New Boat: Azimut 26M
Launched in Fall 2022, the latest addition to Azimut’s big-yacht fleet offers a taste of the high life, cunningly concealed in the convenience of its compact dimensions.
The clue is in the name, of course. Azimut’s Grande range thinks big. The company has never been short on ambition. Their new 85-foot 26M, launched at Cannes in September, replaces the 25 Metri in the shipyard’s line-up, and although it’s no longer than its predecessor, it’s wider in the beam at 22 feet vs 20 feet 3 inches, and does in fact represent quite a lot more boat. But it wants to look bigger too.
So, clever styling by Alberto Mancini is intended to create the illusion of a full-length upper deck that stretches all the way from the bow to the aft rail of the flybridge. In fact, the walkways on the sidedecks lead up through this trompe l’oeil upper level, over the top of the master and along to the forward seating, so the layout is relatively conventional. But it’s also a very neat piece of design that succeeds in making the 26M look substantially bigger than an 85-footer—from a distance at least.
More important, and more of a challenge, has been making the 26M feel bigger too. The design features a raised wheelhouse amidships, as well as a main-deck master stateroom, and it sports an enormous flybridge. The lower deck accommodations, meanwhile, benefit from the new hull’s substantial beam, and the huge window area so evident from outside is every bit as spectacular as you expect once you step aboard.
The 26M’s interior was designed by Achille Salvagni, another of Azimut’s favorite stylists, whose gently contrasting tones and textures provide a restful ambience and allow the daylight to be the star of the show. But he has also added enough quirkiness in the detailing to give the yacht some individuality and character.
The master suite is perhaps the chief beneficiary of all this sunlight saturation, and with its shower and head compartment set forward across the full beam, it’s a suite that both looks and feels comfortably huge. Those on the lower deck will also find little to complain about, thanks to the 26M’s 22-foot beam. A large pair of symmetrical VIPs sit aft—this section can be fitted out as one giant, luxurious full-beam cabin, if you prefer—while the third double, on the starboard side, doesn’t feel much smaller. No new Italian motor yacht these days is complete without a snappy new idea. If it’s sufficiently cool to make people wonder why it hasn’t been done before, the designers’ honor is satisfied. And if it can be admired dockside, so much the better. Azimut’s new baby does not disappoint. Like a lot of clever ideas, the 26M’s extending cockpit is founded on simple principles—but that doesn’t make it any less creative, and it’s not a gimmick. As the transom hatch raises itself to horizontal, and the aft railing hinges outwards to the corners—a lightweight center section is then fitted by hand—it provides a significant increase to the deck area of the cockpit and an attractive new vantage point from which to enjoy the view. It’s genuinely smart.
This is indeed an ambitious new yacht with much to offer. It really does have some of the feel and much of the volume of a raised-pilothouse two-and-a-half-decker, squeezed into an 85-foot hull. For the most part, the ambition of the designers pays off. It’s only at the lower helm station that you begin to realize just how hard a task they set themselves, for it is here that a quantity of steps and companionways converge from all directions. Approaching along the starboard side from the salon, you arrive at a small lobby area. From here you can choose to head on down to the owner’s stateroom forward, down to the lower deck guest accommodation, or up to the wheelhouse. Once up there, on the port side there are more options: down to the galley or turn right on the landing and continue down to the crew accommodations in the bow.
In the middle of all this, the wheelhouse itself feels like a bit of an afterthought, as though the designers intended it as a thoroughfare to ease congestion in the galley, and then realized they had to put the lower helm station somewhere. All it lacks is some stairs leading to the flybridge—but the only way up there is via the cockpit. As helm stations go, however, it’s actually not bad. Visibility is fine forward though non-existent aft, as in many yachts of this type, and there are two comfortable helm seats facing a well-laid-out three-screen console. If you need to get out onto the main deck, maybe to help with coming alongside, you go via the galley, which has a side door to port. I helmed from the flybridge, as I always prefer to do.
The 26M was the first boat anywhere to be fitted with ZF’s torpedo-like, twin-prop 4600 drives, installed in tandem with a powerful pair of MAN V12 motors turning out 1,650 horsepower apiece. According to ZF, these new pods have been optimized for maneuverability and designed to minimize drag. Of course, there is plenty of power on tap—you can specify the MAN 1550s if you prefer—but this substantial yacht was still way more fun to drive than it should have been, with excellent throttle and helm response, and a truly Pershing-like heel if you crank it into hard, high-speed turns. The Humphree interceptor is the standard trim system. In its automatic mode, it coped with our wildest revolutions in its usual unflappable manner. A single Seakeeper is also provided, but if you like, you can have the optional fin stabilizers fitted as well, which would probably make driving the 26M a lot less fun.
On a calm morning off Cannes, what waves we could find—of our own making, mostly—were dismissed with barely a murmur by the hull’s reasonably incisive forefoot.
The new pods seem to have caught Azimut’s engineers out a little, since the official data suggests they were expecting a top speed of 28 knots, which sounds perfectly reasonable for a 50-ton, 85-footer. But in our two-way speed trial the yacht bettered that by more than two knots without breaking a sweat—and we had crew of 12 on board and fuel and water tanks more than half full.
A glance at the range figures shows that the hull is at its most relaxed when fully planing, and the captain confirmed that his preferred cruising speeds were around 23 knots at 2000 rpm, or 20 knots at 1900, depending on conditions. Comfortable and quiet—just 64 dB(A) in the wheelhouse at 2,000rpm and with so much power in reserve, the 26M felt particularly confident in the cruise. It seemed like it would be happy to carry on all day. And why not? Think big.
Azimut 26M Specifications:
LOA: 85’7”
Beam: 22’2”
Draft: 4’11”
Displ: 108,025 lb. (light)
Fuel: 2,245 gal.
Water: 396 gal.
Power: 2/1,650-hp MAN V12
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This article originally appeared in the August 2023 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/cruisers/azimut-26m-yacht-review
