yacht azimut grande

Grande 35 metri.

A wide-body superyacht with Raised Pilot House (RPH) and the possibility of adding a third level for an additional sundeck.

Simple shapes and impeccable choice of material

The forms created by Salvagni shape and permeate the interiors with a system that is never banal or dictated by fleeting fashions. The interiors are serene, calm and sophisticated in their simplicity, expressing the new approach to well-being under the banner of calm and sophistication.

The best build quality in its category.

New award for Azimut Grande 35METRI that after winning the Best Interior Design 80-125 feet from Yacht France and the Best International Motor Yachts in the first edition of the Yacht Style Christofle Awards, won the Best Custom Yachts award at the Motor Boat Awards.

Inimitable, in terms of shape and line.

The wide-body Grande 35 Metri has all the features of even bigger superyachts, like the side garage for a tender plus a jet-ski. This leaves the stern completely free for a magnificent beach area provided by the big pivoting swim platform.

Hull innovation

D2P _Displacement to Planing hull patented by Azimut-Benetti

Carbon-tech generation

• superstructure
• hard top (opt)
• platform/transom

D2P® displacement to planing hull

The D2P Displacement to Planing Hull designed by Pierluigi Ausonio in conjunction with the Azimut Benetti R&D Centre combines the comfort typical of a displacement hull with the performance of a planing hull and it significantly improved fuel efficiency. This new solution is based on a double chine hull design with an innovative wave piercer and allows the yacht reaching high top speeds without needing particular powerful engines, or navigate in displacement mode with a remarkable range at a cost effective speed. The hull has been optimised for the full range of most frequently used speeds of 10-12 knots and cruising speeds in semi-displacement mode.

Owner’s suite with instant balcony

The Owner’s suite features a private balcony. Using a mechanism that is highly sophisticated but extremely straightforward, the section of the full-height window with a carbon fiber frame folds out, while the floor of the balcony extends from under the cabin, protected by automatic pop up stanchions. The result is the Instant Balcony , with no uprights or other obstacles to spoil the panoramic view from the owner’s suite.

Third level for an additional sundeck

Unique in this category is the option to add an additional sundeck (almost 30 m 2 ) on a third level, with access from the upper deck in the stern. This solution doesn’t affect the balance of volumes and retains the model’s overall dynamism.

Side garage for a 5 meter tender plus jet-ski

Side garage for a 5 meter tender plus a 3.25 meter jet-ski. This leaves the stern completely free for a magnificent 12 m 2 beach area provided by the big pivoting swim platform.

Technical characteristics

Data refers to UNI ISO 8666 conditions

Azimut Yachts materials have been designed and developed to offer users the most accurate representation of the yacht possible. The finish, standard equipment and range of optional on offer may vary from hull to hull.

The information provided by materials (Virtual Tours, Images, videos, etc…) is for information purposes only. While Azimut Yachts endeavours to provide accurate information on this site, some may still contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Azimut Yachts makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the image or representation of the product displayed with the image or representation of the product in reality.

Azimut Yachts reserves the right to modify at any time, without notice, any content and characteristics of any yacht and megayacht, including, but not limited to, colours, materials, optionals and equipment.

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Azimut Grande 26M review: The 85ft yacht that feels like a 100ft superyacht

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The Azimut Grande 26M features pod drives and a wider beam, but does it match its older siblings when it comes to performance?

With its pod drives, high-tech construction, wide beam and zippy performance, this latest model in the range, the Azimut Grande 26M is an ambitious project intended to move the game on.

It has been styled by Alberto Mancini, who has imparted a slightly imperious quality to the new model’s profile – from a distance you could convince yourself that it’s over 100ft.

The businesslike wheelhouse windows set the tone, while the superstructure mouldings provide the illusion of an upper deck that runs in an unbroken line from the bow roller to the flybridge balustrade.

