Emerging market
In 1960, motorboats are still an emerging market, dependent on favorable social and economic conditions to flourish. These conditions in the decade up to 1970 are particularly favorable for the development of outdoor leisure activities.
The very concept of a boat industry in France is new, formalized by the professional federation founded in 1964. The FIN reflects the growing awareness of the need for a dedicated organization with various missions, such as promoting recreational sailing and motorboating with the authorities and the general public. To achieve this, the general public is invited, from 1962, to dream or even to buy a boat at the Paris boat show. The new glass and concrete palace at the heart of the La Défense district that hosts this event symbolizes the ambitions to accelerate the country’s modernization.
At government level, these same ambitions are behind a major infrastructure development plan to act as a catalyst for growth and enable it to benefit whole regions. Cars and holidays are two of the first effects of this expansion in terms of lifestyle changes for France’s population during this decade. “Free time” gains ground, with the reduction in working times and the fourth week of paid leave introduced. Mass tourism paves the way for a new relationship to take shape between the public and the sea.
The major work initiatives from the De Gaulle era are taken up by the governments at the time. For instance, the decision was taken to facilitate travel with the construction – considered too slow at the time – of the motorways that will first of all link up with the Mediterranean, then the southwest, the west and the Channel. The Paris-Lyon link will only be completed in 1971 and the annual “traffic jams” in the towns and cities along the iconic route of the Nationale 7 highway become the stuff of legends. Some key projects illustrate this commitment made by the French State. The Grande Motte marina and new town, in Languedoc, are launched in 1963 to attract vacationers from across northern Europe. On the French Riviera, the Pierre-Canto marina, Europe’s first private marina, with a more elitist approach, is inaugurated in Cannes in 1965.
Outdoor activities are available virtually everywhere. Boating will naturally follow on from the development of camping, caravaning and even picnicking. People become more and more adventurous on their holidays, looking to get away from the crowds on the beaches. Adventure is within reach. New practices like coastal walks, water-skiing and diving are popular, and motorboats offer a key asset. While the vast majority of people buying boats are novices, motorboat tourism is seen as more accessible than sailing, avoiding a lengthy and prohibitive learning process.
A marine odyssey
The yards will offer an increasingly wide selection of boats to accompany the interest in leisure tourism or sport, with their prices making them more accessible, while ensuring increasingly simple use and maintenance thanks to modern materials.
The builders, early pioneers in the development of motorboating in France in the early 1960s, often set up their own yards or are descendants of small-scale producers from previous decades. In an emerging market that embarks on a long shift to offshore boating, few will survive the technical and commercial transformations that are taking shape.
But, whether they are heirs of a lengthy tradition or new arrivals, they will all need to take on board the technical revolutions that come along and change the boat building landscape: fiberglass, the V-shaped “Hunt” hull and the sterndrive or Z-drive transmission. They will also need to factor in the emergence of new categories, such as inflatables, and changes in demand, moving towards dayboating tourism and fishing.
The 1960s mark the end of the time of small-scale producers that often have a longstanding presence on major rivers such as the Seine. Here are some examples of these firms that will disappear from the radar in less than 10 years.
– Seyler, which dates back to the heroic times of the early 20th century, still offers, at the start of the 1960s, several models of outboard dinghies from 4 to 4.60 meters, as well as a small range of in-board runabouts that are 5m or over.
– Matonnat, a name associated with sporty boats since 1933, has developed its operations in Nevers and Paris, and then Arcachon. Its small outboards have a very good reputation for their quality and fine craftsmanship with their canoe-type timber build.
History
In 1937, Frantz Liuzzi starts building finely crafted canoes in the courtyard of a building in a wealthy area of Neuilly. After the war, the revival of motor sports leads him to take an interest in motorboating, with original runabouts for sport and competition in molded wood. He wins by himself or with wealthy clients a long list of trophies and sets various world records. At the end of the 1950s, the magazine Moteur describes him as a mix of Amédée Gordini and Christian Dior. His boats are beautiful, quick and expensive.
Gonzague Olivier is first and foremost an accomplished and eclectic sportsman. An excellent racing driver, he wins his category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans event with Porsche in 1954, before throwing himself into building motorboats, setting up a modern yard in Cannes. Gonzague Olivier initially focuses on the recreational market in the Mediterranean, with inboard and outboard units from 3.60m to 5.40m. He then extends his range to include cruisers that are 6m and over.
The Jouët yard is present in the Paris region from the 19th century. At the turn of the decade in 1950, he is a very early adopter of fiberglass for boats and enjoys success with small popular sailboats and outboard motor hulls for sport and dayboating. This company, like dozens of others, will disappear at the end of the 1960s even though its name will be taken on by the new industrial firms that emerge at the turn of the decade. However, other long-established names will survive, adapt, transform and prosper alongside the new arrivals.
The first steps taken by Jeanneau in Vendée are like something out of a comic by Michel Vaillant: Henry is a young man of action who spent time in the armed forces with the second armored division, then in Indochina, an intrepid private aircraft pilot, a keen motorcycling and water-skiing enthusiast, with, by his side, a discreet heroine by the name of Nelly. He quickly falls in love with powerboating and starts racing from 1956. After winning the Paris Six Hours event, he receives a number of orders and launches a small range based around his first model, the 4.05m “Sport”, with a 15 to 45hp engine.
Albert Couach started building marine engines in 1897. The firm Moteurs Couach releases its first diesel units in 1937. 10 years later, Guy Couach enters the firm led by his father Robert. The first Arcoa cruiser is built out of wood, under his technical leadership in 1955, then a new yard is created in Arcachon in 1961.
