Sam Manuard Yacht Design

Racing and pushing boats to their limits helps you understand the powerful way they work and the performance challenge. My architectural approach is different in that it is based on experience.

Naval Architect

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RACER AND ARCHITECT

racer and an architect. A qualified geophysical engineer, at the age of 28 he chose to go back to his passion for ocean racing. He quickly made a name for himself by obtaining good results on a wide variety of boats, such as the Mini 6.50, Figaro-BENETEAU, Class 40, Orma and Multi 50.

When he doesn’t sail, Sam draws and designs sailing yachts, making the most of his racing experience. At sea, he is in full command of his boat, as he has a broad understanding of her potential and constraints. In his architect’s office, his vision is very pragmatic enabling him to develop winning boats. With numerous success stories in the design of racing boats, Sam Manuard has now extended his work to cruisers.

I am passionate, I have an inquiring mind, and I am interested in anything that floats, makes travel easy and gives few thrills!

THE SEASCAPE ADVENTURE

In 2009, he designed the first boat built by the young Slovenian boatyard called Seascape. The Seascape 18, a racing dayboat that can also be used as a cruiser, met with dazzling success and propelled the young boatyard to the forefront of recent trends in boat design. The deal to continue working together was sealed and Sam began to design the Seascape 27 enthusiastically. The boat made its first series of tacks in 2012. Then came the Seascape 24, which won the European Boat of the Year 2016 award, and the Seascape 14, launched in late 2017. They both made quick inroads into the dinghy for sheer pleasure category.

Modern racing cruisers must give their crews all the comfort they need without heavy or space-consuming luxuries inside or out. The main luxuries of this type of sailing yacht are safety, ergonomics and a performance similar to modern racing yachts but attainable with a limited crew.

SEASCAPE TO BENETEAU

Early this summer, BENETEAU bought Seascape with the goal of renewing its offer in a segment that shaped its history: small, affordable high-performance sailing yachts that everyone can sail. These four 14 to 27 foot Seascape boats, designed by Sam Manuard are easy to transport and sail, and meet all the requirements of a new generation of sailors keen to enjoy themselves without the burden of technical complexities. They are now the basis for the new First range and Sam Manuard will remain involved in the design of the bigger First sailing yachts of the 7th generation.

Sam is now thought of as one of the most talented of the new generation of naval architects. He began his sailing career as a racer in the mini class, and then moved on to designing boats. He now puts his talent to good use among big names in ocean racing. His boats win most of the class 40 races and he is the man behind the outstanding performance of the small new First sailing yachts.

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