And once on board there is nothing illusory about the 26’s exceptional deck spaces, from the spacious and versatile foredeck seating to the wide prairies of the flybridge. It is not just the length of the flybridge that imparts this sense of space but its width, too – spreading across the Grande’s full beam.

This new Azimut model is very nearly 2ft wider than its predecessor, the Azimut Grande 25M, and that tells on all three decks. It feels big. It feels even bigger when the ingenious cockpit extension is deployed – the garage door hinging upwards to create a quite unexpected balcony overlooking the aft platform.

Article continues below…

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The glass cockpit balustrade splits in the middle and swings out to embrace the new corners, while a lightweight infill section takes care of the gap. Simple but effective.

The interior is by another designer that Azimut has been keeping quite busy recently, Achille Salvagni, whose distinctive use of ovoid, organic shapes and tactile eggshell finishes has created a quirky but homogeneous design that should raise a smile, without losing sight of the fact that light tones and generous, open spaces are the best way to complement all that drenching daylight coming in through the huge side windows. Dark flooring and mid-toned veneers on the bulkheads keep things comfortably rooted.

Perhaps the highlight of the interior is the owner’s cabin on the main deck, with its floor-to-ceiling glass and a shower and WC that spans the full beam. It still feels absurdly spacious. This is another area of the boat where you can actually forget it’s only 85ft feet long.

The location of the master suite forward on the main deck enhances the view out through its vast hull windows

There is one slight shortcoming in the layout forward, where the steps to the lower deck, master cabin, crew accommodation, galley, wheelhouse and flybridge all converge on each other, as if one designer started from the bow, and one from the stern, and this is where they met.

It’s like it’s been designed by MC Escher. In the middle of it all, the lower helm station sits on a sort of platform, with a single seat, awkward communication with the rest of the boat and poor visibility. On our sea trial we helmed from upstairs, as we usually do.

Inner space

Down below, the eight-berth guest accommodation features a pair of impressively roomy symmetrical VIPs aft, each with a spacious shower and heads compartment along the engineroom bulkhead.

All three of the double guest cabins are of a similar size

Just forward, the starboard double cabin is almost as big, losing out only slightly on floor area and the size of the head, while all three double cabins have the same size bed, at 6ft 2in by 5ft 2in.

The twin to port is the smallest, and suffers somewhat from clashing doors, as three – cabin, head and wardrobe – all compete for the same space. Otherwise it’s a reasonable sleeping space with decent stowage.

With a bathroom no smaller than the twin cabin’s across the corridor, your guests shouldn’t feel as if they have drawn the short straw.

Driving the Azimut Grande 26M

The Azimut Grande 26M is the first boat to sport ZF’s big new 4600 pod drives, designed to serve in twin-engine yachts up to 100ft, and in triple installations up to 130ft.

Pod drives can of course be great fun in boats properly set up and designed from the outset to take them, and the Azimut Grande 26M clearly was. It gave us a remarkably enjoyable drive, which seemed quite surprising in such a big vessel.

But perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised. The shipyard is well known for incorporating a lot of high-tech materials into its builds, and the amount of carbon fibre used in the Grande’s deck, superstructure, flybridge and hardtop reportedly saves some 30 per cent over the weight of conventional fibreglass laminates, significantly reducing the yacht’s centre of gravity.

The new model is measurably faster than its shaft-drive predecessor

Also, although the hull of the Azimut Grande 26M is little different in length to that of the 25 Metri that it replaces in the range, its extra width provides additional lift, while its stern sections are simple, efficient flat panels rather than the prop tunnels sported by its shaft-drive predecessor. Deadrise recedes from 20.4 degrees amidships to 13.8 degrees at the transom.

The result is a yacht that is a perfect match with its machinery when under way. It feels light and lively, and has plenty of power. The Seakeeper gyro was switched off for our sea trial and the Humphree interceptors were on automatic.

Although there is the option of Humphree fins as well, they would probably have spoilt the fun, for the Azimut Grande 26M launched itself into high-speed turns with all the puppyish enthusiasm of a lightweight sports machine, heeling over so far it felt almost undignified.

