NEW UPDATED MEGA CATAMARAN LISTING

It took me quite a while to figure out how to display the list on the blogger platform but here it is. You will find (I guess) most of all the mega catamarans being built right now, already built and projects around the world. I couldn't insert direct links in the spreadsheet but all the sphipyards and designers are listed in the right column of the blog. Enjoy.

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

GEMINI PROJECT BECOMES HEMISPHERE - BREAKING NEWS

Thanks to Tom Ashwell from Synergy Yachting for this "avant premiere".

HEMISPHERE (formerly Project GEMINI), designed by naval architects Van Peteghem Lauriot Prévost (VPLP) and built by Derecktor Shipyards in Bridgeport, Connecticut is on course to be delivered towards the latter part of this year.

With a length overall of 44.2m (145ft) and a gross tonnage of just under 500, she is set to scoop the record as the world's largest sailing catamaran. However, this will by no means be her only impressive credential, and the team behind the project has pooled their respective talents and expertise to accomplish the execution of this vessel.

Derecktor Shipyards was chosen to undertake the project from their Bridgeport facility, which is one of Derecktor’s three locations serving the eastern seaboard of the US for new-build, repair/refit and service work. Likewise, architects Van Peteghem Lauriot Prévost were the obvious candidates to lend their expertise to such a specialized project.

The result is an innovative design packed with creatively practical features that blend speed and stability with both space and style. A draft of only 3m (9.8ft) ensures ease of maneuverability and access to ports and lagoons inaccessible to monohulls of comparable size. Decks and rig are remarkably uncluttered as visible deck hardware has been minimized and the 53m (174ft) high mast soars free of spreaders with all lines run internally. Tenders are also ingeniously stowed out of sight and the port transom houses a full water sports and dive locker served by a large hydraulic swim platform.
Destined for the luxury charter market in tropical climates, HEMISPHERE boasts a spacious flybridge with Jacuzzi, sun pads and shaded dining along with a vast indoor/outdoor living area on the main deck. Exceptional interior volume offers a high degree of luxury without a trace of glitz and designer Michael Leach has created a relaxed elegance which is the epitome of contemporary chic. Accommodation for 12 guests is arranged in 5 comfortable suite cabins and the yacht will operate with a professional crew of 8.

Burgess has been appointed to manage HEMISPHERE charter program which will commence with winter 2008/2009 in the Caribbean and charter rates start at US$150,000 per week excluding operating expenses.

CHARTER HEMISPHERE WITH WINDWARD ISLANDS

ONE YEAR OLD - HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday Luxury Catamaran

I just realized your luxury catamaran blog is one year old.

Champagne..

I started posting on this blog on March 27 th 2007. At the beginning I started to experience with blogs for fun and because I am found of cruising cats. Now, writing a post is real hapiness for me. Plus, I learn a lot about the business.

The luxury catamaran business is really booming with many projects being built and on the drawing boards. I am olding a few info for you for the coming weeks until I am authorized to publish them. New projects to come are really innovative in terms of design and building processes, not just replicas of older cats and that is a sign of well being.

GEMINI the world largest sailing luxury catamaran - 145 '

2008 will be the year GEMINI, the largest sailing luxury cat ever built so far will be launched and I can't wait to see the first pictures.

Great projects such as the NAHEMA 120, the SUNREEF 102, the BLUBAY 95, the BLUBAY 92, , the GUNBOAT 90, the YAPLUKA DD 85, the CATANA 87, the two EXCLUSIVE 76, the third MATRIX 76 will be either launched and sailing or well advenced by the end of the year.

Thanks to those of you who take time to leave some comments.

Thanks to those who have suscribed to the blog through FeedBlitz (right end column) many of you are in the industry. I will send you my short history of catamarans by the end of the week before publishing it on the blog next month.

Luxury Catamaran gets on average (since 1 January 2008) and according to the beta version of statcounter 164 page loads, 82 unique visitors and 14 returning visitors a day from all around the world which is quite good for such a niche subject.

For 2008 I would like to move to a three column template. I have tried experiments with wordpress but it takes me to much time to switch. If any one of you knows a free 3 column blogger templates I can customize through blogger, please let me know.

More to come on luxury catamaran, stay tuned.

