BERRET RACOUPEAU YACHT DESIGN

I didn't spend as much time as I wanted with the luxury catamaran blog lately but I have been very busy with work. I am now also doing some PR consulting for Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design.

2008 is a big year for Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design, the design office was created 30 years ago by Jean Berret. He hired Olivier Racoupeau in 1983 and they co-founded Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design in 1994. Jean Berret is now retiring with more than 15 000 sailboats afloat. Jean and Olivier made up a great, very complementary team : the artist Jean Berret with a design degree from the famous Ecole Boulle in Paris and Olivier Racoupeau with an aerospace engineering degree. Olivier Racoupeau now holds the helm with a very talented crew of 9 designers, architects, engineers.

NAHEMA IV - Berret Racoupeau Design

When I visited the office in La Rochelle a few week ago and met with Olivier Racoupeau I was very impressed by the organisation, the management of the office. They are succeeding in remaining creative while providing their clients with a very strict design process from defining the Concept to the delivery of the boat : This is state of the art yacht design. They've designed only sailboats, in fact I could say they are in this way some kind of unique in France. They have created many monohulls for production yards such as BENETEAU, WAUQUIEZ, JEANNEAU, ALLIAGE. They have also designed many winning race boats : 4 world champions, the admirals cup winner in 1985, the BOC challenge in 1989-1990, and 3 mini transat. I will not list all their monohulls designs it would take one hour, back to real boats : catamarans !!!

Eleuthera 60 - Fountaine Pajot - Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design

BRYD is now recognized world-wide as one of the top office in catamaran design. They are working with Fountaine Pajot, the world leader in production catamarans with more than 1 800 units launched. For Fountaine Pajot, BRYD has created the Marquise 56' in 1991 (38 units), the Eleuthera 60' in 2004 (27 units), the Salina 48 ' in 2007 (27 units) and the Galathea 65' (to be launched in 2009). BRYD has more and more requests for larger units. They have also designed luxury catamarans with the YAPLUKA 60 and 70 (WONDERFUL, BELLA DONA, NAHEMA IV), the ALDABRA 60, the CIM 116, and have now in production and on the drawing boards a 75, a 90 and a 98 footer. I will soon write a post about the Z90 an amazing mega cat being built in Italy.

Wonderful - Yapluka 70 - Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design

I am very happy to work with them. I did some re-writing for their website which will be launched by summer time. I will let you know. I wrote their newsletter and will post a copy of it on the blog so stay tuned.

For more information about Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design, you can email Isabelle Ramirez.

LUXURY CATAMARAN WEBSITE - THE WINNER IS LADY BARBARETTA

The winner of the pool "your favorite catamaran website" is LADY BARBARETA (CMN), followed by CHE (SUNREEF) and WONDERDFUL (YAPLUKA). Thanks to the 31 readers who have participated to the pool. The results seems logical to me and it would be a shame for LADY BARBARETTA not to finish first since she is or was (if you know if she has been sold yet let me know) the property of Richard Branson, the communication gourou. Richard Branson bought this yacht at the end of year 2005 at a time it was listed by the marketing agressive Edminston company at 9.2 Million $. (via Luxist). The main advantage of LADY B website is the quality of the pictures and really of the three video displayed : lifestyle, onboard and water. Watching the movies really makes you want to charter this catamaran which offers great leaving space inside and performance under sail. You can find more information about LADY B in this previous post I wrote in April. This pool has generated quite a few connection to the catamarans website. Maybe I will launch another pool soon, if there is a subject you would be interested in let me know.

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.

WONDERFUL, YAPLUKA 73

I didn't mention the Yapluka Shipyard yet on my blog but it is one of the largest luxury catamaran builder. I will soon write a more complete post about this yard. For the moment I will let you discover WONDERFUL, a Yapluka 74 cruising in the British Virgin Islands. WONDERFUL was designed by the French designers team Berret Racoupeau. If you have a look at WONDERFUL's website you will want to book a charter right away. "Nothing but pleasure" should be the motto for this yacht. Wonderful offers a special luxury equipment that sets her appart from over cats of her size, she features on the fore deck a two persons fresh/salt water jacuzzi. The interior layout, elegant and confortable, has been very well tought out. The interior is elegant and confortable. In the port hull you will find a large double cabin with a queen size bed you can split into two single beds. The starboard hull feature the owner stateroom and a double cabin you can join to make a huge suite. Of course each room features a flat screen tv, an independant A/C, and a Playstation II to play music, read DVD, and play games.

WONDERFUL's crew is highly professional. The Captain, Waren J. East. a class 4 officer of the watch who has attended the United Kingdown Naval Academy, holds a Paddy diving diploma and will send you home with a picture diary of your cruise. The chef, Elisabeth Lee, looks like a great cook. She runs a website www.gods-kitchen.com where you can discover all the great dishes and sample menus she prepares aboard WONDERFUL. This magnificient catamaran cruises in the BVI and the Bahamas, you can book a charter with Sunreef Yacht Charter, Central Yacht Charter, Catamaran Sailing, First Class Yacht Charter for example.