2 Great news about the FIRST range:
BENETEAU FIRST 36 SE
At the 4th ORC Double-Handed World Championship in Monfalcone, Italy, the brand-new BENETEAU First 36 SE (Seascape Edition), Hull No. 1, surprised the world of offshore racing by finishing her maiden race on the podium.
Even though this was more of a discovery race, where her naval designer, Samuel MANUARD and known First SE community weather guru Jure JERMAN had the goal of feeling her for the first time and identifying strengths and weaknesses, she surprised the team and competitors with her pace. The race proved to be a 165-mile long windward / leeward course, which naturally wouldn’t suit 36SE. But even from the blocks she showed amazing VMG speeds, finishing in 3rd place, only 1 minute behind the 2nd, in an extremely competitive fleet of 29 boats from the ORC group Class B.
- The First 36 SE has now proven to be an exceptional boat for customers that need essential comfort on board for crusing with family and friends, but at the same time they have racing ambitions as well.
- Please note: the very same First 36 SE that competed in Monfalcone is still available at a 15% discount!
- Sea trials sell First boats—two customers came to the sea trials in Slovenia, and both have purchased the boat after experiencing her performance firsthand.
- The next available production slot is February 2026.
Read below what Samuel Manuard, Jure Jerman and Andraž Mihelin had to say after the competition!
BENETEAU FIRST 30
Right now, Tit and Andraž are at sea trials with the EYOTY international jury, presenting our planing crusier.
I do not know if you noticed, we received excellent coverage from Yachting World’s Toby Hodges, following his sea trial with Per Cederberk (thank you Per) — a great clip worth sharing.
👉 “Beneteau’s superhit: why this planing First 30 is THE boat you should sail.”.
Right now, Tit and Andraž are at sea trials with the EYOTY international jury, presenting our planing crusier.
Samuel Manuard, Naval architect and accomplished racer:
Samuel Manuard, Naval architect and accomplished racer:
“It was a wonderful race. Our main goal was to learn more about the boat and her behaviour. This is only the beginning, but I’m really pleased with the First 36 SE’s dynamic and speed. We started strong, had a great pace, and some very good moments in light winds. However, when the wind shifted in the middle of the night off Istria, it took us too much time to come up with proper trim. This happens when you are not used to the boat; it is difficult to know the target speed.
For instance, we now know that her VMG target speeds in 12kt of wind are around 7.2–7.4 knots.
With the conditions we saw, light wind suited her well. She is good at reaching—we had a short reach where we were immediately up to speed, while for VMG, you really have to fight hard. The feeling is very pleasant on board, but there is a lot to be improved, obviously; now we were only scratching the surface. Performance depends significantly on sail configuration and the transitions you make during the race. Unfortunately, we missed one transition, and the first two boats pulled away for a couple of miles. After that, with strong crews in front and fairly steady wind all the way to the finish, it was nearly impossible to catch up.
Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun—especially the tacking in light-wind duel with JPK Colombre. All in all, I’m very happy with the First 36 SE. She is an excellent combination of a cruiser on which you can also have fun high level racing—and I think that is fantastic. This race was a great test, and it’s only a starting point for her.”
Jure Jerman, First SE community member and co-skipper:
“I’m not a professional sailor, and this fleet was full of very serious racers. In sport, success usually comes with investment, like training. With the investment we put in here, I think we did well. Sam arrived in Monfalcone on Monday, and the training on Tuesday was too calm to do much.
In racing, you’re always making guesses, and when one goes wrong, it’s hard to recover—we couldn’t catch up anymore. But I learned so much during these two days. If we were to do it again, we’d be much more confident in how to work with the boat. Speaking of the FIRST 36 SE, she was extremely competitive in all kinds of conditions, and my feeling was that we were losing mainly due to our mistakes – so she really deserves all the credit for being fast all around I am really impressed, so congratulations to the design and production team«
Andraž Mihelin, CEO Seascape and Beneteau First range manager
This result is amazing. We were looking for a race to check the performance of the new First 36SE, and of course, the World Championship would not be our first pick for that.
But since it was happening just 20 miles from our test harbour, we decided to engage our First community, borrowed some extra sails and give it a go.
Having Sam onboard gave us so much valuable feedback for future tweaks, but to my great delight, his feedback was that she is a great all-around racer that can satisfy any sailing connoisseur. From here, we have now started to create plans for 2026. Mostly, we plan to work closely with our future owners on their racing projects, making sure we give them the most fun and competitive platform possible.”
Janja Poglajen
Communication manager First and First SE
