BREAKING NEWS AND SMART MOVE OF THE YEAR : LAGOON CUSTOM LUXURY CATAMARANS BUILT BY CNB WITH THE WORLD LEADING MULTIHULL DESIGNERS

This is one of the most important news of the year in the world of luxury catamarans . The yacht builder CNB will be building the Lagoon Custom range of luxury catamarans according to the drawings of some of the the most famous designers in the world.

I think this is a great idea. CNB is well known for building very high quality yachts. Most potential buyers of large catamarans are reluctant to trust shipyards with little experience in multihulls and not financially backed by a large company. Both of this issues are addressed in this offer. CNB is already building all the lagoon catamarans range including the Lagoon 620 and is financially backed by the Beneteau Group, the world largest boat building company.
This should entice potential buyers to build the large luxury catamaran of their dream.

Most of the luxury catamarans offered by CNB were already introduced in the luxury catamaran blog. I hope now some of those beautiful yachts will come to life.

Design are offered by the following naval architects :

Van Peteghem-Lauriot Prévost (VPLP) : VPLP 100, VPLP 80, VPLP 186, VPLP 85 POWER
Philippe Briand : Philippe Briand 80, Philippe Briand 90
Dixon Yacht Design : Dixon Yacht Design 95, Dixon Yacht Design 100 Power Morrelli & Melvin : Aeroyacht 85 and Aeroyacht 110
Berret-Racoupeau Yacht Design : Berret Racoupeau 76, Berret Racoupeau 100, Berret Racoupeau 160 Power

Here is the complete brochure.

Charter Lagoon catamaran with Windward Islands.

YCO SIGNS WALLY TO BE THE AEROYACHT BUILDER

This is a big news for the Aeroyacht project which is now being marketed by YCO and will be built by WALLY YACHTS. The dream of Gregor Tarjan is really close to come true.



A YCO press release.

YCO signs WALLY to build Aeroyacht 110
Monaco, 12 November 2009
Following significant interest in the recently launched design of the luxury performance catamaran released by Aeroyacht, worldwide sales agent YCO is pleased to announce that Wally has been signed on as the official shipyard.
Ben Bartlett, who heads up the specialised sail division of YCO and who masterminded the collaboration, hopes the first yachts to hit the water late 2011. “The levels of interest we have received in the Aeroyacht 110 so far indicate that this is an exciting and important development in the industry. This project will set new standards for performance cruising, combining an ecologically sound approach with both performance and luxury like never before. It was clear to us from the start that the choice of yard would be crucial to the concept’s ultimate success, and the synergies between the two brands made Wally our first and only choice for Aeroyacht. I am delighted that the partnership has been confirmed.” says Bartlett.
Wally has to date built nearly 40 advanced composite sailing yachts and the new facilities in Ancona will cement their position as world leaders in this area. The shipyard is one of the best equipped Pre-Preg composite facilities in the world, and boasts an impressive post-curing oven for yachts up to 80 meters. The yard technical office is highly specialised in the design, naval engineering, interior design and structural engineering of advanced composite yachts.

Gregor Tarjan, the founder of Aeroyacht said of the new relationship, “Wally is renowned for its groundbreaking designs, which constantly reinvent and reinterpret the traditional approach. Wally yachts are world class and stand alone both in performance and style. Given what we set out to achieve with the Aeroyacht 110 I don’t think there is a yard which could be better matched to us.”

Heading up naval architecture on each project will be performance multihull specialist Morrelli & Melvin, who will work closely with Aeroyacht and the shipyard. These are the famous multihull designers of world record cats such as "Playstation" and the US America's Cup winner "Stars and Stripes" and their expertise brings further credibility to the program.

“Wally has been approached by several multihull designers but had never found a project which would reflect our concept of combining performance, style, comfort and safety” says Luca Bassani, Wally President and founder. “With the Aeroyacht 110 however, the technical characteristics and the aesthetics match those of our own yachts and I was immediately convinced that we would finally be able to apply our philosophies to this multihull.”.

AEROYACHT 110 - The World most innovative super catamaran

Multihull passionate and expert Gregor Tarjan, founder of Aeroyacht International, and renowned designer Pete Melvin sat down together to think about what their dream luxury catamaran would be. They came out with many innovative solutions, some of them never seen on a multihull of that size.

In a previous post, I introduced a list of these innovations, like the Icon A5 amphibian plane “tender”, the reverse bows, the competition wing-rig, the semi-flybrigde... Let’s complete the list to show how well the Aeroyacht 110 concept was thought out.

A “Outside-In” design process. Most of the time yachts are designed the other way around. Large multihulls are loaded with equipment, staterooms and end up with two or three decks. Gregor says: "We first have conceptualized a pure sailing machine with a beautiful streamlined shape and then estimated the weight for a high-end, open plan luxury interior. Instead of fitting 6 small staterooms we prefer to offer our clients three large VIP suites in a fast sailing machine"

“Soft-chine” hulls. Multiple Chines hull can be seen on racing sailboats, fast motor yachts and tenders. They increase the yacht structure stiffness, stability, performance thanks to less wetted surface, and improve esthetics. On the top of that Morrelli and Melvin have applied all their knowledge in fast hulls and bows out of the water design. The entire forward section of the Aeroyacht 110 hulls are forced up and will come out of the water keeping resistance to a minimum and increasing surfing capabilities

Asymmetric dagger boards. They are seen on smaller size catamarans but never before on a 110 footer. Retractable dagger boards increase windward performance and safety at sea. In the downward position, they enable the Aeroyacht 110 to sail close to the wind. In the upward position, the boat experiences less resistance and really "flies". The asymmetric boards also prevent the Aeroyacht 110 from tripping over the waves since the yacht offer no resistance and can slide sideways. They are also a great feature to reduce the draft and access really beautiful and private anchorages.

