Sunreef sailboats: bespoke luxury catamarans built in-house from the keel up
Sunreef Yachts occupies the custom end of the catamaran market, and its own account of its founding — corroborated independently by Boat International and SuperYacht Times — describes a shipyard built specifically to fill a gap its founder couldn't find filled elsewhere: large, comfortable catamarans that simply weren't for sale when he went looking. That origin still shapes the company's identity. SuperYacht Times describes Sunreef as a shipyard specializing in bespoke luxury catamarans and multihull superyachts, with design, engineering, and finishing carried out in-house at its own Gdańsk facilities rather than farmed out to outside architects or subcontracted yards.
Origins and ownership
Francis Lapp was born in France in 1958 and began his career in electric power and construction, only finding his way to Poland — and eventually to yachting — as an avid rally enthusiast, first visiting the country to compete in a race organized by Warsaw's Automobile Club. Boat International notes he grew up in the mountains, far from any yachting hubs, and came to the business with an outsider's perspective. It was in Poland that he developed an interest in sailing, starting with small racing catamarans before buying his first larger cruising catamaran, which he based in Madagascar. As he acquired more boats he opened a charter travel agency specializing in the Indian Ocean; when growing client demand for bigger, more comfortable catamarans ran into a market with nothing suitable to buy, he decided to build his own. That decision became Sunreef Yachts, which Sunreef's own materials describe Lapp as founding in Gdańsk in 2002, on the site of the old Gdańsk Shipyard — a location the company notes witnessed the birth of the Solidarity movement. SuperYacht Times separately credits a second co-founder, Nicolas Lapp, who serves as the company's chief technology officer.
The designers
Sunreef keeps design and engineering in-house: SuperYacht Times describes the company's team as comprised of interior designers, naval architects, and engineers who build its catamarans without outside naval-architecture partners, and Sunreef's own materials say all engineering and handiwork happens at the Gdańsk shipyard. The one outside name that recurs in the shipyard's own history is sailor Laurent Bourgnon, credited alongside Sunreef for the 2008 design of the 70 Sunreef Power JAMBO, the company's account of the world's first double-deck power catamaran with oceanic range.
Construction through the eras
Sunreef's own timeline marks 2008 as the year it began producing carbon masts over 25 meters in-house, and 2013 as the year it moved into carbon hull construction, with the 80 Carbon Line Levante — described by the company as the world's first carbon catamaran-superyacht. In 2014, Sunreef says it followed with the world's first catamaran-superyacht built with a folding mast. Manufacturing capacity grew alongside the technique: a second Gdańsk production site added what the company describes as Europe's largest CNC machine, bringing composite work, carpentry, upholstery, and paint together under one roof, backed by a 300-ton floating crane capable, per the shipyard, of lifting yachts up to 210 feet. Its Eco range has since gained integrated solar power across two documented generations: Solar Skin 2.0 offered 24.8 percent efficiency and thermal stability above 100°C while staying compatible with dark paint finishes, and was durability-tested over 20,000 load cycles with RFID chips built into each panel for diagnostics. Its successor, Solar Skin 3.0, adds real-time yield optimization that adjusts electrical output for shading from sails or rigging, with panel layouts the company says were designed using machine-learning algorithms.
Lines and generations
Sunreef's range branches by mission rather than a single model line. The 2003 Sunreef 74 CHE, which the company describes as the world's first oceangoing luxury catamaran with a flybridge, was the shipyard's first build. Its superyacht sailing line began in 2010 with the Sunreef 102 Ipharra — the shipyard's first superyacht, built, notably, in aluminium — which the company describes as the world's first double-deck sailing catamaran; the Sunreef 114 Che, which the company describes as the world's biggest sloop-rigged catamaran, launched the same year. The Sunreef Supreme range began in 2016 with the Supreme 68. Separately, the Eco range pairs the shipyard's solar and hybrid technology with its cruising-catamaran hulls: SuperYacht Times lists it as running from the 50 Eco through the 60, 70, and 80 Eco, plus a newer 100 Eco, and reported the launch of that first 100 Eco sailing catamaran from the Gdańsk facilities. The power-catamaran line drew high-profile owners of its own: tennis player Rafael Nadal commissioned an 80 Sunreef Power in 2019, and Formula 1 drivers Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso became Sunreef Yachts Eco brand ambassadors in 2020 and 2021, with Alonso separately commissioning a 60 Sunreef Power Eco. SuperYacht Times also reports an active yacht-building partnership with Brabus Marine, alongside Axopar, per Brabus's own CEO.
Who Sunreef is for
Sunreef fits buyers who want a catamaran built to their own specification rather than off a fixed production line — a customer base its own history traces back to Francis Lapp's original problem: wanting a large catamaran that didn't exist yet, and building a shipyard to make it. That same logic scales from the carbon-hulled Carbon Line up through the aluminium superyacht series, all engineered and finished in-house at Sunreef's own Gdańsk facilities.