Jeanneau is a French

boatyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

Les Herbiers Les Herbiers () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region, western France. Population Sport Les Herbiers is host to the Chrono des Nations, an annual one-day individual time trial bicycle race, held in October. Les H ...

, in the

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

département, which has produced

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

s since 1957. It was founded by Henri Jeanneau, a hardware store owner, who began by producing

power boat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...

s. Jeanneau specializes in

monohull image:monohull.svg, right A monohull is a type of boat having only one hull (watercraft), hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another. Fundamental concept Among the earliest hulls were simple ...

s, but it created a specialist

multihull A multihull is a boat or ship with more than one hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull. The most common multihulls are catamarans (with two hulls), and trimarans (with three hulls). There are other types, with four or more h ...

line,

Lagoon catamaran Lagoon catamaran is a brand of twin-hulled boats that are designed and produced in Bordeaux, France. The company began in 1984 as a specialist multihull offshoot of Jeanneau, a volume monohull constructor. Jeanneau was subsequently purchased in 1 ...

s. Jeanneau (and Lagoon) became part of

Groupe Beneteau Beneteau or Bénéteau () is a French sail and motor boat manufacturer, with production facilities in France and in the United States. The company is a large and recognized boat builder, commanding a substantial worldwide market, with its holdi ...

in 1995.

History

Henri Jeanneau's first boats in 1957 were wooden

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...

-powered dinghy designs. He quickly moved to producing boats from

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

and by 1960 his motorboats, including the

Jeanneau Sea-bird Jeanneau is a French boatyard in Les Herbiers, in the Vendée département, which has produced yachts since 1957. It was founded by Henri Jeanneau, a hardware store owner, who began by producing power boats. Jeanneau specializes in monohulls, ...

, were made from this new material, followed by the first

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

s in 1964. In 1970 the company was purchased by the American conglomerate,

Bangor Punta Bangor Punta Corporation (traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE under the symbol BNK) was an American conglomerate and Fortune 500, ''Fortune'' 500 company in existence from 1964 to 1984. The corporation was a result of the merger of the Punta ...

. By mid-1980 the company was sold again and became part of Chatellier SA. In 1990 there was a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

with

Italian Ferretti Craft Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

to build a series of yachts, but the project did not last long. In 1995 the company was bought out by

and became part of the largest global sailboat-building enterprise. In the mid-1990s some Jeanneau designs were built in Polish boat yards, including the Sun Odyssey 24.1. In 2001 Ostroda Yachts of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

became part of Jeanneau. The Jeanneau Advanced Technologies division was set up to build custom projects, such as the trimarans for the film

Waterworld ''Waterworld'' is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It was based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it with Charl ...

and some

Americas Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sailing (sport), sport of sailing. It is the oldest International sport, international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match racing, match ...

designs.

Boats

Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349 sailboat French Kiss 2351

Jeanneau Fantasia 27 sailboat Xantippe 2243

Designs built by the company include:

References

External links

*
A summary of Jeanneau History 1957-2017
{{Lagoon catamaran Vendée Jeanneau