Pinball - A catamaran equipped with very innovative propulsion

Made in France, on the west coast, the Pinball is the result of an original and ambitious project. Dedicated mainly for day trips and rental market, it also offers some new solutions for cruising and is full of technology. Enough to offer you some great fun for crews that might not yet be that experienced.

Test location: La Rochelle, France
Conditions: calm sea, 3 to 4 knots of wind

At the origin of the Pinball project, there is one man, Pascal Duclos, an accomplished industrialist who is always on the lookout for new ideas and solutions to protect our good old planet. An electronics engineer by trade, Pascal was previously in the electric car business. After leaving the automotive world, he started looking for a boat that would meet his needs. Not finding the rare pearl, he decided to manufacture his own boat. This challenge led him to meet Stéphane Chaurial, naval architect, and designer for 15 years for the Ocqueteau shipyard in Charente- Maritime (France). By the way, the shipyard having ceased its activity, Pascal acquired it, which allowed him to have a factory to build the boat. The project was to design a versatile boat, with good performance on rough waters, easy to use during the summer as well as in mid-season and well adapted to rental without a skipper. A pretty specific mission statement that allowed them to move on to the next step. Having both a sense of innovation and an ecological streak, our man wanted from the beginning an environmentally friendly boat and the choice was therefore made for a hybrid electric/diesel propulsion system. A so...