Fidji 39 - Small budget, vast program…

In our review published in 1989 - this article is unfortunately only available in French - we titled it “The Fidji”. At the time, this 39-foot (12 m) catamaran, that had just been integrated into Fountaine Pajot’s 2nd generation range, i.e., the Maldives generation, really shook things up! However, this model was later to become the Fidji 39 when the range really began expanding in the early 1990s, is not a far-fetched machine at all, quite the contrary!

With its reduced freeboard, rounded hull sections and saucer-shaped coachroof, the Fidji 39 is the representative of another era, when people wanted to design fast hulls that didn’t need too much canvas. A time when the coachroof cap and biminis did not exist... Sailors were obviously suffering in the heat under the tropical doldrums, and most owners installed fabric biminis during their first season on board (a feature that was obviously proposed later by the builder) and various means of keeping the saloon cool. We’ll come back to this later.

Very innovative compared to its competitors of the day

In the multihull market at the end of the 1980s, the Fidji 39 was competing with the Catana 39, the Kennex 380, the Privilège 12 M and Edel Cats (between the 35 and 42). The new Fidji designed by Joubert/Nivelt has an original look, both round and sporty. The rig contributes to this fast catamaran look with a pronounced rake. However, the profile is in fact relatively short. At the time, the shipyards were very cautious about the risk of capsizing - a real risk on board a 39-footer displacing just 6 tons. In fact, if we compare it with today’s catamarans, the Fidji 39 is clearly a f...