EXTRAORDINARY BOATS

Going firmly against the grain, La Tortue 147 is a non-conformist catamaran born from a childhood dream that became an engineering project and work of art. But what is the 'turtle' cat like on board?

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In a global market, you have to appeal to the widest possible audience with a unanimously attractive design, which you can produce in large quantities to be competitive. This seems like unassailable logic. And yet, at this year's International Multihull Show in La Grande Motte, it was a catamaran that took the opposite approach to this theory that attracted the most visitors.

From curious onlookers to design and naval architecture professionals, word spread quickly along the pontoons: this was the boat to see. While many shipyards present their latest innovations as challenging the status quo, -La Tortue 147 really does that. The rebellious design draws attention thanks to both its style and sheer audacity.

Its creator, Jean Sommereux, has transformed a boat he dreamt of as a child into a highly original project brief: “A vessel as intelligent as space pirate Captain Harlock's, more playful than a Playmobil pirate ship, and with the look of a stealth bomber aircraft!”

Sommereux may have retained a childlike spirit, but he is a seasoned entrepreneur with experience in industrial welding, petrochemicals and aluminium furniture.

This engineer's mind is also sensitive to aesthetics and art, so he designed La Tortue with his cousin, designer Jean-Michel Kalfon. Kalfon is responsible for the distinctive ‘streaks’ on the windows, which are ‘more organic than organised’ according to Sommereux, and inspired by Marseille’s Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations, designed by the brilliant architect Rudy Ricciotti.

It was in the south of France, during a threeyear voyage aboard a beautiful 41ft schooner, that the idea for La Tortue was born. Sommereux did the maths: during his three years of wandering he had spent more than 95% of his time at anchor. “That means I had the pot lid in my hand more often than the tiller,” he jokes.