BENETEAU FIRST 27.7

A fast and capable lift-keeler, Beneteau’s ‘mini IMOCA’ combines features of an offshore racer and a shoal-draught cruising yacht

- 

Now and again you come across a boat that occupies a very particular niche in the market. The Beneteau First 27.7 is undoubtedly such a boat.

It’s hard to think of anything else of similar size that does what the 27.7 does for a similar budget. Do you want a boat with a racing pedigree, a lifting keel and the ability to plane downwind? In that case you might look at the Seascape 27 (now under the Beneteau umbrella and sold as the First 27) or a Mojito 880. Both are much newer than the First 27.7 – still built, in fact – and a lot more expensive.

Alternatively, if you're happy with an older lift-keeler and you're not fussed about double-digit speeds under spinnaker, you have a wider choice. How about a Parker 27 or 275? Or perhaps a Kelt 850/29, or yet another Beneteau in the form of the First 285?

Should a lifting keel not be on your list, you might consider Jeanneau's Sun Fast 26, a Django 8S or a Pogo 850. Plenty of boats do some of what the 27.7 does. Finding one that does everything would be more of a challenge, however. That's one reason why you don’t find many 27.7s on the market – particularly in the UK, home to fewer than 20 of the 600 or so that Beneteau built.

Maybe she didn't sell desperately well over here because one or two early reports suggested she could be quite a handful for anyone who hadn't been brought up sailing performance dinghies.

Having flown the spinnaker in 25 knots of wind during our test sail, when we hit an easy 12.5 knots, I would maintain that she’s remarkably forgiving and easy to handle in a breeze. I should perhaps admit to being used to performance dinghies and to having spent more time racing than cruising in recent years. Nonetheless, I would argue that the First 27.7 is by no means only suited to people with a dinghy-racing background.