior trim and a refined hull with almost 3 m2 less wetted surface, optimized for ORC racing with input from Maurizio Cossutti. Its prototype, Rahan, finished second over the line in the 2025 Transpac sailed doublehanded, logging daily runs over 270 miles and a top speed of 20.4 knots, and hull number 1 placed third in its class at the 2025 ORC Double-Handed Worlds. Beneteau lists it from 301,360 euros before VAT.

The First 36 Spirit, new for 2026, goes the other way: a simplified, lower-priced version from 200,000 euros before VAT, with magnetic removable doors and open storage below, 4,620 kg lightship and planing from about 15 knots of wind, according to Beneteau. For most cruising buyers the standard First 36 remains the sweet spot.

Not to be confused with the First 36.7 or 36s7

Searches for a Beneteau 36 First also return two older boats. The First 36.7 (2001 onward) is a Farr Yacht Design one-design racer-cruiser built largely in South Carolina, heavier and more conventional, with an active North American class. The First 36s7 of 1996 is a Berret-Racoupeau design with a Philippe Starck interior. Both are good boats, but neither planes, and their values are a fraction of the new First 36's.

Beneteau First 36 price, running costs and resale

Beneteau's 2026 base price is 261,100 euros before VAT; in the US a realistic sail-away figure with sails, electronics and commissioning is $320,000 to $450,000. Used boats from 2022 to 2025 are rare and typically ask $250,000 to $360,000, and with strong demand and award-winning reputation they have held value well so far.

Annual costs typically run $14,000 to $30,000 for slip, insurance, haul-out, rigging and sails, Yanmar saildrive service and racing fees. Racers should budget more for sails; a planing boat is hard on downwind inventory.