YACHTS INDUSTRIES - NEW WEBSITE

YACHTS INDUSTRIES recently launched its new website and the BLUBAY 92

Yachts industries has now a much better website with lots of great pictures and explanations about the shipyard and the two brands they are building and marketing YAPLUKA and BLUBAY. I have already posted their videos which I am a great fan of. When I am bored sometimes I look at them and also Lady Barberetta's. The video's are not on-line yet but they should be soon. Since the beggining with Yapluka the company has invested in good quality marketing tools which I think are very important in the business. I think when you have a good quality video it should come on the first page of your website.

Yachts Industries was very brave when they launched their lastest adverstising not showing catamarans pictures but a Rubik's Cube made of leather, wood, aluminum... Most of the time Yachting advertising is so concervative. I know what I am talking about since when I propose clients or potential clients to innovate in terms of advertising or public relation they are really afraid of changes. So congratulations to them.

Yacht industries also launched the BLUBAY 92, a very nice looking catamaran. I look forward to see her at the Cannes International Boat Show, there will be a lot of cats there which shows how this market market niche is doing.

More on the BLUBAY 92 in a future post.

HEMISPHERE(ex GEMINI) CENTRAL TO DEREKTOR BANKRUPTCY

Again a boat building project with lawsuits.... DERECKTOR shipyards has filled for bankruptcy over the HEMISPHERE PROJECT (ex-GEMINI)

HEMISPHERE the largest cruising catamaran in the world 145' and 75 % complete would be at the center of a lawsuit between DERECKTOR and its owner GEMINI II. It was supposed to be delivered in 2007 on a contract signed in 2005. I let you read the article in the Connecticut post. I hope they will come out with a quick solution and the boat can be really delivered by the end of the year.

Over links to articles :

http://www.connpost.com/ci_9954969

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/bridgeport-ct/TO149OUKVLL2LJUQN

http://www.theroyalgazette.com/siftology.royalgazette/Article/article.jsp?articleId=7d87c3730030005&sectionId=65

http://www.synfo.com/news/allnews.asp?id=12342

CHARTER HEMISPHERE WITH WINDWARD ISLANDS

THE PERFECT PEDIGREE - VPLP & JFA 110'

I told you the market was booming. This luxury catamaran designed by world multihulls designers leaders Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prevost will be build by JFA. JFA is well known for the quality of their production. Last year they won the "Best Power Superyacht Award from the International Superyacht Society" for the escort vessel BYSTANDER a 138 footer. Please find following the press release from JFA and VPLP.

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
VPLP & JFA begin construction of a 110’ Catamaran.

Naval Architects Van Peteghem Lauriot Prévost (VPLP) and the shipyard JFA are currently in the process of building a luxury sailing catamaran of 110 feet. Fabricated out of carbon/epoxy, this 33.5m sailing yacht will deliver both comfort and sailing performance.
The interior layout is very spacious, the nacelle housing a 65 m² salon and dining area enhanced by 360° views over the ocean. The two hulls are dedicated to guest cabins, and the kitchen and crew quarters.
The VPLP 110’ is a private yacht which promises to undertake some charters, she will host 8 guests attended to by 6 crew members.
The aft cockpit will provide an extensive entertainment and relaxation area. The bow will be adorned by a Jacuzzi and sunbathing couches. On the flybridge, guests will find yet another exterior salon with sun lounge and bar. The yacht will be equipped with 2 tenders, one for the guests the other for the crew.
Twin helm stations and all hydraulic manoeuvres will be positioned on the flybridge which isolates the ‘working area’ from the guest area but also provides a clear view of the sails and over the entire vessel from bow to stern. With 552m² of sail area and a carbon rig inspired by VPLP’s Formula One racing trimarans, this yacht will certainly be agile under sail.
In terms of classification, the yacht will conform to the North European Luxury Yacht standard. She will be outfitted with a large machine room in each hull equipped with two 330 HP motors as well as two generators. Delivery date for this magnificent vessel is planned for 2010



Main Characteristics:

Length over all : 33.5 m (110’)
Beam : 14.05 m
Draft : 2.1 / 4.6 m
Displacement : 120 Tons


Engines : 3x 330 cv
Main sail area : 300 m²
Solent area: 252 m²
Gennaker Area : 330 m²
Compliant BV & MCA

For more images and information please contact:

Gaël DOUGUET – JFA Shipyard - gael@jfa-yachts.com

JFA-Shipyard - Quai des Seychelles - 29900 Concarneau – France
Tel: +33 (0)2 98 60 49 48 - Fax: +33 (0)2 98 60 49 40 - www.jfa-yachts.com – jfa@jfa-yachts.com

Katrina KELSHALL - VPLP PARIS - katrina@vplp.fr

VPLP - 11, boulevard Bourdon - 75004 Paris - France
Tel: 33 (0) 1 42 77 24 00 - Fax: 33 (0) 1 48 04 98 60 - www.vplp.fr - team@vplp.fr

Z90 - A BERRET RACOUPEAU YACHT DESIGN

The Z90 is not a concept, it is actually being built in Italy. Designed by Berret Racoupeau, its sleek design will not go unnoticed. Olivier racoupeau told me that one of the main objective behind the exterior design was to integrated as much as possible all fittings.

• Closed the transom doors disappear in the design, open they host a swim platform and stairs to the deck.


• A large tender is hidden under the platform in between the hulls like they have design on the latest Fountain Pajot Catamarans.







