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A luxury powercat and a longawaited Return to Dunkirk

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1 NEW LUXURY POWERCAT

French catamaran specialist Fountaine Pajot and luxury motoryacht builder Couach are joining forces to launch a new range of premium powercats. Called Veya, they will combine the powercat design and engineering expertise of Fountaine Pajot with the high-end fit and finish of Couach.

The first model in the new range, due to launch this summer, will be the Veya 53. Designed by revered French cat-specialist Berret-Racoupeau, the new model strikes a nice balance between style and volume thanks to a generous beam of 26ft 3in combined with a relatively sleek superstructure featuring explorer-style forward-raked windows and a hull-coloured flybridge hard top. Near vertical bows and elongated hull windows that follow the subtle flare in the topside moulding adds an air of sophistication to the design.

The emphasis on style is matched by an equally strong focus on user-friendly, entertaining spaces. The expansive aft cockpit has seating along both sides in addition to the usual transom dinette and a lovely little bar area facing into the saloon. There is also a large shallow locker beneath the cockpit sole for inflatable SUPs and a hydraulic stern platform rated up to 600kg for carrying a tender.

Moving forward from here, wide side decks lead up to an equally generous sunken fore-deck lounge, featuring a secure forward-facing settee and two aft-facing corner chaise longues.

The flybridge avoids the common powercat mistake of feeling too big and spartan by restricting it to more manageable proportions and fitting it with a convivial array of corner seating options around the central helm position, a single large dinette to starboard and a wet bar to port. This leaves space in front of the windscreen for a big glass skylight letting light into the saloon below.