Jeanneau History & Information
1956 Henri Jeanneau starts boat building in his Fathers workshop following his success in the "Six heures de Paris" power boat race.
1957 Creation of the first "Jeanneau" a simple wooden outboard motor dinghy
1958 The first "Jeanneau" fibre-glass hull moulded
1960 The "Calanque" speed boat, Jeanneau's first full production fibreglass boat
1970 First of 2800 Sangria sailing yachts produced
1970 - 1990 Corporate ownership change to United States based Bangor Punta. Some Jeanneau yachts produced under license in US, including the Rush (as Cal 9.2) and the Sun Fizz (as O'Day 39) Ownership subsequently reverted to France with acquisition by Chatellier SA
1990 Short lived joint venture with Italian Ferretti Craft to build the Yarding Yacht range
1990-1992 Sun Legende 41 produced under licence in Greece as the Olympic Sea 42
1995 Acquired by Groupe Beneteau to create the largest sailboat group worldwide
1995-1997 Polish built yachts include Sun Fast 17 & Sun Odyssey 24.1
2001 Jeanneau acquire control of Ostroda yachts in Poland
2006 Jeanneau celebrate 50 years of production
2008 Microcar division sold
Paris Boatshow 1959
Jeanneau custom projects created by JAT (Jeanneau Advanced Technologies) included some America's Cup boats and the Kevin Costner Waterworld trimarans'
JAT also created the Lagoon range of catamarans who are now a separate division of Groupe Beneteau. .
Between 1981-1985 O'Day built about 120 Sun Fizz yachts marketed as the O'Day 39. In 1986 this was remodeled by Hunt & Associates and produced as the O'Day 40.
Also between 1981 and 1984 the Ron Holland designed Rush was also manufactured in the USA under license by Cal (also owned at this time by the Bangor Punta group) at their Tampa Florida factory. as the Cal 9.2
During the 1990's TPI in the USA produced some Jeanneau Lagoon 37 catamarans
The Atlantic 44, built in Athens, Greece on license from Jeanneau, is almost identical to Jeanneau Sun Magic 44. Similarly the Sun Legende 41 was produced under license in Greece as the Olympic Sea 42
It is understood that a few Sun Fast yachts were produced in Australia under license, during the early 1990's.
Some Polish yards produced a number of Jeanneau Yachts and motorboats during the mid 1990's. Notably the Jacek Centowski designed Sun Odyssey 24.1. Following the 80 or so models produced under the Jeanneau brand during 1995 to 1997 these were continued to be produced in Poland and marketed under a variety of brands including:
Sportina 730: Clever 24.5: Sportlake 730; Apolonia 24; Noryacht 770: Fly23S and Delphia 24 (not sport)
Similarly the Sun Fast 17 continued as a non-Jeanneau in the guise of the Balt 17 Armor (ex Family 17)
Production sites
First factory
Les Herbiers Covered production area: 97 043 m² Total site area: 346 865 m²
Includes 6 sections
Corporate headquarters, senior management, advertising, marketing, administration, accounting and design office.
Bois Vert section 1: production of sailboats from 12 m to 17 m
Bois Vert section 2: production of the Sun Odyssey 54DS sailboat and large powerboats (Prestige range over 13m)
Bignon section: production of large Merry Fisher models and sailboats from 8 m to 11 m
Power section: production of small power boats and Prestige
Woodshop
Rochetrejoux Covered production area: 3 312 m²
Total site area: 12 701 m² Powerboat production from 7 m to 9 m
Nantes Covered production area: 2 100 m²
Total site area: 10 290 m² Production of the Prestige 36
Cholet Covered production area: 20 000 m²
Total site area: 170 000 m² Sailboat production from 10 to 14 m
Ostroda (Poland) Covered production area: 10 000 m²
Total site area: 49 667 m² Production of powerboats under 6 m
Global employment at June 2005 1900 people
Jeanneau Facilities
Les Herbiers produces Merry Fisher, Cap Camarat, Prestige 32 and the majority of the Sun Odyssey and Sun Fast range.
Rochetrejoux (also situated in Vendée) specialise in the manufacture of the Leader range and some small sailing yachts.
The Ostroda plant, who previously produced both the Sun Fast 20 and numerous Jeanneau motorboats supply additional production for some of the motor-boat range.
1969 Hull "Roadtest" 
1969 Volcan
Prelude 
Arcachonais
Jeanneau Links
