Erik Lerouge Yacht Designs

Erik Lerouge Yacht Designs specialises in custom multihulls and short run production boats. Erik Lerouge founded his design company in 1976 and since then has designed more than 200 craft including trimarans, catamarans and monohulls, cruisers, racers and dinghies.

He grew up opposite a boatyard in Cherbourg and with an ambition from childhood to design boats. Multihulls were an early influence. Friends of his helped form the French Multihull Association; imported the first Prout Shearwater catamaran into France; promoted the Exocet, the first successful French catamaran as well as locally built Pivers.

In 1970, a friend became French Tornado champion and Erik Lerouge bought a Tornado for himself.

From the start of his professional career in 1976 Erik managed to sell good numbers of multihulls, although they were not popular in France at the time. His first catamaran with a bridgedeck cabin was INUOI, which was the starting point for all his later work on fast cruising cats. In 1984 INUOI won its class in the Tropheé des Multicoques. The success of the INUOI was well timed, as the French market for production multihulls became very strong in the 1980s.

Lerouge Designs best-selling model is the fast and stylish Freydis. They also produced a successful trailerable trimaran, the Pulsar 26.

Erik Lerouge continues to be a progressive designer with a keen interest in serving many types of client and in contributing to the development of multihull sailing. The company develops designs for home builders, who often have particular demands requiring an innovative design solution. Ideas so developed and tested can later be used in production craft. The Petter 55, which has a 'bio-design interior' is a technically uncompromising, high-performance cruiser with the ability to exceed wind velocity up to a speed of 20 knots.