3D VIDEO OF THE YAPLUKA 140 DD

I just discovered this amazing 3D vidéo of the Yapluka 140 by 4 students in 3D Design.

LUXURY CATAMARAN - MEGA CATAMARAN SHORT NEWS

SUNREEF 102 and SUNREEF 104

The production of those two mega cats is going along well. The hulls, the deck and the flybridge of the SUNREEF 102 have been fitted together. Now we start to guess what this spacious and confortable SUNREEF will look like. The carpenters have started to work on the interior fittings and the yacht should be launched second half of 2009. The SUNREEF 114 structure is beeing built upside down and will be flipped over by February 2009 for a launching I guess in 2010. A third mega sunreef is actually being negociated by the shipyard.


BLUBAY 95


Yachts Industries which is going through hard times has launched the last BLUBAY a 95 footer on the 25 th of November. The dark blue hull looks really nice. I look forward to see this new BLUBAY sailing.

YAPLUKA 85 DD Apparenlty the production of the first DD still goes on and this unit is schedule to be launched next summer.

BLUBLAY 92 - PURE BEAUTY

With the BLUBAY 92, and the BLUBAY 95 soon to be launched, Yachts Industries (also builder of the YAPLUKA range) based in Caen (France) is really acquiring the image of a mega catamaran builder with top quality production.

. This first BLUBAY 92 (a second for private use only is in production to be launched soon) is optimized for charter. It features four double suites for 8 guests and accomadations for a crew of 3 all with independent access to the salon. The salon/deck platform is huge and very confortable as you can see on the pictures. The interior design by Pierre Frutschi by was optimized for charter use and ease of circulation for guests and crew. The design is contemporary mixing dark floors with white furniture and light woods. The effect is relaxing. There is also a nice in house pilot house with a great view on the sea at mast foot. The flybridges hosts a good size jacuzzi and relaxing matresses.

Built in Sealium, a very light yet strong Aluminium, it should be quite fast at sea. During sea trials at the shipyard a speed of 14 knots was achieved under sails with force 3 winds.

I am sure this BLUBAY will have a lot of success in charter.

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.

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.

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.

SKYLLA - A CATAMARAN SHARE WORLD WIDE EXPLORATION CONCEPT

Yacht Share companies are popping up everywhere. If you don't want to spend most of you time on your yacht I think it is a smart concept. You own part of a yacht (maybe larger you can afford), for part of the price, part of the running costs and you let a third party take care of all the management : crew, insurance, maintenance... You enjoy the yacht without most of the problems.

SKYLLA is an even more interesting concept :

• The yacht is a fine catamaran built by Yacht Industries.


• The yacht will set sail for a Five Year around the world trip. You will be able to join the adventure in very secluded and wild places around the world without "wasting time sailing" (I din't write that).


• Founded by Marc Claussen and Jason Weaver, SKYLLA is about sharing an adventure while respecting the environment, the local people and traditions. You will meet with native culture and untamed animals.

SKYLLA will start in the Caribbean in 2008. The adventures will take from the caribbean to the south pacific, oceania, micronesia, indonesia, indian ocean, atlantic ocean, and finally the mediterranean.

Let talk finance and numbers (look at their website for more complete information) :

• 54 members share sold at 180 000 US$ each.


• One share is one trip each year (for one member and a guest) for 5 years.


• partnership asset value : 5 400 00 US$


• 18 adventure per year


• Vessel sold at the end of 5 years, residual value shared among holders.

The company will be register as a LLC Corporation which has many advantages for its share holder.

I think it is a great way to explore the world on a beautiful catamaran for a very reasonnable cost all along with a great respect for the environment and the people.

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.