Beneteau OCEANIS 55 review by SAIL MAGAZINE

A rewarding blend of good looks and excellent performance
 
Images courtesy of Beneteau
I’ve long had a soft spot in my heart for Beneteau’s Oceanis line, thanks in large part to a particularly rough delivery I did a few years ago—a delivery that more than corroborated the line’s oceanic moniker. That having been said, I couldn’t help wondering whether the new Oceanis 55 would live up to this standard. Could a design this stylish and comfortable also be a good sea boat?

Construction
A product of the company’s well-established yard in St. Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, France, the Beneteau Oceanis 55’s hull is solid fiberglass and includes the company’s trademark molded-in grid and liner for stiffness. The deck is cored with balsa to reduce the boat’s vertical center of gravity and increase sail-carrying capacity. Three different keels are available—all fabricated in iron, as is common aboard European boats—to cater to different draft and performance needs, and there is a chine running the entire length of the hull to aid in tracking and provide additional form stability.
The boat’s twin rudders are a necessity aboard a boat this large and beamy—think an Open 60 racing boat, in which the leeward blade is digging in nice and deep even as the windward one is lifting into the air as the boat heels. The alternative would be a boat that could easily round up when hard pressed as its single rudder loses its grip.
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