My fresh impressions coming from La Grande Motte, the world´s most important boat show for catamarans and trimarans, kind of nicely complete the last article on the possible influence of the policies of the current US administration. Trump has been a topic here – but I am happy to say it wasn´t at all only just about Trump. To start with this: The devaluation of the US currency is something that kind of puts a slight smile on the face of all those guys, who are dealing in US Dollar. For the rest … well … a „let´s wait and see“-mentality seems to be the sole reaction. And it´s good to see that there is way more than just being intimidated by politics. „Just switch off your TV!“, as one guest commented. Right so!
All in all it was quite a nice show. What I noticed first was that the boat show has been bigger with slightly more exhibitors, at least it seemed that way. Good news here: this plus of exhibiting companies is not maintained by your fifths fender-printing service, shoe shine dealer or sailing art painter, but by real boats. For example (though that´s nothing I fancy) the show now has a dedicated power-cat area with quite a nice showcase of sail-less catamarans. I can imagine that this area will see a further increase in the coming editions.
All the big and small names of catamarans
Here, in the heart of France´s multihull industry, all the big brands are concentrated in one place. La Grande Motte, this strange, beautiful, weird architectural specialty is worth a visit in ist own due to ist history and futuristic architecture. Not coming to the Multihull show as a manufacturer of catamarans or trimarans is a big miss. In this, of course, all the big names could be found in 2025 again: Outremer, of course, as being built literally 250 meters away from the venue, Lagoon as the big market leading brand, Neel, Foutaine Pajot, Bali or Nautitech … you name it.
But also the smaller, more „exquisite“ makers like Max Cat, Daz Cat, Windelo, ORC or Catana had brought at least one boat to the show. La Grande Motte as an event has this very special and unique feel: Every single boat is fitted with flags all along the forestay, which creates a feeling of being guest underneath a huge tent. Depending on the time of the day, these flags can go crazy horizontal due to the wild Tramontana wind blowing hard with +25 knots – or hang loosely when there´s a calm and the early spring´s sun is heating up the pontoons.
Which were the highlights of this year´s Multihull show?
It´s really hard to tell since there´s a boat for everyone. Literally. It starts with the small 28 foot Dragonfly trimarans: Great fun, high speed, easy use. And it ends with a World Premiere of a 60 footer commercial party-catamaran, purpose built for tour operators worldwide. My personal highlight this year was – again – the HH 44, to be honest.
Last year I´ve had a brief visit on the – then – Multihull of the Year, and I was puzzled, beamed away. Not only by the apparent range of spotless building quality but also by the sheer amount of practical, clever, seaworthy solutions. As this year Germany´s importer for HH Catamarans had asked me to take over his spot taking care of German speaking visitors (due to him being occupied with loads of boat commissions), I´ve had the time to delve much deeper into this catamaran than last year. Literally, crawling in every corner, learning much more about the boat. Also, by having the chance to intimately talk to the other dealers, to HH owners and the HH owner, Hudson Wang, it was a masterclass in boatbuilding for me.
I do not want to go into further detail here – that´s for some upcoming articles – but the HH 44 really was the sole highlight on this show. A fact that as been echoed by many of our visitors on the stand. Bottom line: As many visitors (me up until now included) had compared the HH Catamarans to Outremer, I now know that this isn´t the case at all. Though Outremer are great boats and the company provide a very, very attractive product for performance-oriented catamaran sailors, the HH should rather be compared to Gunboat. It´s a Gunboat indeed – small sized. While the all-carbon Gunboats start at 70 feet, HH Catamarans´ offer starts at 13 meters. Anyway, in the coming weeks you´ll see what I mean. So, what else was there to see?
Two premieres that will turn out selling very well: Lagoon 38 and Excess 13
As a former Beneteau dealer and still very much related to France´s biggest boatbuilder, these two new boats were of course of much interest for me. You know that I´ve sold a bunch of Excess 11 catamarans and really liked the concept of having a decent performing entry-level and smaller-sized catamaran, the sub 40 feet-range is very interesting. As boats have become very expensive due to energy prices, inflation and such, many people tend to look for smaller boats more and more. Boats they can finance upfront and sustain throughout the years.
