Luxury yacht charter on the French RivieraAscension

ASCENSION is a thirty-seven-metre Couach, built in 2010 and refitted in 2020, carrying the broad flybridge and pale composite hull that mark the French yard's larger boats of the period. Twelve guests across five cabins, five crew, a jacuzzi on deck and a garage that empties into one of the most complete toy inventories on the Riviera: she is built for a family or two, for a fortnight, and for every hour of daylight.

Two MTU 12V 4000 M90 diesels drive her at a cruising eighteen knots, burning six hundred litres an hour at that pace and little more than half of that when she settles to fourteen. A planing hull and stabilisers working both at anchor and underway hold her level, and a 2.1-metre draft is modest enough for the anchorages off Sainte-Marguerite, in the Baie de Pampelonne and along the Esterel, where the day's plan can change at short notice without consulting a chart twice.

The flybridge is the yacht's centre of gravity: a jacuzzi set forward, sunpads around it, a bar and a shaded dining table aft, and the full sweep of the coast from Cap d'Antibes to the Lerins. Below it, the main aft deck holds a long table for twelve under the overhang, teak underfoot and the water a step away. Aft, a swim platform carries the tender, and the floating platforms and C-dock deploy from it into a small private marina at anchor.

The interior, reworked in the 2020 refit, sets dark polished woods against pale linens, patterned upholstery and a marble dining table for twelve. The main salon runs the full beam, lounge forward and dining aft, with sea views on three sides. Five cabins, three double and two twin, sleep twelve across a king, two queens, two Pullman berths and four singles, each air conditioned and served by its own bathroom. Netflix and a Sonos system run throughout, and a crew of five attends the boat.

Her toy inventory is unusually complete: a 5.03-metre Williams diesel jet tender, a three-seat Sea-Doo Wake Pro waverunner, five Seabobs, two stand-up paddleboards, water skis and a wakeboard, towables, snorkelling gear and diving equipment available by arrangement. A week aboard typically runs from Cannes or Golfe-Juan out to the Lerins, west to Saint-Tropez and Pampelonne, or east through Villefranche and Monaco toward San Remo. Opera Prestige handles the berths, the provisioning, the transfers and the tables ashore, from Cannes to Portofino.