The Rocca brand, commercially very dynamic and represented by an extensive dealer network, moves into the 1960s while symbolizing a family tradition that is both sporty and popular. Many motorboat enthusiasts made their first wakes at the wheel of a fiberglass Rocca.
Auguste Kirié created his yard in 1927 in Les Sables d’Olonne, specialized in outboard motorboats under 5m. His son Claude puts the business in the spotlight by competing in the 1950s, with his victories including the Paris Six Hours event, which influences the sporty nature of the small outboards that he builds. He is killed in a racing accident in October 1964, after successfully launching the development of his brand with the switch to fiberglass. Kirié will then focus more on fishing, dayboating and, above all, sailing.
The Bénéteau family name is well known to fishing professionals. It moves into the world of recreational boats in the early 1960s through its polyester dinghies for sardine fishing. Spotted by future dealers, they are very well suited to dayboating and fishing, which helps drive the creation of a first range of motor hulls and a new category of boats that will go on to achieve great success, with the 5.80m Ombrine cruiser launched at the Paris Show in 1965.
New types of motorboats also arrive on the market, inspired by the extraordinary adventures of the young doctor Alain Bombard who crossed the Atlantic in 1952 on board an inflatable from Zodiac, which had a long track record previously specialized in aeronautics and airships. These two names will soon become part of everyday language to refer to any inflatable, in the same way as Bic for pens at the time, while attracting several competitors to the rapidly developing recreational, sports, hunting and fishing market.
Evolving boats and new navigation
To conquer the vast commercial potential of rigid or inflatable hulls in the 1960s, all the national firms, from small to mid-size companies, need to constantly innovate to stand out faced with very strong competition from imports, especially from America, Italy and Scandinavia. The French recreational boat market will show itself to be extremely capable across most segments.
“A varied offering for new demands”: this could be the motto of the French yards. However, the professional boat vocabulary also needs to adapt to provide reliable landmarks for potential buyers faced with a series of new motorboat practices. So, it is also essential to have the “words to say this”.
In a decade, the vocabulary used will evolve and the general public will become more familiar with nautical terms. We need to highlight the decisive role played by the specialist press, not only for the boat sector – for example, the magazine Neptune Nautisme is created in 1963 – but also the automotive sector. At the time, publications like L’Automobile or L’Action Automobile et Touristique devote several pages in each of their issues to motorboating, covering practical aspects and new models.
In the early 1960s, we are not yet talking about “motorboating”, but motor hulls.
The traditional terms like “runabout” (inboard engine) and “dinghy” (outboard) are still widely used. For these two core categories, we see a level of finishing that is constantly improving and the appearance of hardtops, as seen with cabriolet. The few high-end runabouts built in France are similar to Italian lines and standards, while standing out with their Z-drive or sterndrive transmission.
The concept of new “show” models is very present for small units from 4 to 5 meters, once again following auto industry trends. Dinghies are generally “sporty” for water-skiing or focused more on dayboating, a word that is widely used at the time by all builders.
With the development of coastal tourism, dayboating and family picnics on board a boat, the protection offered by a small cabin with a minimum level of features is increasingly sought after. At the time, we talk about “holiday cruisers”, from 5.50m, with outboards or inboards – the small models up to 6.50m rarely feature diesel engines.
One of their strengths is that they can be transported on a trailer. They are also “live-aboard”, whether they are designed for sport or dayboating.
We even find French offers for hulls under 5 meters, presented as “small coastal cruisers for four passengers, with a cabriolet hood”.
In the inflatables sector, builders are looking to convince buyers of their reliability and focus on quality more than new features.
Until the mid-1960s, the “sport fishing” concept is still part of the sailing sector. The first steps of the first motor hulls in this emerging category are very modest, inspired by professional fishing boats. We talk about “helmsmen”.
When this offer is at its peak, the “sea cruiser” around 10m long is considered to be a small yacht with growing performance levels that are highlighted by the trend for major offshore competitions held each year in England and Italy (Cowes-Torquay and Viareggio-Bastia-Viareggio).
Boat yards: new era
At the end of the decade, French yards are renowned for being very active across most of the market segments and the terminology used, promoted by the catalogues and the press, evolves under the American influence.
The former “holiday cruiser” becomes a “day cruiser”, with in-boards often 5 to 7.50 meters long, while outboards are generally 4 to 6 meters. These units all feature increasingly refined finishings, with an option for a toilet, roofs that were previously blind fitted with portholes, actual windows and a windscreen. The change in domestic comfort levels is naturally reflected in boats as well.
The dinghy has become an “open hull”, with many featuring a Z drive transmission.
Runabout models continue to be seen, while also increasingly being fitted out as well with benches that can be transformed into a sun deck and various storage spaces. We also talk about “in-board open hulls”.
Continuing to be at the summit in terms of rankings and pricing, the rapidly evolving “sea cruiser” is increasingly offered with a “flybridge”, a legacy inspired by Florida’s big-game fishing boats. The majority include diesel engines with V-drive and propeller shaft transmission systems.
A number of yards that have made the switch from wood to polyester decide to keep the same model names for their new versions using this emerging material. Potentially loyal customers will have less of a feeling of “downgrading”, even with slightly older preowned models.
Towards the end of the 1960s, the boat industry is also affected by the trend for business combinations or restructuring operations, illustrated by the creation of Yachting France or the acquisition of Jouët by Dubigeon Normandie.
While motorboat sales show very regular progress over the past 10 years, like during a risk-free takeoff phase, the following decade will be marked by a strong expansion, but with more turbulence.