In this of course I was very interested to see how the market leading manufacturer for volume-oriented catamarans for vacational use has reacted to this demand. You can look forward to a detailed walkthrough of the all-new Lagoon 38 in the coming days! Let me just say that I am conviced that this offer will attract many, many people: Charter companies for sure, trying to offer smaller-size boats for parties of up to 6 people as well as sailing families. A great boat if this is what you look for! Another catamaran that drew in my interest was the all-new Excess 13.
Again, back in the day when I used to be selling these boats, I kind of „missed“ a boat to offer that would be bigger than the nice little Excess 11 but also not as big as the Excess 14, their current flagship. I´ve lost many prospects for not being able to make such an offer, many lost to Nautitech (great boats too!). But here we are: Finally the new Excess 13 could be seen live and also, I must say, this is a real step forward in many respects for this young brand, I really liked the boat. There will be a dedicated walkthrough of this boat as well in the coming days.
Smaller brands, one-offs and prototypes
It´s a bit sad that this year not all-too many of those experimental or smaller one-offs had been on the show. I really missed Rapido, for example. Nevertheless, quite some boats moored in La Grande Motte had interesting features. Such as the big-ass ModX, a 70-footer with rigid inflating wings. Certainly something for very, very rich early adopters, but the Lorient-built cat showcased how the future of sailing might be looking like.
The Dutch brand Vaan showed a catamaran that certainly drew in much interest just for ist looks. Made of scrap aluminium, the lines and proportions of this boat were absolutely interesting. I roamed this cat inside and outside and found some very interesting solutions design wise. If the marketed „zero footprint“ of this cat is just a branding strategy or not, the looks are certainly something different and head-turning for sure. It is cool to see such brands and start-ups here and there. I think that innovation must not solely come from the big brands: These companies innovate mostly driven by pure commercial thoughts and market demands or prospects. Brands like Vaan, Rapido or Max-Cat innovate because of particular ideas, market independently and surely often not driven by commercial constraints.
In terms of sustainability, I found it particularly refreshing that much of the pure greenwashing advertising has apparently vanished at all. Solar power is a matter of course now, hybrid- or all-electric propulsion like on the HH 44 something that isn´t advertised any more as the holy grail of sustainability. This toned down policy is really helping, in my eyes. Less head shaking. On the other hand, little or bigger ideas which really could have an impact are emerging, like the refit program by Lagoon:
The company has started a huge program for owners of „old“ Lagoon 620s. This is a catamaran that is still in active use all over the world, a great boat, beloved by so many owners. The boat can be brought to the shipyard or will be taken into commission when buying a new one. It will undergo a complete refit by Lagoon shipyard, it will be fitted with latest technology electrics and electronics and re-sold as a „brand new“ 620 neo. This certainly saves on ressources. And based of what I´ve seen at the pontoon, a Lagoon 620 neo is still a decent looking, very luxurious catamaran. This may be the first step towards a real circular, recycling or upcycling-oriented business model for the industry. Who knows?
Is it worth having La Grande Multihull show on your travel itinerary for next year?
Yes, of course! This is the place to be when you are thinking of getting a catamaran yourself. Many other boat shows, like Cannes Yachting Festival do feature some multihulls as well, but you simply won´t find such a complete overview of all products, all the relevant brands and manufacturers and all price ranges from (quite) affordable series production boats to the high-end builders in one spot. La Grande Motte is simply the place to be for any cat-enthusiast!
I enjoyed my five days here, more so as I was able to surround myself with the HH-people. A very interesting bunch of enthusiasts who are setting up one of the most impressive, most professional and most high-grade boatbuilding ventures I´ve seen so far. Disrupting the business with a product that is not only beautiful but also delivering in all aspects you could imagine, forward-thinking and constantly improving. I love the lush atmosphere here at La Grande Motte, a place that seems to be hovering outside of our timeline, resembling an exoplanetary colony or some world-headquarter or a Bond-villain. Should you come in ´26? Yes, definitely! Will I be here? Of course, I will!
More on La Grande Motte show and catamarans:
The sailing Tie-Fighter: Aboard the HH 44 catamaran
A Carbon-feast of the finest – Rapido 40
My catamaran-adventures aboard Excess-cats