Yachting Art Magazine

YachtDeals is a leading player on the French Riviera, specialising in yacht brokerage, chartering and management. Founded by sea enthusiasts with strong technical expertise, the company has made a name for itself offering a comprehensive service - from sea trials and handover to maintenance and administrative support.

YachtDeals is officially unveiling its partnership with Zeta Elle at the 2025 Cannes Yachting Festival, the leading boat show. This will be an opportunity to present the ZL 11, one of the most representative models in the Zeta Elle range, to visitors and customers.

This exclusive partnership with Zeta Elle marks a strategic milestone for YachtDeals, enabling it to exclusively distribute this Italian brand's RIBs in France and Monaco, opening up a new high-end segment for its offering.

This alliance is based on shared values: the pursuit of marine performance, excellent finishes, refined aesthetics and modularity of use. Florian Arneodo, founder of YachtDeals, emphasises: ‘We discovered the brand and the quality of these boats, and it was only natural that we sealed a partnership.’

Zeta Elle: origins, expertise and positioning

Zeta Elle SRL, based in Foggia, Italy, specialises in the design and manufacture of luxury semi-rigid boats, known as RIBs. On its official website, it highlights its founding principles: contemporary elegance, marine performance and innovation. Each unit is built entirely in-house, allowing for a high degree of customisation.

The Marli shipyard, with which Zeta Elle works, has a long tradition in shipbuilding, particularly in the Puglia region of the Adriatic. Its areas of expertise include the transformation of composite materials, rubberised fabrics for floats, marine carpentry, carbon or fibre structures, and advanced modelling (CAD-CAM).

Zeta Elle offers a range of models—from tenders to 20-metre and larger vessels—with a strong focus on hull quality, finishes, and versatility of use: a single vessel must be able to serve as a sports boat, a fast cruiser, a tender, or a leisure craft.

The ZL 11 stands out as a versatile, high-end boat. Among its attributes:

• Overall length: 10.60 metres
• Beam: 3.90 metres
• Capacity: up to 14 people
• Cruising speed: around 35 knots
• Maximum speed: around 50 knots

The ZL 11 combines a bold design — sporty, elegant lines — with premium materials and meticulous finishes. It is suitable for a variety of uses: private pleasure craft, professional charter, or even as a tender for superyachts. Modularity, comfort and aesthetics are at the heart of its design.

An offer tailored to the expectations of a demanding market

The exclusive distribution of Zeta Elle via YachtDeals targets several types of customers:

• Private individuals: those looking for a high-performance, elegant RIB that can be used for coastal cruising, sea trips or weekend getaways.
• Professional charter companies: reliable units that are attractive to customers, with a good performance/operating cost ratio.
• Superyachts: for which these RIBs can serve as high-end tenders or chase boats, secondary but highly visible vessels.

YachtDeals complements this offering with rental management, maintenance and subscription services, allowing owners to entrust maintenance and logistics tasks to professionals while enjoying their RIB.

One of the strengths of Zeta Elle is the performance of its hulls. Thanks to advanced designs and optimised hulls (notably through design approaches including CFD — computational fluid dynamics), the brand's RIBs offer good seakeeping, a low trim angle and stable navigation even in rough seas.

The materials used, the quality of the finishes — teak, high-end upholstery, marine accessories — and the modularity (options for shade, seating configuration, storage, etc.) all contribute to this premium positioning. Each unit is customisable, allowing customers to have a unique boat tailored to their preferences.

With this appointment as the exclusive distributor of Zeta Elle for France and Monaco, YachtDeals aims to make ZL RIBs the benchmark for premium semi-rigid boats throughout the Mediterranean. The 2025 Cannes Yachting Festival will serve as a showcase for the ZL 11, with demonstrations, sea trials for visitors, and a presentation of related services.

Stand PAN031 (or another designated stand) will be the meeting place for enthusiasts, professionals and nautical influencers. YachtDeals will not only present the boat, but also the entire support package: purchase, delivery, trials, maintenance, rental management and equipment options.

The initiative looks promising, but there are several challenges to watch out for:

• The high cost of these units (with premium finishes and high performance) requires consistent and transparent pricing.
• Maintenance, spare parts and after-sales service for an imported brand require solid logistics.
• Competition in the premium RIB segment is already very strong, particularly with long-established brands; differentiating oneself through design, service and customer experience will be essential.