A shortlist built around how the boat drives
On 6 September 2024, Virtue Yachts announced that the V10 had been nominated for the Best of Boats Award 2024, in the Best for Performance category. For a young brand with a single model line, it was a notable result: the V10 was put in front of a European jury on the strength of the one thing the boat was designed around — the way it runs.
Best for Performance is a category that judges the driving experience rather than styling or appointment. That suited the V10. From the outset, the boat's brief was a hull that works at speed first, with the layout and finish built on top of it. A nomination here carries a different weight to a design prize: it says something about the engineering, not the brochure.
Context matters, too. New dayboat brands appear regularly, and most disappear just as quickly. A performance shortlisting does not guarantee longevity, but it does mean independent judges found the boat's core claim — that it drives unusually well — credible enough to reward.
The hull underneath the nomination
Every V10 runs on a Petestep hull — a Swedish-designed, twin-stepped running surface. Where a conventional deep-V deflects spray outward, the Petestep geometry uses steps and shaped deflectors to redirect water downward and aft. The practical effects are a drier ride and less drag for a given speed, and a hull that stays composed when the surface is not.
Power comes from twin Mercury Verado outboards, with a 50-plus-knot top end in the right specification. The point of the nomination is not the headline number; it is that the jury recognised the package that produces it. Speed is easy to claim and hard to deliver comfortably — the V10's case has always been that the hull, not the horsepower, does the important work.
What it meant
For a new builder, an early performance shortlisting mattered because it validated the engineering-first pitch at a time when the brand was otherwise unknown. It also set the tone for how the V10 would be discussed afterwards: as a driver's boat that happens to be well finished, rather than the reverse.
From our side of the world, it was an early signal worth noting. Awards alone are never a reason to buy a boat, but a jury nomination for performance is the kind of evidence we look for when deciding which brands are worth representing — and which are simply well marketed.
The V10 is sold in Australia today as the Virtue Yachts V33, in Open, Top and Cabin layouts. The hull underneath the nomination has not changed.
