PRIVILEGE 515 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRIVILEGES

The Vendée-based builder’s production is oriented resolutely towards the coveted multi-yacht segment, yet the new 2009 model presented at the autumn boat shows is a 50-footer! It is very different from the 495, but appears almost ‘reasonable’, compared to its elder sisters, the 615, 745 and the superlative 1000.

Comfort generation

Since the 48’, the catamarans from Les Sables d’Olonne have always been synonymous with quality and pleasure in use; the unjustified deficit in their image, concerning performance, has been corrected little by little through concrete tests in real ocean-crossing situations. For Privilège fans, life aboard when cruising the oceans cannot be tested over a flying mile, and the crane’s balance is not an absolute criterion! After the 51’ and the 65’, the 580 pioneered the avant-garde interpretation of an 18-metre platform (an exception for the period, we were at the beginning of the 21st century!). This big boat’s improbable success confirmed the potential of a luxurious offer for defectors from motor yachting, whose limits were starting to become apparent! The message was carefully analysed by the competition (Sunreef, Bluebay...), which also had an eye on this exceptional market. Paradoxically, the design of these XXL multihulls proved to be tricky, confronted with the new demands of a clientele very different from the catamaran pioneers. The cuneiform approach to the Alliaura coachroofs was a creative answer to this set of problems; it conceals the ‘essential’ ...