Builder Dufour

If you want everyone to understand at once that you are going on your own boat and not on a rented one, Dufour Yachts is the right choice. They are expensive for chartering companies and are also available for middle class sail lovers. Another reason to be proud of is the fact that, despite an all-encompassing globalisation, Dufour Yachts continues to be an independent manufacturer and one of the largest in Europe.

History

The history of the Dufour Yachts shipyard, founded in 1964, is a typical example of the victory of enterprise and faith in one's idea. Engineer by training Michel Dufour worked for a company that produced parts for locomotives in the «maritime» town of La Rochelle. At that time, in the late 50s, he discovered the miraculous properties of a newly introduced material - polyester. Dufour invented a trailer yacht made of this material, which was destined to be called Sylphe.

Legend has it that Michel's boss, when he saw that he spent more time drawing yachts than doing his job, told him: «Go and build a great yacht!» And so it happened.

Having sold the car, the yacht and taken out a loan, Dufour started building the yacht together with his colleague Francis Descham. There was little experience, working with new material for the time, and also in his own garage. As early as 1965, however, Michelle had 20 orders for Sylphe, and a year later he had 60 orders. Success was there.

The real breakthrough was the next model - L'Arpege. From the beginning of production in 1967 to 1977, more than 1500 boats were sold. By the early 70's Dufour SA had become the leading French shipyard, with orders in 40 countries. In 1973 the company was awarded the prestigious French Export Prize.

The early 80s was a difficult period in the company's history, but the partnership with clothing manufacturer Lacoste and design by Hermann Frers helped to restore production. The company began to conquer the elite segment of the market with the Dufour Lacoste 42 and continued with the Prestige line.

Keeping up with the times, at the beginning of the 90s Dufour Yachts once again exploded the market with the concept of fully ready to go out to sea boats. The idea was embodied in the Dufour Classic range - graceful yachts with a high level of comfort.
But still the sporting component has always been Dufour. Following the trend towards market fragmentation, at the beginning of the 2000s Dufour launched two ranges of yachts at once: Performance and Grand Large. The architect was invited by the famous Italian Umberto Felci. These lines still exist today.

Model range

Today Dufour is considered to be the best quality yacht builder of the «big five» European mass builders (Bavaria, Beneteau, Dufour, Hanse, Jeanneau) and produces two lines. These are cruising yachts with the Mediterranean cockpit
GL (Grand Large) - for lovers of long distance sailing in the open sea, and sports cruise yachts Performance - for connoisseurs of faster vessels. They have recently been added to the new Exclusive range, which again follows market requirements and includes 56 and 63 feet. Dufour models have been winning the «European Yacht of the Year» title almost every year for the last 10 years.

Features

In addition to being one of the pioneers of the fiberglass shipbuilding industry, Dufour Yachts was the first company to fully arm production boats for sale. Now it sounds amazing, but in the 80s it was a revolution called «ready to sail». Since its inception, speed has been the DNA of Dufour Yachts. While it may be hard to call these yachts super fast, Dufour Yachts makes sure you don't get bored at the helm.

Produced by

At present Dufour Yachts produces about 400 cases per year. The entire Dufour Yachts production cycle is concentrated at the shipyard in La Rochelle. The company claims to have complete control of the yacht construction process, from hull construction to equipment installation. In doing so, quality control is carried out in stages. Many of the processes at Dufour Yachts are still carried out manually.