September is when serious yachts migrate to the Riviera and numbers sharpen accordingly. WILLOW, one of the final boats in Benetti’s Veloce 140 series, has dropped another EUR 1,000,000 to EUR 14,950,000. The timing is deliberate. She will be at the Cannes Yachting Festival in Porto Canto from 9 to 14 September, in front of the people who still believe you choose a yacht for how it moves as much as how it looks tied up stern-to. At 42m and 376GT, with a GRP hull to RINA classification, she is a performance-minded package with charter form.
The Veloce 140 idea has always been simple: give a semi-custom Benetti a clean, raked profile and real pace. WILLOW reaches 24 knots and settles into a 16-knot cruise, quick for a yacht of this size and volume. That figure matters if you want to lunch in Antibes and make St Tropez before the light fades. On deck, the sun pads run warm underfoot and there is a practical rhythm to the spaces. The sun deck has a proper bar and a retractable awning that snaps shade into place. Forward, an al fresco lounge wraps a jacuzzi, while multiple dining areas let you chase or avoid the afternoon glare. A beach club with its own bar opens onto the swim platform where the water sounds close and constant.
Inside, the brief leans formal without being stiff. Marble floors cool the air under the main lounge and dining room, where picture windows frame the horizon like a slow film. Up top, a sky lounge with bar opens to a terrace, the social heart when you want doors sliding and music low. Accommodation is set for 10 guests in five cabins, including a full-beam owner’s suite with private study and a spa-style en suite. Zero speed stabilisers handle the quiet hours at anchor. The materials and plan speak to Mediterranean service rather than theatrical gimmicks.
WILLOW has been a popular Burgess charter yacht. That matters for a certain buyer. A five-cabin, 10-guest layout with defined social zones is the charter template that works from the Balearics to the Bahamas. Beach club, foredeck jacuzzi, sun deck bar: these are the boxes guests reliably tick. There is no guarantee of future income and none is implied, but proven charter appeal is a useful data point when you are weighing running costs against real-world usage.
The price cut puts WILLOW into a competitive pocket. At EUR 14.95m, she sits among late-model 40–45m composite yachts where many offer range and comfort but not 24 knots. If you like the calm of steel and displacement, this is the wrong aisle. If you value getting places promptly, with the visual lightness of GRP and the convenience of classification already in place, she is worth a look. The fact she is among the last of the Veloce 140s adds a certain finality. For some, a series ending is a reason to move, not a reason to wait.
The market often splits between villa-at-sea and dayboat-on-steroids. WILLOW bridges those modes. You can do long lunches and late departures, then sit at anchor with the stabilisers on and marble cool beneath your feet. The yacht speaks to a lifestyle that prefers choice over doctrine, speed when wanted and ceremony when warranted. The deck plan invites people to circulate rather than post.
WILLOW will be open in Cannes, and that is the right place to decide. Boats like this resolve themselves better in person, with the scent of teak warming in the sun and the canopy humming into place.
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