Aeronautical engineering. The design team in charge of the Aeroyacht 110 at Morrelli & Melvin is made up of aeronautical engineers and structural designers. They have made the most out of the same tools used to develop aircrafts structures like complex computers programs that model Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Elements Method (FEM). They succeeded in keeping the structure as light as possible, yet strong enough to face the roughest sailing conditions.

All this innovations were aimed at creating a super catamaran with a speed potential of over 32 knots and effortless cruising at 20 knots, in supreme yacht comfort and safety.

BEFORE PARIS BOAT SHOW LUXURY CATAMARAN UPDATE

I wanted to take some time a few weeks before the Paris Boat Show to write this post about my clients, partners and friends of the blog.

AEROYACHT

I am currently working with and for Gregor Tarjan on two major luxury catamaran projects. Both will be tremendous breakthroughs in this small market niche. Gregor is a very well know Multihull specialist in the US and has published the successful catamaran bible “CATAMARANS Every Sailor's Guide". He has a lot of energy and just like me really is a catamaran fan.

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ALCYON YACHT

Paul Renaud has lately designed a 125 footer and a 164 footer for a Swiss client that will soon be introduced in his new website. I like Paul designs because he is just filling a missing niche: Designing very large catamarans inspired by motor yacht comfort but with catamaran advantages. I am working on his new website structure and content. I will keep you informed when it is launched.

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FRANCK DARNET DESIGN

I trained Franck Darnet’s team to efficiently handle PR. They have been very successful with it and have got national coverage in the French Press in famous financial newspaper “Les Echos”, weekly best selling magazine “ Le Figaro Magazine”, and yachting magazines such as “voiles et voiliers”, “voile magazine”. They also have achieved international coverage in Yachting magazines including a five page article in “YACHT DESIGN”. Franck Darnet has designed the NAHEMA 120 and 150 and recent yachts such has the SUNRISE 45. He is involved with his Miami based partner Karine Rousseau in many other projects such as an eco-friendly hotel, submarine houses, luxury motor homes...

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BERRET RACOUPEAU YACHT DESIGN

Olivier’s Racoupeau design office is really busy as usual working for Beneteau, Fountaine Pajot and on one off projects such as the Z 90 a very innovative catamaran to be launched next year. I wrote the design office last two newsletter as well as part of the website.

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EXCLUSIVE

I am very happy to have been contacted by ExclusivE founder: Georges Benarroch. He is an amazing personage (as we say in French). Georges has chartered many cats, and has worked very hard to put together the ExclusivE 76 concept with the goal of building the best catamaran in this range. We are almost there, the first unit should be launched first semester next year. I am actually working on his new website and have put together a complete PR plan for him for next year. So look out you will be soon hearing a lot about the ExclusivE 76.

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JFA

JFA is building the VPLP 110 to be launched in 2010. Their reputation of a very serious and quality orientated shipyard, with a small structure close to the client is growing in the industry. I have written for them their latest news letter. I hope we will get a chance to work together again in a next future.

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MULTIHULLS WORLD

Jean Christophe Guillaumin, the editor of Multihull world, called me sometime ago and asked me if I would be interested in writing articles about luxury cat in his magazine. Guess what my answer was ? So check the next issue for the Paris Boat Show and you will discover a complete section on yacht catamarans, as well as a complete survey of most of the recent all sized catamarans afloat as well as future projects. If you can not find the magazine in a library close to you, you can download it on the website.

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NAHEMA

The NAHEMA 120 is being built in la ciotat (France). I was missioned by NAHEMA for a year to make the brand know on an international level. With more than 20 articles in the international yachting press and a very large coverage on the web I think it really is a success. They are now on their own and I hope I will get a chance to work on other projects again in the coming future.

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WILLMAR

Philippe Guillemin established Willmar a few years ago in Florida. He is the main importer of Fountaine Pajot catamaran and distributes the ExclusivE 76 and other Gilles Ollier designs. He really has a great expertise in catamarans for having built and sail many of them and worked on yachts building projects all around the world. Willmar had some trouble with being found on the web and wanted French speaking people looking for a good value cat in the US and Caribbean to be able to find them. I have launched for him a blog in French working on the necessary most efficient tag words to be found on the web.

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SPECIAL THANKS TO :

Ewa Starchuska, the experienced SUNREEF PR, for sending me regular information to publish on the blog and sharing some ideas about our jobs. I think we work quite the same way.

Chandler Collins, GUNBOAT marketing and pr for keeping me updated on the GUNBOAT catamarans.

Hugo le Breton, Le Breton Yachts, for keeping me updated on the SIG 45 a real breakthrough in catamaran design, a great project.

Tom Ashwell, from Synergy Yachting Partner, for launching with me the www.catamaranpro.com forum which is not really famous yet but we hope will have more success with all the future launches of luxury catamarans.

Greg Young, the talented designer of the Young 80 for sending me news about his designs.

Gayle, from Seaspray Magazine, for cheering me up and being a real catamaran fan.

All the suscribers to the RSS feed and regular readers who didn't suscribe yet.

All of you who have sent me emails and with whom I am keeping in touch even outside the blog.

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FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

I am actually trying to find a computer partner in the Rennes area ( France) to help me developing a nicer format to the blog with added interactive features. So Stay Tuned...