GEMINI available for Charter

A quick post for those who are interested, GEMINI the world largest luxury mega catamaran, a 145 footer, is available for charter through BURGESS the large yacht specialist.

The charter price :
High season / low season rate
US$170,000 / US$150,000

Length 44.2m (145.0ft)
Beam 16.6m (54.5ft)
Draft 3.1m (10.2ft)
Built 2008, Derecktor Shipyards New York, USA
Engines 2 x 490hp Caterpillar
Cruising Speed 13 knots
Guests 12 (4 double, 1 twin)
Crew 8
Watersports 8.1m Scorpion tender with 315hp engine, 4m Nautica tender, full scuba diving facilities (PADI dive instructor on board), waterskis, wakeboard & tows, 1m high professional diving board, wiindsurfing gear, fishing gear, snorkelling gear
Communications & entertainment Satcom & cellular communications facilities, VSAT, Fleet 77, Wi-Fi internet accessComprehensive audio-visual systems, satellite television, iPod/MP3 connections throughout yacht

VPLP 25 TH ANNIVERSARY

Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, 25 years of successfull cooperation. (from Nautic News)

VPLP is the most famous multihull design office in the World. With 25 employees, in two different offices, one in Vannes in charge of racing yachts and the other one in Paris in charge of cruising yachts, they are two of the most talented architects in the Multihull World.

Some of their most famous racing yachts :

• PIERRE PREMIER / 60 foot trimaran / 1989
• HYDROPTERE / 60 foot hydrofoil / 1994
• SPORT ELEC / 90 foot trimaran / 1997
• Groupama I-II-II / 60-90-105 trimarans / 1998-2004-2007
• GERONIMO / 110 trimaran / 2001
• GEANT / 60 trimaran / 2002
• BANQUE POPULAIRE V / 131 trimaran / in built

This is just to list a few of them.

So many successfull designs if the racing world has led the team to work on project for the nautical industry with production yachts and custom project.

Some of their production yachts :

• LAGOON 55 / 1987 - LAGOON 47 / 1990 - LAGOON 42 / 1991 ---- LAGOON 44 /2004 - LAGOON 420/2006 - LAGOON 380 the smallest but with close to 500 units built.
• KEENEX 445 / 1990
• SWITCH 51 / 1999
  

Back to the main subject of the blog luxury catamaran.

LONESTAR

VPLP started designing luxury cruising catamarans with the twin 85-footer HIGHEST HONOUR I and II on 1991 (one of them now being LONE STAR ). The twin were already built in composite and designed with sucess for the charter industry .

DOUCE FRANCE

In 1999 they enter the mega catamaran market with the largest cruising catamaran designed and built so far DOUCE FRANCE a stunning 140' built in Aluminum by Alumarine. DOUCE FRANCE has a ketch rig and can accomodate 12 guests with 8 crew.

CILIAM

In 2003, CORIOLAN VI Bis 77' was launched, built entirely in carbon by the Multiyacht Compositi shipyard in italy. The same year came out the ground breaking CILIAM a 92 footer in composite built by Salt House Shipyard in Australia. This catamaran features a very innovative design with a lot of room inside due to the fact that the roof is as large as the beam. The owner cabin is one the main platform at mast foot and enjoys a great sea view. Finally CILIAM is a fast catamaran with a 35 carbon rotating wing mast. In 2003 again, CHE , a 73 footer was launched at the SUNREEF shipyard in Poland.

GEMINI

This year VPLP will reach a climax with the launching of GEMINI, the largest private owner cruising catamaran in the world built at the DERECKTOR shipyard in the US. GEMINI will accomadate 10 guests in five statesrooms and 6 crew. I look forward to see this mega cat launched.

Finally again this year also will be launched one of my favorite project, very small compare to the GEMINI, but really fast the all carbon SIG 45 from Le Breton Yachts.

With other drawings on their boards and a growing market for luxury catamaran, I am sure the team will keep on working on great designs and of course see many of their yachts launched in the future.

