Development of high-end custom models
The CNB adventure
The most extraordinary feature of the Constructions Navale Bordeaux (CNB) adventure is that its two protagonists never stopped reinventing themselves. In the early 1980s, there was nothing to indicate that they would become the French market leaders for the custom construction of luxurious large sailing yachts.
They were not managers or engineers, and even less finance professionals or designers. One started out in his adult life as a professional footballer, while the other was a charter skipper. But the oceans had given both of them a strong nautical education.
Olivier Lafourcade, from France, had built a large ferrocement ketch as an amateur. While the Franco-German Dieter Gust had hung up his boots to retrain as a marine metalworker. The first funded his travels by welcoming paying guests on board, with a charter activity that was still in its infancy in the 1970s. A fortunate twist of fate had allowed him to replace his rustic Ferrossimo with a magnificent Swan 65 (20m ketch named Shaïtan), funded through advances from his loyal clients that he would take with him around the world. The second was preparing for his epic journey, while working in a shipyard in the south of France.
They met completely by chance. In 1980, Olivier had sold the Swan and jointly arranged for the building of an aluminum ketch that was nearly 23m long, based on plans from the New Zealand architect Ron Holland. For this, he had called on NAVIRAL, a team of professionals led by Nicolas Claris, in Biot. The new boat, Shaïtan of Tortola, was designed for luxury charters. With NAVIRAL, Olivier had brought together the specialties required and leased, on its behalf, one of the hangars at the shipyard where Dieter worked. Dieter was instantly attracted by the atmosphere in this workshop and quickly joined this team. Once the build was completed, our former professional footballer cast off, heading for the Caribbean, where he became a charter skipper. During this time, on board his large ketch, Olivier embarked on a new long-distance journey.
A crazy idea
At the end of 1984, this seasoned sailor was taking a break from his epic voyages. Unsure about his future, he decided in the end to set up an engineering and consulting firm. He wanted to support future owners of large boats and oversee the building of their prototypes. Through his networks, Olivier had made contact with a first client. This wealthy American had commissioned a Ron Holland yacht in Spain.
As one-offs are a small world, Dieter learned about this. At the same time, he was overseeing the building of two 22m sisterships designed by the young French prodigy Philippe Briand. One for a client, and another for himself. Dieter had really liked the layouts envisioned by Olivier for his Ron Holland ketch. So, he asked him to design the layouts for the two Briand plans.
A Vendée-based yard, previously renowned for its series units and aluminum racing models, had finished building the first of these two sisterships, the Château Beaumont. Things became complicated shortly after work began on Dieter’s future boat. The Vendée yard went bankrupt just one month after receiving the first installment! As frustrated as he was furious, Dieter decided to hire some of the staff who, like him, had been left in the lurch by this development, to finish his boat.
And he asked Olivier: “Why don’t we set up a yard specialized in creating large custom monohulls?” At the time in France, the yards that could build large luxury sailboats could not even be counted on the fingers of one hand. Only the Tréhard yard in Antibes seemed to have the necessary know-how.
However, together, Dieter and Olivier could launch their boat building with two projects already secured. Another owner had called on Olivier’s services, after experiencing a major setback in New Zealand: just as they were about to sign their order form, the Kiwi yard that they were planning to work with suddenly increased its prices by 20%.
Because in this kind of story, everything often happens at the same time, Olivier had agreed, alongside this, to work as a project manager for building the new luxury sailing yacht that Dieter’s client was looking to order. The happy owner of the Château Beaumont had realized that he wanted a bigger boat. For each of these two projects, Olivier therefore prepared a set of specifications, covering 120 pages, which was the first of its kind in France at the time. He also encouraged each of the future owners to commission their dream designs from the prestigious German Frers. The Argentine was at the time the most sought-after architect in the superyacht world.
Was it a crazy idea to set up a new yard to build these two large monohulls? No, it was too good an opportunity. They got started immediately.
An ideal site in Bordeaux
Dieter had already started looking for a site around Les Sables d’Olonne. He had also made contact with the authorities in Gironde, who wanted to revive the site of the former Ateliers et Chantiers du Sud-Ouest, a large ship builder that had disappeared two years earlier, whose facilities on the banks of the River Garonne were abandoned. This site offered some clear advantages: a very large area, hangers already in place, direct access to the river, with sufficient depth at this location for launching large units. It was also close to an international airport and the hotel facilities of a large city. But first and foremost, in the eyes of the two daring individuals, the name Bordeaux, known worldwide, would ensure immediate international recognition for their brand.
All that was left to do was to invent everything. Starting off with the creation of a limited company – société anonyme – with sufficient capital to get started. Following negotiations, the owner of the Château Beaumont agreed to take up 56% of the shares in this new company. Dieter and Olivier held a blocking minority with 34%, while Crédit Agricole took the majority of the remaining 10%.
The two future builders therefore had the resources needed to acquire two of the Bordeaux hangars built on a site of just over one hectare. They invited German Frers to discover the premises of the new yard, which they had proudly named Construction Navale Bordeaux.
