La Rochelle, France – Maryland dealer, Atlantic Cruising Yachts, received top honors for sales and worldwide marketing and communications from leading French yacht manufacturer Fountaine Pajot Wednesday, June 14 at the manufacturer’s headquarters. This is Atlantic Cruising Yachts’ fifth-consecutive year winning the top dealer award.
Watermakers: Yes? No? Maybe?
At the recent Fountaine Pajot dealer meeting we had a great opportunity to meet with the developer/inventor/CEO of the watermaker chosen by Fountaine Pajot. Here’s the information right from the horses’ mouth. Also included, our discussion of the pros and cons of installing a watermaker on a boat set up as a business — now, vs. pre-plumbing and pre-wiring for one to be installed later.
Watermakers can make your life easier on board, not only providing safe, pure drinking water, but also plenty of water for bathing, dishwashing, clothes washers and even for electric freshwater heads. The longer you’re aboard at a time, and the further afield you cruise, the more important they become.
Fountaine Pajot Cruising into 2018
We just returned from the Fountaine Pajot Dealer Meeting in La Rochelle, France. We’ll be announcing many exciting new enhancements and changes for 2018 in the coming weeks. We are proud to announce our fifth consecutive #1 dealer award, and we continue our reign as the most experienced dealer in the network for over 26 years.
Experience matters. We can be your coach and share with you the ideas and features that hundreds of other owners have incorporated in setting up their boat their way, new or used. We’ll share with you what we’ve learned over the past 27 years as we’ve commissioned hundredsof Fountaine Pajots and sold both new and used catamarans of all types.
AN OWNER’S EXPERIENCE: “CLARITY”– LUCIA 40 CHARTERS FROM ABACO, BAHAMAS
THE PATH TOWARD “CLARITY” FOR PAUL AND TERRY
Captain Paul Valentic is no stranger to high performance and depending on his vessel when conditions are extreme. Whether in the cockpit of his USAF F-15 or Southwest Airline’s Boeing 737, or his newly-keeled 2017 Fountaine Pajot LUCIA 40, Captain Paul is happiest at the controls. He and his loving wife, Terry, fell in love with the dream of sailing the deep blue sea and with Fountain Pajot’s newest addition to their fleet of ocean cruising catamarans – the LUCIA 40.
Sailing from Key West to Cuba
Along the waterfront highway by the Malecón, the locals all waved and whistled. The old 50’s cars all honked their musical horns and waved. At one point just before we entered the harbor, a Cuban man with a trumpet began playing the American National Anthem. It was unexpected and, when considering the historic and symbolic nature of the parade, it was a moving and emotional moment we won’t forget.
Fountaine Pajot and Atlantic Cruising Yachts sponsored the 2016 Cruising World Magazine Rally to Cuba. We were on board the new Fountaine Pajot Saba 50 “Quince Amour,” which is based at our charter partner in Key West. There were 60 boats that went over from the Key West base (six of which were Fountaine Pajots) on Stock Island, Key West. We left at 7pm and sailed through the night and arrived at the Hemingway Marina just west of Havana at 2pm the next day.
Start Sailing Now — ASA Sailing Courses & the Try-Before-You-Buy Charter Program
Immerse yourself in the sailing lifestyle. Gain your experience on boats set up like private boats, privately managed at your favorite sailing destination. We offer a number of options for inexperienced sailors to get out on the water.
Try before you buy. Charter with or without a captain. Learn to sail, or improve your skills. We are in all the prime sailing areas where you want to be…
All of our sailing programs include live-aboard courses on comfortable Jeanneau or Fountaine Pajot popular cruising models. Learn 24 hours a day. Immerse yourself in sailing. No hotel bills. Bring your family. It’s fun. It’s a vacation and learning experience– and generally costs less.
Jeanneau, a closer look
What makes a Jeanneau from Atlantic Cruising Yachts truly unique?
We don’t want to sell you a boat, we want to fulfill your expectations. Before, during and after the sale. We take a team approach. There are so many considerations when getting a new boat, and we want to make it easy with an experienced staff of professionals recruited over the years as we became the #1 worldwide dealer for Fountaine Pajot and the top North American dealer for Jeanneau.
You don’t need to re-invent the wheel. We’re here to guide you every step of the way. From planning, to financing, settlement and documentation and finally to sea-trials on your new boat spending as much time as necessary, normally at least a couple of days, being sure you understand your boat and its systems.Continue Reading…
Start Sailing Now — ASA Sailing Courses & the Try-Before-You-Buy Charter Program
Immerse yourself in the sailing lifestyle. Gain your experience on boats set up like private boats, privately managed at your favorite sailing destination. We offer a number of options for inexperienced sailors to get out on the water.
Try before you buy. Charter with or without a captain. Learn to sail, or improve your skills. We are in all the prime sailing areas where you want to be…
All of our sailing programs include live-aboard courses on comfortable Jeanneau or Fountaine Pajot popular cruising models. Learn 24 hours a day. Immerse yourself in sailing. No hotel bills. Bring your family. It’s fun. It’s a vacation and learning experience– and generally costs less.
New Fountaine Pajot Saona 47 – First Impressions
Eric Smith here. I took a group of new owners to visit the Fountaine Pajot factory and to sea-trial the first Saona 47 in France. The group was three new owner-couples, each with a boat on order that they hadn’t seen or sailed yet.
The result? They all enthusiastically agreed it was everything they thought it would be — and more — and they proceeded with their orders. Not only that, but we had a Helia 44 owner who joined us to see his boat in production and he decided the new Sona 47 ha
d more features he was looking for in a live-aboard boat, at a more than fair price. So he moved up to the new 47 on the spot.
We all toured the factory and saw the brand new production facility, which will help achieve the goal of moving from 80 boats a year, just a few years ago, to 250 boats a year by 2018. Increased production helps keeps costs in check, and considering the volume and features found in the 47, the philosophy is working!
Here are some highlights. A more detailed walk through will follow.
2017 Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show – Events and Boats on Display
Celebrate sailing and spring and spend your weekend with fellow cruisers at the Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show!
Catch the Atlantic Cruising Yachts team at Dock B with the Fountaine Pajot Helia 44, Jeanneau 54, 519, and 389 on display.
We will also be hosting live Business Yacht Ownership® seminars, where you can learn how to offset 80-100% of the costs of a new yacht with tax advantages and income.