Fountaine Pajot

For may years, Fontaine Pajot was the largest builder of cruising multihulls with an output of up to around 120 catamarans per year. Most of the 1300 vessels built so far [2004] have been bought by charter operators, who have appreciated the qauality, charateristes and value-for-money of these craft.

The first Fountaine Pajot boat yard was founded by Jean François Fountaine in 1976 near La Rochelle, France. The initial team, comprising four people, built international class dinghies for the most competitive French racers. A new factory was opened in Aigrefeuille, in the same region of France, in 1978 and the company moved into building half-tonners. When one of their boats won the world championships the companies reputation grew.

Fountaine Pajot built their first multihull, a 60 ft (18 metre) ocean racing trimaran, in 1981. This was soon followed by the famously successful ocean racing catamaran CHARENTE MARITIME designed by Michel Joubert and Bernard Nivelt who had already been designing for the yard. From the experience with this boat it was realised that several elements of the design could also be good in a cruiser.

In 1983 the yard launched its first mass produced multihull, the Louisiane 37, in which Fountaine Pajot put all of the experience it had acquired in the use of polyester sandwich construction. This 11-metre boat, also by Joubert-Nivelt, was stable, easy to handle, offered a great deal of accommodation for its size and was fast. She caused a mini-revolution in the world of pleasure cruising and the Louisiane was soon a commercial success.

Milestones:

1976

Fountaine Pajot founded

1981

First multihull

1982

Highly successful racing cat CHARENTE MARITIME launched

1983

First production cruising catamaran, Louisiane 37

1985

Casamance 44 introduced – fixed keels and more hull volume

1986

Eric Bruneel joins the company

1989

Designer Olivier Flahault starts his long standing association with the company

1991

Marquises and Antigua 37 introduced

1992

Venezia 42 introduced with the ‘visor’ which became a Fountaine Pajot design ‘trademark’

1993

Tobago 35 introduced

1995

Athéna 38 introduced

1997

Bahai 46 introduced

1998

The Trawler range of motor cruising catamarans

2000

Belize 43 introduced

2003

Lavezzi 40 introduced

2004

Eleuthéra 60 introduced