New and used sailboats in Texas, Yacht brokerage

The Imported almost as an after thought, the Antares 9.80 is a 32-foot pocket yacht with all the amenities of a larger cruising boat thoughtfully arranged in a well performing hull powered by twin 210-hp Volvo diesels. Just as I have packed a lot of details in that one sentence, so has Beneteau packed a lot of features in this boat.

American boaters know Beneteau as a French builder of a popular line of cruising sloops. Some might know that there’s a U.S. component of the company based in South Carolina, where most of the sailboats are now built. Most would be surprised to learn that Beneteau is best known in Europe for their powerboats, and in fact, are the fourth largest powerboat manufacturer there.


The helm on the flybridge is centered for good visibility forward. (below) The galley station is compact but completely functional.

Beneteau Antares 9.80 Specifications
Length	32'8"
Beam	11'2"
Draft	2'7"
Displacement approx.	12,125 lbs
Fuel Capacity	169 gal
Water Capacity	58 gal
Base Price	$197,881
Beneteau USA 1313 West Highway 76 Marion, SC 29571 843-629-5300 www.beneteauusa.com

“Beneteau started building boats exactly 120 years ago,” explains Garth Hitchens, owner of Annapolis Yacht Sales. “Those boats were sailing trawlers built for commercial fishing. In 1908, they started putting motors in those boats. They only began building sailboats in 1968.”

About five years ago, Hitchens and other U.S. dealers began lobbying Beneteau to create a product for that growing segment of the sailboat market that was, as he likes to describe it, “transgressing into trawlers.” The result was the Swift Trawler 42, which made its debut at the fall boat shows. It was designed specifically for the U.S. market and designed to be built at the South Carolina plant.

“When Beneteau realized that they probably had to set up a separate sales network for the trawler, they decided to include the Antares line. The 9.8 is the smallest, and there’s the 10.80 and the 13.80. That gives the dealer four boats to sell.”

Though he’s a sailor himself–he crossed the Atlantic from his native South Africa 18 years ago—the Antares appeals to Hitchens. “The boat was designed around running through the water properly,” he says. “They didn’t sacrifice the performance to get more interior volume. The boat’s seaworthy, fast, and there are wide side decks. And you’ve got three hundred sixty degrees of visibility inside, so you can drive from the lower station; you don’t have to be on the flybridge to drive the boat. A boat this size with twin diesel engines and this kind of performance at this price is remarkable.” Base price is just under $200,000.

“It’s a smaller boat, but there’s a dinette good for four people, a functional galley with an icebox, a proper sink, and a two-burner propane stove—everything you’d want in a boat this size,” Hitchens says. The cabinetry and paneling is a mahogany veneer with a cherry finish, very classy looking.

The helm seat flips up for standing operation. The dash has two pods, a near one with enough space for a Raymarine C80 chartplotter, and the farther dash has all the analog gauges. Unfortunately, the compass is mounted on top of the near pod, so it blocks the pilot’s view of some of the gauges. There ought to be a simple solution for that. If you’ve got GPS, who needs a compass, right? There’s a space above the helm for a flat screen TV that would be easily viewed from the dinette.

Practically the entire saloon sole lifts up in panels to reveal the engine compartment. The new Volvo D-4’s are equipped with synchronizers and full electronic diagnostics. The engines are fairly close together, allowing room on either side for added equipment, like a generator. One panel in the sole just aft of the helm seat allows you to check fluid levels without too much trouble. Another at the top of the companionway reveals a separate compartment for the three batteries. A separate compartment accessible from the head contains the water heater and all the bilge pumps. There’s plenty of room in there for an air-conditioning unit and there’s space to run ducts to the saloon as well as to the forward cabin.

Take three steps down through the companionway and the head is to port, the guest cabin to starboard and the owner’s cabin forward. The layout is a splendid use of space; there’s plenty of headroom throughout. There’s elbow room in the head as well. The faucet at the sink pulls out to serve as a hand held shower.

The forward cabin has a double island berth on center with deep drawers and storage underneath. A hanging locker provides a modicum of storage. The guest cabin has cozy over/under berths.

The outside living space is just as well planned as the interior space. In the cockpit, the transom moves forward creating a swim platform about 18 inches wide, or moves aft to give about that much extra room for seating in the cockpit. The transom locks into place with spring-loaded bolts.

The side decks are an adequate width to allow easy access to the bow even for this bulky boater. The stainless bow rails and the non skid deck surface provide good security for a crewmember docking or anchoring. The stainless bow pulpit is serviced by a Lofrans windlass and a very deep locker.

You get to the flybridge by climbing the attractive ladder with its wide wooden steps up through a hatch. An L-shaped settee secures the starboard side. The helm is centered and a copilot’s chair is to port. A Bimini protects the area. The dash is fairly low, so you probably want to drive sitting down on the flybridge. The aluminum Uflex wheel is adjustable. The visibility is fine forward and you can see the aft quarter through the hatch.
The weather was fairly snotty the evening we checked the boat out. The wind was blowing out of the west and building 3-to-4-foot waves on the east side of the Chesapeake. Still, the Antares proved sprightly, running a full 27.3 knots downwind. The hull handles the waves quite well. We got doused by some spray up on the flybridge occasionally until we trimmed the tabs way down and raised the bow. The boat tracked well on all points, and it wasn’t at all squirrelly with the bow up no matter which way we took the waves. This was quite impressive. As we entered the mouth of the Severn, things settled down a bit and I tried turns at full speed that were tight, snug and with little banking. We were still on plane at just above 14 knots. Overall an impressive ride. The Volvos were powerful and responsive and surprisingly quiet.