Projet Reflex 46

Jonathan, Draw me a Multihull… Episode #1

At last, our colleague Jonathan Jagot has finally stepped ashore... albeit for a good reason: now based in South Africa, the young adventurer is overseeing the design and construction of his first catamaran, the Reflex 46.

Projet Reflex 46

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Published 26/09/2025

By Jonathan Jagot

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Issue: 204

Published: nov. / dec. 2025

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At first, it was just a dream. A vague project, born in the corner of my childish mind. Many of you are familiar with my youthful adventures – after all, I’ve been sharing my stories in the pages of Multihulls World for over ten years now!
There was this idea, an almost instinctive need: one day, I would have my own catamaran. Not one that I would buy, no. One that would be entirely my own, designed down to the smallest detail, born of my imagination and my desire for freedom.
At the time, I knew nothing about boats. Even less about offshore sailing. I was just a child who dreamed and drew. I spent hours sketching the outline of my ideal multihull in a large notebook, with a simple ruler and pencil.
The years passed. I immersed myself in the maritime world. I sailed and I lived on board. Mile after mile, experience after experience, my ideas matured, and my project became more concrete. I discovered details that only sailors understand, those little things that make a sailboat exceptional or ordinary. Each observation became an improvement on my drawings.

When I turned 16, my parents gave me my first computer. That’s when things got serious. I discovered Pages and Keynote, the default software on Apple, which was enough to bring my ideas to life in 2D. I spent hours designing my hulls, decks and interiors. It was still a dream at this stage, but a dream that was beginning to take shape.
More years passed. I continued sailing with my parents, finished school, and we completed our round-the-world trip when I was 18. I then felt that I had more capacity to delve into this project in a little more detail or at least give it a shot.
I threw myself into 3D design, without having any expertise in the subject. In three months, I taught myself how to use the software, following the lines of the catamaran I had been drawing for all those years.
I finally managed to create something interesting. After all those hours spent on my laptop, I was finally able to visualize my multihull – I was thrilled! All that effort and those sleepless nights had led to a concrete project... well, almost! I quickly realized that I was merely following a dream: how could I finance the construction of a catamaran over 45 feet long when I was only 20 years old?

My life as a sailor continued. I bought my first sailboat, Sagar Rani, a 52-foot ferrocement ketch, and set off around the world. For six years, I continued the adventures of my youth with my parents – I lived the best life I could imagine.
From time to time, I revisited the catamaran project, gathering information as I gained new experiences. I mainly observed. I wrote everything down: the good ideas, the bad ones too...
I visited shipyards and talked to builders and experienced sailors. I regularly tested and compared different designs. I sailed on all kinds of multihulls, from the most modest to the most high-performance. I carried my project around with me in my backpack, on my computer’s hard drive, but above all in ...

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