Aura 51 - Seductive, but not over the top

The heart of the cruising catamaran market, hovering in recent years at the 45-foot mark, now seems to be increasing a little in size... The 50-foot sector, which can be sailed without the help of a crew, is becoming fiercely contested, as shown by the almost simultaneous launch of the Aura 51 and the Lagoon 50. We got the chance to discover hull #1 in La Rochelle.

Test location: La Rochelle, France
Conditions: N-NW wind 11 to 16 knots, slight chop

While certain brands in the boating industry might appear somewhat hesitant in the field of design and spirit of their ranges, this is certainly not the case for Fountaine Pajot: just like big auto manufacturers, the shipyard in La Rochelle has managed to put the same stamp on all its catamarans. This is how it already was, with the previous Joubert/Nivelt-designed generations. The family spirit was again brought to the fore with the signature of the first “small” Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design - this was the Helia 44 back in 2012. The current generation, with its inverted bows, was debuted by the Saona 47 in 2017 (which became the Tanna in 2021) and quickly bolstered by the Astrea 42 and Alegria 67 in 2018, the Elba 45 in 2019 and finally the Samana 59 in 2020. The Aura 51 picks up on all the same codes – and is very successful because of that. The superstructures are lighter thanks to the pronounced deck camber, the coachroof with a cap that barely protrudes in front of the mast foot and the bimini, which is refined to the maximum and covers practically the entire cockpit. The only notable evolution of this latest generation is the slope of the bows, now reversed.