The story
Henri Jeanneau built boats for the pleasure of it. The same idea, boats people enjoy, has carried the yard he founded from racing powerboats to sailing yachts of over 60 feet.
- 1957
A boatyard in Les Herbiers
Henri Jeanneau builds his first wooden boat of his own, enters the Six Hours of Paris powerboat race on the Seine, and sets up his yard, the Hall Nautique de l’Ouest, in Les Herbiers in the Vendée, still Jeanneau’s home today.
Wooden runabouts in the first workshop - 1959
At the Paris boat show
Racing taught Henri Jeanneau something else: more families now had the time for weekends on the water. His boats went to the Paris boat show, the Salon Nautique, under the Hall Nautique de l’Ouest name.
The stand at the Paris boat show, 1959 - 1963
The first polyester hull
The Seabird is Jeanneau’s first hull moulded in glass-reinforced plastic (GRP). Boats can now be built in numbers, and motor boats such as the Squale, the Lion de Mer and the Caraïbe follow.
Laying up a polyester hull by hand - 1965
Under sail
Éric Tabarly’s win in Pen Duick II the year before had France falling for sailing, and Jeanneau starts building sailing boats: the Alizé, the Love Love, the Sangria and the Sun Fizz.
- 1966
The Imperator 900
Jeanneau’s largest motor boat yet, drawn full size, at 1:1, on the workshop wall to design her. Test hulls of the period were driven flat out over a wooden ramp on a nearby lake, the Tricherie, and into the field beyond. Testing is gentler now.
- Early 1970s
The Sangria takes off
Jeanneau’s first great sailing success: a small cruiser-racer built in large numbers with new production methods. Many are still sailing, and they still come up for sale. In 1972 the America follows, Jeanneau’s first large cruising motor boat.
The Sangria brochure - 1980
Cap Camarat, and racing
The first Cap Camarat, a range still going strong. Jeanneau also takes up powerboat racing, changing the sport with its Formula 1 Inshore and Formula 3000 catamarans.
- 1983–1985
Offshore
Jeanneau Advanced Technologies is founded for offshore racing yachts, and Jeanneau builds and delivers catamarans, the start of what becomes Lagoon.
- 1989–1990
Prestige, and the Route du Rhum
The Open Prestige 41 is born, the first of the Prestige motor yachts. In 1990 Florence Arthaud wins the Route du Rhum, the solo race across the Atlantic, in Pierre 1er, and with Fleury Michon and RMO it’s a triple success for the yard.
- 1995
Part of Groupe Beneteau
Jeanneau joins Groupe Beneteau, now the world’s largest builder of sailing boats, while keeping its own name, yards, designers and style.
- 1999–2002
Leader, Sun Odyssey DS and Merry Fisher
The Leader 805 and the Prestige 36 start two long lines of motor boats; the Sun Odyssey 54 DS (deck saloon) arrives in 2001; and the Merry Fisher 805 builds on twenty years of Merry Fisher weekenders.
- 2008–2010
Sun Fast, and the Prestige 500
The Sun Fast 3200 starts the modern Sun Fast range of racing yachts. The Prestige 500 of 2010 sells more than 400 boats.
- 2014
The Jeanneau 64
Jeanneau’s first 60-foot production yacht, at the top of the Jeanneau Yachts line of larger sailing yachts.
- 2017–2018
Sixty years
Jeanneau turns 60. The Leader range now runs from 30 to 46 feet, the NC 33 and Cap Camarat 9.0 WA join the motor boats, and the eighth generation of the Sun Odyssey begins.
- Today
69 years on
Jeanneau builds sailing yachts from the Sun Odyssey, Sun Fast and Jeanneau Yachts ranges and motor boats from day boats to flybridge yachts, and is one of the largest boatbuilders in the world, with one of the largest design and engineering teams in the industry.
“Drawn full size, at 1:1, on the workshop wall.”
How the Imperator 900 was designed, 1966
