BUYING A USED...
IN BUILD: 2014 – CURRENT PRICE RANGE: £530,000 – £1,300,000
Azimut’s 50 Flybridge is one of those boats that really ought to come with a health warning. After all, should one of these ‘eleganti yacht a motore’ sashay by in a blur of sensuous Italian chic, there’s a fair chance you’ll end up with a cricked neck. Of course, there’s nothing new about the Italians and headturning style – they go together like macaroni and cheese – but where Azimut really scores is in adding a hefty dollop of substance to its innate stylistic appeal.
Launched in 2014, the Azimut 50 Flybridge carved out its niche in the luxury flybridge sector before being treated to a major facelift in 2017. That resulted in the model we have here – a 2021 example, offered by Swanwick-based Solent Motor Yachts for £1,049,950 including VAT. Externally, there’s very little difference between the old and new designs. The main visual change is the disappearance in newer vessels of the GRP ‘spear’ moulding, which jutted up amidships and served no purpose other than to disturb the saloon’s window line. Now, with its appearance streamlined, the boat cuts an even sleeker profile in the water.
Below decks, the changes were more significant. The original galley-down configuration was superseded by – you’ve guessed it – a galley-up arrangement. In order to facilitate that, Azimut had to do away with the dinette adjacent to the helm but the vacated space has been well used for a generously proportioned galley, which is much more in touch with the rear of the saloon. There are two settees back here, facing each other across an electrically operated table which moves up and down. And another benefit of the newer boat’s main deck galley is better access to the aft cockpit, where you get another large table with a U-shaped sixseat settee for relaxed alfresco dining.
OWNER-FOCUSED FIT-OUT
As we tour the boat, the word ‘option’ is one that crops up over and over again. This is because the Azimut build philosophy is to begin with a relatively base-spec boat and add to it all those things that owners would rather not do without. Consequently, many of the vessel’s more desirable features – ranging from a Seakeeper 6 gyro stabiliser and variable thrusters to an ice maker and a dishwasher in the case of our review boat – come as options rather than as standard, so if you’re considering one, you should always c
