Monaco Yacht Show 2026: My Five Picks, and Why They Matter
By Patrice Meignan, Founder of TheArsenale
I was delighted to be back at the Monaco Yacht Show this year.
For me, it remains one of the best yacht shows in the world. There is something extraordinary about having so many different visions of life at sea gathered around one harbour. You arrive with a schedule. Then a bow, a silhouette or a completely unexpected idea persuades you to abandon it.
I am particularly vulnerable to that last part.
Through TheArsenale, I spend my time looking for machines with character. I want to understand the person who imagined them, the choices behind their design and the kind of life they invite their owner to lead.
At Monaco, that curiosity can take you from a carbon-fibre day boat to a long-range expedition yacht in a surprisingly short walk.
Here are my five picks from this year’s Monaco conversation: five very different expressions of what makes me want to go to sea.
1. BRABUS AB110 — For the owner who still loves the drive
I have always enjoyed machines with a slightly unreasonable streak. The BRABUS AB110 understands that instinct very well.
Unveiled at the 2026 Monaco Yacht Show, this collaboration between BRABUS and AB Yachts measures 33.7 metres. BRABUS quotes a maximum speed of 48 knots, with waterjet propulsion and an available three-engine installation producing a combined 7,800 horsepower. Discover the BRABUS AB110.
Those figures get my attention. What holds it is the consistency of the design: the dark surfaces, exposed carbon details and recognisable automotive influence.
Transferring a car brand onto a yacht is a difficult exercise. The proportions change, the environment changes, and the experience of movement changes completely. Here, the partnership with AB gives that ambition a convincing technical foundation.
I can imagine the owner immediately: someone who enjoys the journey enough to resist handing over every interesting part of it.
Why it makes my five: it brings a powerful automotive personality into a yacht with the performance to support it.
2. Sunreef 100 Eco — For a different rhythm of life at sea
Sunreef makes me think about time.
Long breakfasts. A swim that becomes another swim. Friends who were supposed to leave yesterday. The peculiar pleasure of having everything you need and very little reason to hurry.
The Sunreef 100 Eco was part of the shipyard’s announced Monaco 2026 presentation. Its sailing-catamaran architecture combines electric propulsion with integrated solar technology and hydrogeneration under sail. Sunreef’s Monaco presentation · Explore the Sunreef 100.
What interests me is the relationship between that engineering and the experience aboard. How energy is generated, stored and used becomes part of the design brief, alongside space, comfort and access to the water.
I also love the possibilities offered by a wide multihull platform. It encourages a generous, horizontal way of living: moving easily between the interior, the deck and the sea.
This is the boat in my selection that makes me want to clear the calendar.
Why it makes my five: it gives modern energy systems a place within a genuinely desirable way of living aboard.
3. Maori M64 — For the pleasure of a strong silhouette
Some boats make you reach for the specification sheet. Maori makes me look twice.
The geometry has real confidence. There is a sculptural quality to the design, with broad surfaces and a low, assertive stance. It feels considered from a distance, before you start examining the details.
The Monaco listing identifies MY SOFIA – M64, a 2026 Maori measuring 19.3 metres. It is the name behind that memorable S♥FIA stern. Monaco Yacht Show tender selection.
For me, a boat of this scale has a particular attraction. I start imagining an afternoon departure, a coastline, a good anchorage and a small group of people I actually want to spend time with.
Maori gives that picture a distinctive visual identity. The boat itself becomes part of the pleasure of arriving.
Why it makes my five: the M64 has the kind of recognisable design character I look for across everything we select at TheArsenale.
4. SAY 52 — Because weight is a design decision
I have a soft spot for engineers who take weight seriously.
You feel the consequences of mass in a motorcycle, a sports car and a boat. It influences how a machine responds, how much energy it needs and how closely you feel connected to it.
SAY builds its identity around carbon-fibre construction. For the 15.95-metre SAY 52, the manufacturer lists a dry weight of 7.5 tonnes, including a Seakeeper 3 gyro, and a maximum speed of 45 knots. The model also appears in the Monaco 2026 tender selection. SAY 52 specifications · Monaco Yacht Show listing.
That approach interests me because it begins with the structure. Carbon fibre earns its place through what it allows the boat to do.
The result is a proposition I find very appealing: substantial enough to spend real time aboard, with an engineering philosophy that keeps the driving experience central.
This is one I would want to understand from behind the helm.
Why it makes my five: SAY treats lightness as a fundamental part of the boat’s character.
5. ICON Yachts — For the places beyond the usual itinerary
ICON speaks to the part of me that opens a map and immediately looks towards the edges.
Its explorer philosophy makes me think about destinations that demand preparation, autonomy and a properly equipped vessel. Places where the quality of your engineering matters every day.
MISSION-M illustrates that ambition. ICON presents this approximately 50-metre project with a large working aft deck, substantial lifting capability and the option to accommodate scientific modules. It is a proposed build, rather than a completed yacht presented here as ready to depart. Explore ICON’s MISSION-M.
What I find exciting is the freedom that useful equipment creates. A crane, a capable tender, space for expedition gear: these are the things that can turn a distant idea into an actual journey.
There is also something deeply appealing about a vessel that can support curiosity beyond its owner’s holiday — including research and a better understanding of the ocean.
Why it makes my five: ICON makes me think seriously about where a yacht could take me, and what I could do once I arrived.
What I brought home from Monaco
These five choices reveal quite a lot about my taste.
I love performance with personality. I care about how a space changes the way we live. I respond to a strong silhouette, admire intelligent construction and find the idea of exploration almost impossible to resist.
That is why I enjoy returning to Monaco. The best boats send me home with new questions, new projects and a slightly longer list of places I want to go.
To the designers, engineers and builders behind these five: thank you for keeping that curiosity alive.
And to anyone considering their next boat, I would start with one question:
What would you love to do at sea that you have not done yet?
