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.

Make a Smilebox photobook

A LIST OF MEGA SAILING CATAMARANS ABOVE 100 FOOT

Following is a list of mega sailing catamarans above 100 foot being built or just at the state of project. The interest for large sailing catamarans is growing yet few projects above 100 feet are actually being built compared to sailing monohulls not to mention motoryachts of course. I think the launching of HEMISPHERE at the end of the year will push the market forward. Let me know if you know of any other projects than those listed.

IN PRODUCTION
HEMISPHERE (ex GEMINI) - 145 '

The largest sailing catamaran ever.

VPLP Design
Interior by Michael Leach
Built at the derecktor shipyard
Aluminum
Due to be launched end of this year
Available for charter with Burgess



NAHEMA 120

Largest in composite
Gilles Vaton Design
Interior by Franck Darnet Design
Built at the H2X shipyard
Composite
Due to be launched spring 2010



SUNREEF 106

Largest Double Decker
SUNREEF Design Team
Interior by Sunreef and Owner
Aluminum
Built at the SUNREEF shipyard.



SUNREEF 102 DD



SUNREEF Design Team
Interior Sunreef Design
Aluminum
Built at the SUNREEF shipyard





PROJECTS

VPLP

• Saïda - huge (could find the lenght on their website).
• Sailor 164
• Racer 164
• Boreas 140
  
  

BERRET RACOUPEAU YACHT DESIGN

• Islander 115' (a lot of living space on deck and inside)

VATON DESIGN

• Nahema 150
  

ALCYON YACHTS

• Alcyon 120 fly

CPA

• Lady C 150'
  

GALILEO

• Arkona 130 '
  
  

MORELLI & MEVIN DESIGN

• Mega catamaran 151'




• Mega catamaran 201' with Cayros design

SUNREEF

• Sunreef 120'



• Sunreef 122'

YAPLUKA

• Yapluka 120
• Yapluka 130'
  
  
  

BLUBAY

• Blubay 122'
• Blubay 142'
• Blubay 162'
• Blubay 182'
• Blubay 202

NAHEMA 120 - WORK IN PROGRESS

NAHEMA hull mould in the "oven"

Following the press release I wrote for NAHEMA.

Marseilles, May 16th 2008 – The NAHEMA 120’s interior is taking shape

The interior modules aligned in the shipyard

While vacuum-bagging tests are being conducted on the moulds of the NAHEMA 120 (the largest composite catamaran in built at the moment), the interior modules are well underway.

The interior, designed by Franck Darnet Design, is an important key to the success of the NAHEMA range. The contemporary yet warm design has attracted a lot of attention from the public all through the most recent International Boat Shows. Franck Darnet and Karine Rousseau (Franck’s Miami based partner) have succeeded in designing a comfortable yacht perfectly matching NAHEMA’s motto: perfection, performance and space.

The honeycomb laminate

Franck Darnet:
“The NAHEMA is unique and fascinating because there are almost no restrictions in terms of space and style. It really is a "no limit" catamaran. The design is contemporary, elegant and refined but still warm with the right equilibrium. It was very important to Karine Rousseau and I to unite the interior and exterior of the yacht in order to create a living space with an area of more than 150 m2, never seen on a 120 feet unit before. The amazing width of the sliding windows between the cockpit and the salon is the perfect expression of the NAHEMA’s design.”

A standard suite modules

For the design team “space is luxury”. They also have innovated in creating “loft style suites” in which the sleeping and bathing areas are not separated by a bulkhead but by a sliding tinted glass window. Up, the window separates the two parts for more privacy. Down, it dramatically increases the size of the room.

A queue of head compartments modules

From a more technical point of view the modules for both hulls have been built full size on the side. When ready, they will be lifted and fitted directly into the hulls. It works just like a puzzle jigsaw. The different pieces correspond to the guests, the owners’ bedroom, the offices with their sofa, the bath rooms, the skipper and crew quarters. Walking by and inside them gives a real idea of the impressive size of the NAHEMA 120.

NAHEMA insisted on the fact that the interior decoration should be as light as possible to maximize the yacht’s performance. The walls and the furniture are made of teak sheets laminated on honeycomb panels. They are light and also respect the noise and vibration limits specified for such a high quality yacht.

Infusion of the NAHEMA 120’s first hull should start in a few days.

Complete specifications as well as high resolution renderings and pictures are available upon request.


Press Contact: Sébastien Barthez, FINE PR Consulting, + 33 (0) 621 392 845 or barthez@nahema.com

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.

NAHEMA 120 MOULDS - AMAZING

Toby Whitfield, MouldCAM's managing director, walking in the mould of the NAHEMA 120.