The Argentine master remained relatively calm about everything. Placed in a 2-star hotel, compared with his usual palaces, the renowned designer did not seem particularly concerned when he discovered the deserted industrial wasteland, the empty hangers that were incredibly hot – this was August 1987 – or the absence of any equipment, except for the IKEA drafting table and the few ill-assorted items of furniture hastily gathered together. If he noticed that a portable generator was providing the electricity, while waiting for the connection to the grid, he did not comment on it…
However, in terms of their workforce, with aluminum emerging as the ideal material for custom builds, the two entrepreneurs were spoiled for choice. They recruited some of the specialists, team leaders, metalworkers and other welders from the former Ateliers et Chantiers du Sud-Ouest yard, who are all perfectly competent for metal construction.
The two novice managers had broken their building strategy down into 12 steps (hull and deck, rigging, fittings, furnishings, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, painting, etc.) and simultaneously drew up an accounting plan. Very quickly, they shared out the tasks in line with their affinities: finance and management for Dieter, technical aspects and implementation for Olivier, who took charge of the design office.
The first masterpieces
Following two years of intense activity, the all-new CNB yard delivered its first two units, barely two months apart: a 28m sloop, the stunning Mari-Cha II, and a magnificent 26.50m ketch, the Château Branair, the heir to the Château Beaumont. This was at the end of 1989.
Even before work was completed to build the first two yachts, a client in Bordeaux had ordered a 76 foot Frers. This merely postponed a major issue that was quickly identified during the management team’s strategic meetings. No one knew anything about CNB yet. Its leaders had not had the free space to look at advertising aspects. Certainly, they could now refer to two magnificent units as proof of their expertise. But who would they share this with? Their order book was empty. Their company, which soon had around 50 staff, did not have any new clients.
As fortune favors the brave, they were bailed out by a new law: to boost the economy of its overseas departments and territories (DOM-TOM), France adopted a tax incentive scheme known as the Pons Law. This enabled banks and credit institutions to put together financing packages for boats intended for charter activities in overseas departments and territories. And of course, these boats needed to be built.
So, it was as if the banks were finding clients for CNB. It embarked on building sloops designed by Philippe Briand, which were 23 meters long, adaptations of the Château Beaumont, all of course highly customized.
The planets aligned. In 1991, at the Cannes boat show, CNB presented a spectacular creation designed by Briand and named Grand Bleu. It was an immediate success. Éric Tabarly himself visited this flagship. The CNB brand was now known, and its masterpieces were recognized.
A leading shareholder
However, its founders were still not safe from various setbacks. At the start of the following year, a Spanish owner suddenly withdrew his order for a 34m sloop designed by the French architect Gilles Vaton. Everything was running smoothly until the future owner asked about the type of warranty offered by CNB. Warranty? What warranty? However, it was simple: what would happen if the yard went bankrupt before the boat was delivered, but after the deposits of several million francs had been paid? The two young managers did not have an answer, and the negotiations came to an abrupt halt. And they lost this deal.
They then realized how fragile their business was. Only a leading shareholder would be able to offer this guarantee of successful completion. So, they got in contact with three heavyweights of the recreational boating world: Jeanneau, Wauquiez and Bénéteau. They instantly hit it off with the latter.
The Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie company acquired the shareholder-owner’s interests and the stake held by Crédit Agricole to take up 66% of its capital. The deal was wrapped up with complete confidence and trust, with both sides simply giving their word. For CNB, which was now an integral part of a rapidly expanding group, the horizon was clearing.
And the adventure continued. Following several Frers designs, CNB built, in 13 months and without support from any 3D software, which was simply not accessible at the time, a 32m plan from New Zealand’s Bruce Farr. This impressive unit, which featured a swimming pool and an elevator, took to the water in 1994…
To smooth out workload fluctuations, the two managers began building large motor cruisers, intended for passenger transport. These offer the advantage of keeping the welders and metalworkers busy while the riggers, deck hardware fitters, carpenters, plumbers and electricians worked to equip and fit out the hulls of the sailing models.
But another turning point was already on the horizon. Composite materials – glass, carbon, balsa, resins – started to take the place of aluminum. Influenced by the competition, clients were demanding these new elements and naval architects were naturally pushing them to make this shift. An expert in aluminum, CNB did not have the skills, personnel or equipment to build with composites.
Carbon and lagoon catamarans
However, in 1995, the Beneteau Group had taken over the reins of its major rival Jeanneau, which had built up outstanding know-how in this area, thanks to JTA (Jeanneau Techniques Avancées), its dedicated unit for producing racing prototypes. Alongside this, the Les Herbiers yard began working, initially without much success, to build polyester cruising catamarans, under the Lagoon brand. As CNB was not using all the grounds of the former Chantiers du Sud-Ouest yard, in fact, far from it, the Beneteau Group logically decided, on Dieter’s suggestion, to transfer the skills of JTA and Jeanneau’s catamaran division to this site. This is how CNB was able to meet the demands for carbon builds and significantly extend its operational scope. While one-offs were still its hallmark, Lagoon’s spectacular growth at the turn of the century – thanks to the 410 then the 380 – enabled the Bordeaux-based yard to gradually change scale.
In 1996, unable to keep pace with the increase in capital required by Lagoon’s arrival, the two founders sold their shares to Bénéteau. The world number one for sailing now owned 100% of CNB.
The first large carbon sloops were launched at the end of the decade. In 2002, the fantastic Only Now caused a sensation. This stunning 32m Frers design with a canting keel won a number of awards. It was proud to fly the CNB flag. The company was now one of the leading players for the building of large custom sailing yachts. It was renowned worldwide. It was able to compete with the German, Dutch or New Zealand yards.