The flybridge helm station is the most enjoyable place to captain the boat from

You couldn’t actually lean down from the flybridge and dabble your fingers in the sea, but the impression was there, always underwritten by a superb feeling of control. On a more sensible even keel it tracked beautifully and inspired confidence as a serious piece of cruising kit.

Of course it would be disappointing if a yacht packing 3,300hp didn’t impart at least a frisson of excitement to its driver, and the 26’s maximum speed during our test, with a realistic cruising load of fuel and water, topped out at over 30 knots – faster, incidentally, than Azimut’s claims for it.

A key selling point of the ZF pods is their efficiency, and they deliver here too – the new model is measurably faster than its shaft-drive predecessor with the same engines. Azimut claims 20 per cent less fuel consumption than comparable yachts at “the most frequently set speeds”, which is vague but not entirely without substance.

Visibility is goodforward and fair to the sides but you need a camera to look aft

In a very unscientific comparison with other new boats launched at the 2022 Cannes Yachting Festival , the Azimut Grande 26M might burn about 18 per cent less fuel at 20 knots than the 4,000hp Ferretti 860 , but about 25 per cent more than the 2,000hp Grand Banks 85 .

Different rev settings will probably give different results, and at full speed the Azimut is faster than both of them. It has a larger fuel capacity than its predecessor, which makes the 26 a distinctly more versatile cruising machine, with a useful range of about 360nm at 24 knots, even allowing for our conservative 20 per cent fuel reserve.

Azimut Grande 26M verdict

The new Azimut Grande 26M is a worthy addition to a high-achieving range of motor yachts which have invariably offered an impressive combination of style, innovation, comfort and sheer cruising competence.

Whether your idea of cruising is pottering about on the Côte d’Azur, or holidaying over the horizon, the Azimut Grande 26M is small enough to fit into most harbours, spacious enough to provide real home comforts for extended stays on board, and great fun both at anchor or at speed.

Azimut Grande 26M specifications

LOA: 85ft 7in (26.09m) Beam: 22ft 2in (6.75m) Draught: 4ft 11in (1.50m) Displacement: 49 tonnes Engines: Twin 1,650hp MAN V12 + pod drives Fuel capacity: 1,870 gal (8,500 lt) Water capacity: 330 gal (1,500 lt) Top speed on test: 30.4 knots Cruising speed: 23 knots Fuel consumption: 348lph @ 18.8 knots / 64lph @ 10.5 knots Range: 367nm @ 18.8 knots / 1,117nm @ 10.5 knots Noise: 64 d(B)A @ 18.8 knots / 59 d(B)A @ 10.5 knots Design: Ausonio/Salvagni/Mancini/Azimut Starting price: €5,750,000 (ex. VAT)

First published in the February 2023 issue of MBY.

The Azimut Grande 26M has an imperious profile – from a distance

Garage door swings up to create an extension to the cockpit, longitudinal sofas make the most of the extending aft cockpit, the long flybridge has acres of seating fore and aft as well as a bar, visibility is good forward and fair to the sides but you need a camera to look aft, pastel colours and flowing shapes make the saloon and dining spaces feel brighter and more informal than most rivals, the galley is kept separate for crew with its own access to the port side deck, asymmetric layout and quirky ovoid window add interest to the main deck master suite, the location of the master suite forward on the main deck, only the twin feels a little bit pinched by comparison, the crew mess and cabins are forward on the lower deck, the boat even drug-runners are scared of: marell m17 hybrid yacht tour, everything you need to know about yacht transport, nuclear-powered superyachts could help marine net zero targets, latest videos, sunseeker predator 55 exclusive tour: full tour of this entry-level sportscruiser, watch: makai m37 sea trial – £720k cruising cat like nothing you’ve seen before, pearl 82 tour: must-see £6m ‘mini superyacht’.