Just a quick post since I couldn't wait to show you the pictures of the NAHEMA 120's hull moulds. They were taken at mouldCAM in Australia before the moulds were shipped in pieces on a cargo ship to La Ciotat in France. Right now they must be somewhere in between and will reach La Ciotat by the end of the month where the mouldCAM team will fly to put them back together at the H2X shipyard. If you like technical information check Mouldcam website and watch the Video of their computer assisted drilling process which is quite impressive.

MONACO YACHT SHOW

The innovative swimming pool (which transforms into a helipad) of the 82 meters OCEANCO "ALFA NERO".

The impressive 52 meter DUBOIS designed "KOKOMO" built by the Alloy Shipyard will be running for the ISS award this year in Fort Lauderdale.

Do you want to take a nap ! Huge sofas, beds are very trendy in yacht and home design.

The model of the impressive NAHEMA 150.

NAHEMA's beautiful stand where I spend most of my week working. I am not complaining, I think I was really lucky to be there, it was really a great show. I will soon get back with more mega cats news.

NAHEMA's WEBSITE IS ONLINE

Nahema's website is online and available in French, English and Spanish. If you sail through this elegant and clear website you will discover the concept, the philosophy and the team behind Nahema's shipyard. You will see 3D's of the NAHEMA 120 exterior and interior as well a rendering of the layout. While the production of the NAHEMA 120 has started, a 150 foot version of this sleek and fast luxury catamaran will also be introduced in a near future. NAHEMA will be present for the first time at the Monaco and Fort Lauderdale yacht shows. You will also be able to discover the NAHEMA 120 in the next issue of Boat International US so don't miss it. If you are a journalist you can ask for the complete press kit by leaving a message with your information on NAHEMA's website, it will be available right before the Monaco Yacht Show.

YAPLUKA - BLUBAY

It is about time to write a post about Yapluka and Blubay Yachts. Those two brands have been gathered under the Yacht Industries Shipyard ideally located downtown CAEN in France along a river where it is easy to launch large yachts. By gathering Yapluka and Blubay, Jean François Bourdin, Yacht industries president, can offer a large choice of luxury catamarans to his clients. Yapluka Catamarans in aluminium are famous for their confort and quality of construction, and Blubay Catamarans are famous for their performance and design. A new composite production site will soon be built and Yacht Industrie will be able to work on projects up ot 200 feet. Five Yaplukas have been launched IMAGINE, WONDERFULL, NAHEMA, BELLA DONA, SETE MARES, and one Blubay 102 feet ALLURES (look on my blog). One Yapluka 85 is under construction and two Blubay 92. The website has a lot of information and pictures, but I have to say that the videos are really great (almost one for every boat launched), including the one introducing the shipyard. Yapluka is offering the Double Deck option on the 85, 100, 115 and 130 feet. The double deck enables the owner to benefit from a very spacious cabin located on the main deck with an ocean view and direct access to a private bathroom with hydro-jets and a jacuzzi. A double deck 85 is currently under construction at the yard.

NAHEMA - INTERIOR DESIGN - FRANCK DARNET

Nahema has selected Franck Darnet as the designer for its first unit. Franck Darnet has a great experience in working both for large production shipyards such as Beneteau and custom yachts builders both sail and motor such as JFA, Garcia, Lazarra,and CNB collaborating with famous architects as Bruce Farr, Philippe Briand. . Franck has responded to Nahema's requirements of an open, very clear interior where the cockpit and the salon would make one large leaving space. The shipyard also asked the design team to pay attention to the lightness of the materials used to build a fast boat. Finally this first Nahema had to be as convenient as possible for the guests and the crew to leave aboard. Franck Darnet worked on the project with Karine Rousseau, a French Designer with offices in Miami, and lots of references in designing interiors of luxurious homes and hotels. Both Franck and Karine have studied at the famous Ecole Boule in Paris, Franck specialising in wood work and karine in tapestries. They have met the shipyard requirements with success as you can see in the 3Ds.

NAHEMA

I am proud to announce that I have been hired by the Nahema shipyard to market their luxury catamarans in the United States. This will not change anything to my blog, the goal being to inform about the luxury cruising catamaran market in general and hopefully to help the industry partners promote their activities.

NAHEMA

A new fast cruising luxury catamaran range is born with the Nahema project. Built in composite, they will benefit from the experience of the renowned French Architect Gilles Vaton . The construction of the mould will start in April in La Ciotat (French Riviera). Pierre Lacagne, CEO, says "we are very excited about this project, we have gathered a great team with a troumendous experience in composite work and catamarans building. An interior designer will be selected by the end of April. Our Nahemas are fast with carbon daggerboards, rotating mast and luxurious inside with a lot of space on the deck. They feature a huge access from the cockpit to the main saloon making a great living space. The first unit (105 feet) will display four identiqual suites and the whole yacht living area will mesure 195 square meter. This is a unique project."