LA BELLE AMEL

THE FRENCH YARD HAS BUILT 50+ YEARS OF KNOWLEDGE INTO ITS NEW WORLD CRUISING FLAGSHIP, REPORTS MATTHEW SHEAHAN

- MATTHEW SHEAHAN

I’m guessing that rival manufacturers of bluewater cruisers know when their prospective clients have been to Amel. They realize when their prospects come to them to discuss the detail, and they’ll be holding a long list of questions about what is included in the standard specification.

The list will belong. Very long. And if these potential customers then choose to reveal their budget based on this detailed list, the challenge for any of Amel’s rivals will be to suppress the inevitable sharp intake of breath when their sales staff hear the bottom line.

Amel has long held a reputation for producing high quality, long-distance cruisers that come equipped with everything. It’s a reputation that’s well deserved.

Since launching their first boat, the Euros, back in 1966 the French builders were led by the company’s founder Henri Tonet, (better known as Henri Amel), with his seemingly simple objective – to create the best cruising yacht for a couple to sail to deliver “maximum pleasure for minimum effort.”

While other yards may lay claim to a similar goal, it has been Amel’s dogged determination to keep things simple that has contributed to the French company’s sustained success.

For starters, it has never produced more than two models at any one time.

“In our firm, we don’t change models every year, but we keep perfecting the ones we make,” Henri is quoted as saying.

But restricting its new launches to one a decade for the first 34 years was a strategy at odds with others in the business. Surely anyone looking to buy a boat they call home rather than a weekend plaything would want to express themselves and put their mark on it?