• A very distinctive feature, I have not seen on any other sailing catamarans is the large bulwark which protects the briges and allow fully save movement around the boat much like the Wally Essence.

The accomodations offers a lot of space.

• The deck saloon at cockpit level hosts a dining and a relaxing area with a 360 view on the outsite.


• The cockpit looks more like an outdoor salon with its coaches and confortable setees.


• The owner suite is huge and benefit from the entire width of the roof, 5 meters. For the owner to be able to see outside and not being seen, and for sun protection BRYD has designed what we call in French "louves". Couldn't find a translation.

BRYD also has on the drawing board a 98 footer maybe in a future post.

CLARIS NICOLAS AND ROMAIN

Last week-end I was doing some research on the JFA . This shipyard has built SUN TENAREZE, an 84 foot catamaran launched in 2004. I stopped on CLARIS website. I met Nicolas Claris in Dusseldorf, he is wellknow in France for his pictures of yachts sailing andyachts interiors. He works for JFA, CNB, LAGOON, SHIPMAN.... His advertising agency does a lot of work for the industry. His son Romain is incharge of the videos and his wife Marine is working on editing brochure, newsletter, books.... A family of artists.

On their site I found a section called "making of" where Romain is filming his father taking pictures. I let you have a look it gave me the gooseflesh, the images, the music, the editing is really great. If you need images for your yachts dont hesitate to get in touch with them.

BRIAN EILAND - RUNNING TIDE YACHTS

Brian Eiland and I have exchanged a few mails. Brian is a designer with a very large experience in the business and specially in multihulls. We mainly exchanged about new rigs and specially Dyna Rig which became famous with the mega sailing yachts "Maltese Falcon". Brian has written quite a lot about them and many other subjects you can find on his website. We both think that catamarans are a good platform to test new kinds of rigs. I think for myself that the Aerorig which is a self standing mast with a jib and a mainsail attached to the same boom is very nice in term of handling since tacking can not be easier. But first to my point it looks kind of ugly, is is heavy and offers a long of surface to the wind and on fast catamarans that might be a problem when you want to reduce sail in strong winds.

Brians' article in the June 2007 issue of the Yacht Report

Dynarig seems more appropriate and I thing they are really nice looking, I am just wondering about the performances upwind. Any way Brian is more knowlegeable about them so check the following link :

Maltese Falcon...YachtForums.com http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/perini-navi-yacht/2487-perini-navi-maltese-falcon-sailing-yacht.html

Maltese Falcon...BoatDesign.net http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=12459

Brian is also working on his concept of afmast sail.

Thanks Brian for your cheers and comments to the luxurycatamaran blog. You have a good time in thailand.

OUTSTANDING NEWS - CATAMARAN PRO IS LAUNCHED

www.catamaranpro.com

I have the great pleasure to anounce that the first forum dedicated to crews of large cruising catamaran is now open. Tom Ashwell from Synergy Yachting and I have created this forum so crews can find job offers and post their own offers, ask technical questions, gossip, and all any other kind of information on large cruising catamarans. In this forum you can add pictures, videos...

So get connected and enjoy.

THE HUNDREDTH POST - 100 FOOT WARWICK CATAMARAN

This is the 100 th post on the luxurycatamaran blog.

I didn't think I would go that far since lately I had less and less time available for the blog. I didn't really think about stopping but rahter slowing down. So many people told me by mail or phone that they enjoy reading it so now I kind of feel committed. So lets keep on surfing the web looking for great luxury catamarans.

I found this Warwick Design doing some reasearch to write a newsletter for the Berret Racoupeau Design office. Warwick Yacht Design is an Auckland based design office with lots of designs in their book. They create motor and sailing yachts both monohulls and catamarans. The Warwick 100 is their largest sailing catamaran design and it is actually being built at the Yachting Development shipyard also based in Auckland. They've built some of the most beautiful monohulls in the world including one of my favorite BRISTOLIAN a 120 foot Briand Design (amazing design) launched last may. No doubt Q5 will be nicely built.

Q5 will be built in composite and offers a lot of room inside has you can see on the 3DS. Apparently there will be a huge master's cabin at mast foot with a large view outside but the drawing for the layout are very small and I can't see much of it.

The interior is design by the famous Uk based design studio Redman Whiteley Dixon.

Q5 should be launched in May 2009, if you have more information about her let me know.

FRANCK DARNET DESIGN BIRTHDAY PARTY

Last Thursday, the 3rd of July, I was invited at the 10 years birthday party of Franck Darnet Design in Nantes. I took a few pictures of the very nice office and Franck giving his speach as you can see in the slide show (allow a few secondS to open the flash slideshow).

Franck introduced his company, described on-going and future projectS. He has quite a lot of experience in designing very nice yachtS interiors, working with famous naval architects and shipyards. I let you check his website. Of course I was more interested in multihulls. Franck has designed the NAHEMA 120 and is now working on the Fenomen by Nahema, a 150 footer in composite. I saw the first 3Ds they are amazing. If you have a large catamaran project get in touch with him. He is very talented at getting a 120 footer look like a 150, so I let you guess what a larger one would look.

It was a very nice evening. I got to meet with the owner of WHIMSY a beautiful 78foot Brian design monohull built by Vaudrey Miller in New Zealand, with Jean Claude Carme the VP of SUNRISE YACHTS and co-founder of US Submarines, Herve Couedel another talented designer winner of the International Superyacht Design Award with ZURBAGAN and Franck's design team all very nice talented people.

Previous post in Franck Darnet and the NAHEMA 120.

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