IDEC - Francis Joyon - The Absolute Adventure

I don't usually write about racing but Francis Joyon is my favorite skipper and he left 4 days / 4 hours ago from Brest (France) for a single handed round the world tour aboard IDEC. Ellen MacArthur still holds the record aboard CASTORAMA with 71 days, 18 minutes and 33 seconds in 2005. A record she took away from Francis Joyon aboard IDEC in 2004 with 72 days, 24 hours and 22 seconds. A record Francis Joyon had prepared with an old boat (27 meter catamaran ex Sport Elec to be handled by a crew not single handed), a very little budget and the help of friends. Anyway they are both great single handed long distance competitors.

This time Francis Joyon left Brest with a brand new mega trimaran : 29.7 meter LOA, 16.5 beam, anda 32 meter high mast. This amazing carbon trimaran has been designed by the famous Nigel Irens and his french associate Benoit Cabaret. The two have designed great racing multhihulls including Ellen Mac Arthur's 75 foot B&Q/CASTORAMA. Francis Joyon asked Nigel Irens to design a very simple boat, easy to handle for a solo circum navigator but powerful and fast enough to beat Ellen's record : quite a challenge for a designer. The result is this very long catamaran with a limited width able to face southern passages without getting out of hand. Winches and equipment are reduced to a minimum, no heating system onboard, no thermic engines. Very far away from luxury catamaran !!!!!!! IDEC was buit by Marsaudon Composite shipyard in Lorient which is equiped with a very large air oven (27 m x 12 m x 6 m hight). The mast was built by Lorima (builder of the mega luxury catamaran GEMINI mast).

As I am writing this post IDEC is heading south at the amazing average daily distance of more than 500 miles, 280 head of Ellen Mac Arthur.

To bad news is IDEC's website in only in French so far. I got in touch with the PR manager of the IDEC group who told me they will soon have finished the translation I will keep you informed. You can still get connected and have a look at the great pictures and videos in the multimedia section.

(Pictures of IDEC by jm Liot/ddpi press and mer et media)

Another french skipper is on the starting block: Thomas Coville and his trimaran SODEBO, again a Nigel Irens' design but 32 meters long and built the Boat Speed shipyard in Australia. SODEBO has a great website but again only in french. Good luck to both of them.

SUNREEF 102 DOUBLE DECK

I just received this news from Ewa Stachurska, the PR manager at SUNREEF shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. The shipyard has signed a contract with a client from Switzerland to build the first SUNREEF 102 double deck. ‘‘We are very excited by the interest in this model, it’s certainly the only double deck, an innovative Sunreef idea,’’ says Nicolas Lapp, the Vice President of Sunreef, ‘‘It is really quite revolutionary in the superyacht world.’. This prestigious unit will be launched beggining 2009 and will be one of the largest sailing catamaran at that time. There is actually a real trend toward bigger and bigger mega catamarans above 100 feet. Actually sailing are DOUCE FRANCE and LADY BARBARETTA, and in built are the NAHEMA 120 , the GEMINI 145 (Derektor shipyard) and the HH 100 (Alumarine). Built in aluminium, the SUNREEF 102 will be the first with a Double Deck. It will feature a cosy, classic and comfortable interior designed by the Sunreef team with a close participation by her owner. You can find more information on Sunreef website.

VAN PETEGHEM AND LAURIOT PREVOT

They are the world most famous multihulls designers. I was very impressed by their website. Their design office is made up of twelve qualified architects in two offices Vannes and Paris. The team become famous by designing most of the winning racing multihulls in the World such as Pierre Premier (which became Lakota for Steve Fosset), Fleury Michon XI, the Hydropter, the Trimarans for the movie Waterworld, and lately Groupama II, for the most famous skipper from Eric Tabarly, to Frank Cammas to name but just a few.... As they say "from racing to cruisings"; they have used their racing experiences to design many of the Lagoon cruising catamarans for beneteau, and also custom projects for luxury catamaran above 100 feet. Right now Gemeni, a 145 feet catamaran is being built in aluminium. Aboard this yacht 12 guests can dine in the main dining room, in the cockpit or on the flybridge next to the jacuzzi and sunbathing area. Postprandial relaxation can take place in the main salon or the TV den. On the website you will also find the drawings for the Sailor 164 which can accomodate 12 guests and 10 crew. They have also designed Douce France (138’) the largest catamaran ever built so far. I recommend to check their website, there are many more projects and catamarans launched to discover.