Seascape sailboats: a Slovenian performance-cruiser startup reborn as Beneteau's First line
Seascape began in 2008 as a small Slovenian yard founded by Andraž Mihelin and Kristian Hajnšek, two sailors who had spent years campaigning Mini Transat boats together before turning to boatbuilding. Working with French naval architect Sam Manuard, they built a range of four no-frills, transportable performance cruisers — from 4.3 to 8 meters — that within a decade had made Seascape a leader in that segment and earned an almost cult-like following. That momentum led, in 2018, to Groupe Beneteau taking majority ownership of the company; rather than disappearing into the parent brand, Seascape's models were rebadged as the seventh generation of Beneteau's storied First line, with the original team staying on to help shape what came next.
Origins and ownership
Mihelin and Hajnšek founded Seascape in 2008 after years spent campaigning Mini Transat boats together, and within a decade the yard had become a leader in the transportable performance-cruiser segment. Sam Manuard designed the range's four models, and François Coutant facilitated the brand's development and that of its products from 2009 on. Sailing Today credited the combination — the founders' no-frills approach married to Manuard's design work — with the range's devoted reputation, reflected in three European Yacht of the Year nominations and two wins by 2018.
On July 9, 2018, Groupe Beneteau became Seascape d.o.o.'s majority shareholder with a 60 percent stake; Mihelin and Hajnšek stayed on, retaining the remaining 40 percent. Beneteau CEO Hervé Gastinel framed the deal as a way to offer small sailing yachts aimed at novice and often younger, first-time buyers, while Mihelin said the goal was to keep developing boats, events, and services in the brand's existing spirit while drawing on Beneteau's global scale. He was later candid that the integration wasn't smooth — the team, he said, had to "burn money, make mistakes, disappoint people" while finding its footing inside the larger group.
Construction through the eras
Across the pre-acquisition range, reviewers described hard-chined, foam-cored hulls built with retractable swing keels and twin lifting rudders that let owners trailer or beach the boats — a recipe that varied in its particulars: the 27's hull and deck were vacuum-infused glass set in vinylester resin, while the 24's was vacuum-bagged foam-cored glass set in epoxy. After the 2018 acquisition, Beneteau kept production of the rebadged First 14 and First 24 at Seascape's original Jesenice, Slovenia plant, carrying the yard's build knowledge directly into the First line.
Lines and generations
By late 2018, the yard was producing four models spanning 14 to 27 feet, all built to Manuard's plans. With the acquisition, Beneteau set out to rebuild its First series — a plan the company said had been decided roughly two years earlier — and rebadged the Seascape 14, 18, 24, and 27 as the First 14, 18, 24, and 27, inaugurating what it called the line's seventh generation and recasting "First" as shorthand for Fun, Intuitive, Robust, Simple, Technological.
What followed wasn't more rebadging but new joint design work. A project referred to internally in 2018 as the "First 35" became the team's first major post-acquisition launch, arriving in 2023 as the First 36, alongside a 36SE variant capable of winning the Transpac; the First 30, a no-frills planing cruiser, followed in 2025. Both are new designs built jointly by Beneteau and the former Seascape team, not rebadged Seascape hulls.
Who Seascape is for
Seascape suits sailors drawn to Manuard's transportable performance-cruiser design language and the Slovenian build heritage behind it — whether that means an original pre-2018 Seascape hull, a rebadged First 14 through 27 built on the same tooling, or one of the newer First-line designs the same team helped shape after joining Beneteau.
