You are here :Home > Discovering Vannes > Economy and business enterprises > Vannes nautical excellence centre

Vannes nautical excellence centre

Nestling in the heart of the Gulf of Morbihan, Vannes, multiple winner of the award for the most dynamic town in France, is the home port for numerous developing companies.
Encouraged by the presence of MULTIPLAST, Vannes town council is helping to set up a nautical excellence centre in the Parc du Golfe on the banks of the Gulf of Morbihan in the field of nautical design and production specifically focussing on racing. As a result, the FINOT group, the Naval architect's office of Marc VAN PETEGHEM and Vincent LAURIOT-PREVOST and the racing branch of the sailing boat manufacturer NORTH SAILS have all set up in Vannes in the last two years.
Since the summer of 2004, 89% of world sailing records have been beaten by boats designed or built in VANNES.

The grouping of all these companies on the same site has created a real technological showcase for boat racing in an area already honoured by the presence of a large number of world leaders; and now, more than 80 companies representing more than 500 jobs carry out their business in the boating field in the Pays de Vannes area, for example:

Leading boat builders in the different fields

  • MULTIPLAST (photo), whose boats hold some of the most prestigious records in the world (ORANGE 1 and 2, CLUB MED, GERONIMO…, as well as GROUPAMA 3)

BIC SPORT, world leader in windsurfers and surf boards.

KELT, the 3rd biggest French motor boat builder.

PLASMOR, largest sea kayak builder in France.

SEAGULL, world leader in sand yachts.


NORTH SAILS: the largest sail manufacturer in the world, with an illustrious record in the field of competition sailing (B&Q/CASTORAMA, GERONIMO, K-CHALLENGE, KINGFISHER…)


World renowned architects

Gilles OLLIER Design team: design office integrated into MULTIPLAST who take the credit for the design of ORANGE I and II, CLUB MED…

FINOT group: the most productive naval architecture office in the world with more than 30,000 pleasure boats currently in use, designer of 60-foot monohulls that have won the last four VENDEE GLOBE races.

Vincent LAURIOT PREVOST - Marc VAN PETEGHEM, designers of multihull racing boats: GROUPAMA 1, 2 and 3, GERONIMO, BONDUELLE, BELGACOM, GEANT … and L’HYDROPTERE.

Benoît CABARET, Naval architect associated with Nigel IRENS, whose major feats include the design of the following trimarans: B&Q/CASTORAMA, BAYER CROPSCIENCE, and FUJIFILM.

Guillaume VERDIER, Naval architect; ex-collaborator of the FINOT group, specialised in racing monohulls and multihulls (PRB, Yves PARLIER's "Sea skimmer"…)

Up