More and more yacht owners, building yards and yacht designers are becoming interested in luxury catamarans. Many experts within the luxury yacht industry see the catamaran as being the 'yacht of the future'. Just as with other superyacht types, luxury catamarans are getter larger, more luxurious and more technologically advanced. Here are some catamarans for sale.
The benefits that catamarans offer are well known and sometimes debated. Catamarans offer the speed and space of a motor yacht, the smooth sailing performance of a sailing yacht, reduced draft to get into the best spots, all along with more stability, safety and efficiency than any other type of yacht.
Perhaps one advantage, that will become increasingly important in the future, is the ecological or green one. Sailing cats, like mono hulls, can subsidise their engines by utilising the wind for propulsion. On top of that, they use smaller more efficient engines than mono hull yachts, because they are more easily driven through the water. With increased concern over carbon footprints and pollution catamaran efficiency technology is bound to catch increasing attention. Catamarans simply make good sense, from every angle.
Countries in Europe have traditionally shown the most interest in the catamaran concept. Now, 'new world' countries, such as the Untied Sates, New Zealand and Australia, are also beginning to show growing investment in catamaran design and production.
So far, many of the designers of large cats are French such as Van Peteghem and Lauriot Prévost (VPLP) with their vast experience in large cruising and racing catamarans. ‘Yacht Industries’, based in Normandy, is another French catamaran producer that has a lot of cat experience.
In the early days a 70 ft catamaran was considered large. Now there are several cats over 100ft long – which is a very large yacht in volume - and there are many more on the drawing boards or in the process of construction. Demand for larger luxury sailing catamarans has increased and so to has the number of companies designing and building them. Some of the names of particular note include Yapluka, Blue Bay and VPLP (Van Peteghem and Lauriot Prévost).
Here is a current list of luxury catamarans over 70 ft in length:
INDIGO FLYER - 71’ WORMWOOD DOUGLAS BROOKS 1989
HIGHEST HONOR - 85’ VPLP DRA 1991
LONESTAR - 85’ VPLP DRA 1991
LADY PACA - 79’ ALUMER 1991
FAT CAT - 78’ MORELLI 1992
ALUMARINE - 80 80’ P. LAURENT ALUMARINE 1992
MAGIC CAT - 82’ GILLES OLLIER MULTIPLAST 1996
DOUCE FRANCE - 138’4’’ VPLP ALUMARINE 1998
LIZ - 75’4’’ VATON DESIGN PETTER YACHTS 2000
CORIOLAN - VI 77’ VPLP MULTI YACHT COMPOSITE 2003
CHE - 74 VPLP SUNREEF 2003
LADY BARBARETTA - 105’ CPA CMN 2003
CILIAM - 92’ VPLP SALT HOUSE BOAT BUILDERS 2003
SUN TENAREZE - 86’ JOUBERT NIVELT JFA 2004
WONDERFUL - 70’1’’ BERRET RACOUPEAU YACHT INDUSTRIES 2004
BELLA DONNA - 70’2’’ YACHT INDUSTRIES YACHT INDUSTRIES 2005
ZINGARA - 75’8’’ MATRIX MATRIX YACHTS 2005
AKASHA - 75’8’’ MATRIX MATRIX YACHTS 2005
ETOILE MAGIQUE - 80’ PLESSIS/ DILASSER BOB ESCOFFIER 2005
ALLURES - 99’4” BLUBAY COMPOSITE WORKS 2006
NAHEMA IV - 72’3’’ YACHT INDUSTRIES YACHT INDUSTRIES 2006
PRIVILEGE - 745 74’5’’ MARC LOMBARD PRIVILEGE 2006
PRIVILEGE - 745 74’5’’ MARC LOMBARD PRIVILEGE 2007
PRIVILEGE - 745 74’5’’ MARC LOMBARD PRIVILEGE 2007
EXECUTIVE 73 – Lidgard Yacht Design 2007
Catamarans currently being built and launched 2008 or 2009:
SILHOUETTE - 75’8’’ MATRIX MATRIX YACHT
EXCLUSIVE - 76’ GILLES OLLIER DESIGN KING CAT/ J EUROPE
EXCLUSIVE - 76’ GILLES OLLIER DESIGN KING CAT/J EUROPE
YAPLUKA DD - 85’1’’ YAPLUKA YACHTS INDUSTRIES - France
CATANA - 87’ (ORION) CHRISTOPHE BARREAU CATANA
GUNBOAT - 90’ MORELLI/MELVIN GUNBOAT
BLUBAY - 92’1’’ YACHTS INDUSTRIES YACHTS INDUSTRIES - France
BLUBAY - 95’1’’ YACHTS INDUSTRIES YACHTS INDUSTRIES - France
HH100 - 100’ VPLP ALUMARINE - France
SUNREEF - 102’ SUNREEF SUNREEF YACHT - Poland
NAHEMA - 120’ & 150' GILLES VATON NAHEMA - France
GEMINI - 145’ VPLP DERECKTOR SHIPYARD – USA
DREAM OF DUBAI – 49m
Luxury catamaran designs not yet in construction:
CURVELLE 33 and the CURVELLE 41 power catamarans
RW 100 Levi designed 100m super cat
GUNBOAT 90 & 62 – Rhoades Young Design
YAPLUKA DD120
Alcyon 120 - Paul Renaud
New Zealand Yachts S Series of Motor yachts – 98.5’, 115’, 134.5’, 163’.
Luxury Catamaran Designers:
VPLP (Van Peteghem and Lauriot Prévost)
Jean Jacques Coste - Coste Design
Craig Loomes
Ken Freivokh
Paul Renaud
Berret Racoupeau
Bjorn Johansson Design
Chesnus Presles et associés
Cristophe Barreau
Frank Darnet Design
Gildas Plessis - Studio 3
Gilles Ollier Design Team
Gilles Vaton
Joubert Nivelt
Marc Lombard
Morelli et Melvin
Power (motor) Luxury Catamarans:
Ultimate Lady - Craig Loomes
Spirit- 35m, Ken Freivokh 2005.
MOECCA – 150’, Oceanfast, 1992.
SEFARIS – 134’, 2006
