Heritage

The X-Yachts Story

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In 1979, one of today’s most successful and quality orientated production yards was established in Denmark.

During the 1980’s, X-Yachts designed and built winning IOR yachts for World Class Racing. Our success with this market attracted the attention of the cruising market, which was then looking for fast, high quality and comfortable sailing yachts. It seemed very clear to us that we should use our boat building experience from the fast racers and combine this with building high performance cruising yachts.

Throughout the 1990’s, X-Yachts Range of Performance Cruisers was established. The X-412 was the first model in the new line, and was followed by the X-512, X-382, IMX 38, X-442, X-362, X-332, X-302, X-612, X-482 and finally, in 1999, the X-562.

The new millennium was celebrated with the introduction of the IMX 40 racer - an almost unbeatable IMS and IRC performer. In early 2002, the IMX 45 followed her little sister onto the race course and continued the successful tradition worldwide. The first X-Yacht 73, built in 2001, was another milestone in the yard’s history. She represented our entry into the luxury “deep water, cruising market”.

The New Generation

With the launch of the X-43 and X-46 in 2003, a new generation of performance cruisers was born. Three new models followed in 2004; the X-40, X-37 and X-50. In summer 2006, the X-55 was launched - a yacht with many of the elegant details of the IMX 70 racer/cruiser which was, itself, launched as a “State of the Art” yacht, with its modern yet classic design, in the summer of 2005.

One Design Classes

The new X-35 One Design followed the traditions of the X-79 and X-99, as popular large fleet one-design racers and, in 2007, two hundred X-35s were racing around the world as an ISAF recognized class. In 2007, the bigger sister, the X-41, has started building another X-Yachts one design class with its first World Championship to be held in Copenhagen in July 2008.

The Xcruising Range

The Xcruising range was designed for sailors who want to cover sea miles in style and comfort, yet retaining the same design and build qualities that X-Yachts performance designs are renowned for.

The first in the family, the Xc 45, was awarded the 2009 European Yacht of the Year the year of its launch. It was soon joined by the Xc 42 and in 2010, the range was doubled by the introduction of the Xc 50 and the Xc 38.

The Xc 38  was awarded the 2011 European Yacht of the Year, just a couple of months after launch.

The Xc 38 was awarded the 2011 European Yacht of the Year, just a couple of months after launch.

Every model in the Xc range offers the same enjoyable sailing experience that X-Yachts owners are familiar with, but with deeper, more 'V'-shaped hulls that give greater interior volume and high stability, with only a marginal reduction in light airs performance.

The Xperformance Range

"We started work on the new Xp 44 models back in the spring of 2010" explained Niels Jeppesen, Director of Design. "We decided to begin a new Xperformance generation because our existing performance range was originally developed back in 2002 and 2003".

The new Xp models - until now under development the Xp 44 and the Xp 38 - were created to build on X-Yachts' winning heritage, but to take the designs forward by incorporating the latest technology as well as optimising for the increasingly popular IRC handicap rules and latest version of the ORC rule.

Our aims for the Xp 44 and the Xp 38 were to offer what X-Yachts is expected to offer - and which we originally became known for - namely yachts which both give a sailing experience second to none, and at the same time also offer an ideal instrument on which to entertain family

- Niels Jeppesen

The New Ownership

X-Yachts is owned by Ib Kunøe’s holding company Consolidated Holdings which conducts business through a number of fully or partly owned companies . The overall turnover of these companies is 25 billion DKK and has around 8,000 employees primarily in Europe. Consolidated Holdings had an equity of 2.2 billion DKK.

Ib Kunøe

Ib Kunøe

Majority shareholder of X-Yachts & Chairman of the Supervisory Board

Owner and Chairman on the board of a number of companies e.g. Atea and Columbus Partner International A/S. Very passionate and experienced offshore racing and cruising sailor, now enjoys cruising on his new X4³.

Previous Models

Over the last 40 years, nearly 60 designs have been built at X-Yachts; ranging from hugely popular ISAF One-design classes such as the X-99 to large and luxurious performance cruisers such as the X6, X-65, IMX 70 and X-73.

View all previous models