Multihull Market 2010

Despite the world wide recession, the recent market study published by the Bonnier Corporation (Sailing World) showed that - amazingly, Multihulls held their course in ‘09 with comparable imports to 2008 levels and even more astonishingly - Multihulls accounted for nearly half of all cruiser imports to the US shores. Good News: Importers see brighter skies next year, driven by unsold inventory back home, new models and partnerships; The recession kept cruiser length imports off-shore in 2009 and generally sales were down -33% across the board. 2009 was all about “holding and waiting” for the credit markets to open up, and the North American economy to start turning. Bright skies ahead. An optimistic view that we’ve seen the bottom and are ready to rise up to the surface. Punch through the other side of the storm as we say...

Race 2 - The Sequel

Buckle your seatbelts. Bruno Peyron has officially announced that he has decided to relaunch The Race. He is the three times holder of the infamous Jules Verne Trophy (see below blog entry) and creator of The Race - a grueling non-stop crewed race around the world without outside assistance and without limits.
After several months of studies and consulting with the main potential competitors, a second edition of the race around the world for the giant G-class multihulls is planned for 2013-2014, starting from a port in Southern Europe.

Race II: watch the promotional video

48 Days !

Jules Vernes would have been proud. It took only 48 days and 7 hrs for Frank Cammas and crew to sail Groupama 3 around the world ! It marks a break with the design philosophy of Orange and the G-Class multihulls of the last decade, as designers VPLP said today: "Can we hope to break the record by reducing the size of the boat rather then creating something always bigger and more powerful? That was the challenge that Franck Cammas and Team Groupama asked us to overcome together. We concentrated on maximising versatility and responsiveness, rather then on maximising power, in order to pass through the transition zones faster whilst trying to avoid conditions that were too violent. Groupama 3 was designed to fulfil this particular race strategy and evidently Franck and his crew responded perfectly and adopted the ideal methodology. The result is that the record was attainable despite the fact that the weather conditions were not ideal."

Caribbean Fun

Discover wonderful islands, make new friends and test your regatta skills. Imagine sailing on a Fountaine Pajot cruising cat in paradise - surrounded by not only turquoise waters and sandy beaches, but like minded sailors on other FP cats. Welcome to the 2010 Fountaine Pajot Owner's annual rendezvous in the BVI's held April 28 - May 1st 2010.
Even if you do not have a catamaran, Aeroyacht will coordinate and provide you with bareboat charter contacts. Over 25 catamarans have already signed up.
Download the full agenda here.

Monument to Xynthia

No, this is not a contemporary art installation but a sad reminder of what happened last week. We were test sailing not even 36 hours before on a Salina 48 catamaran in the notorious Bay of Biscayne, France when a violent depression battered the region of Charente Maritimes. Thousands of boats sustained damage and tragically 52 people got killed as miles of old seawalls collapsed in tidal surges. Fountaine Pajot's La Rochelle plant was temporarily flooded but could resume operation today. This event was overshadowed by the Chilean earthquake, the resulting Tsunami and massive snowfalls over the North Eastern US. Folks, it is time to realize that Mother Earth threw a series of tantrums - possibly in reaction to Global Warming.