The Dufour 30 Classic sailing yacht was the fifth model J&J designed for Groupe Dufour, the legendary French yard from La Rochelle.

Relatively small at 30 feet, the Dufour 30 Classic’s goal was to bring new blood to the brand—and to create a strong base of new customers who would eventually move on to bigger models. 

To do so in France, the world Mecca of sailboat design and production, was quite a job—especially during the very competitive days of 1996, when all makers were growing at high speed. Nevertheless, the energy, enthusiasm, experience and hard work Olivier Poncin and his team brought to the project made it easy. The head of development, Yann Chabaud, spent many weeks in our office—and yard—over four months, from the start of design work to the successful presentation of the first Dufour Classic 30 boat at the Paris boat show.  

Design, engineering, tooling and the Boat 1 build were all done in Slovenia. Harmony between the yard’s development team, production team and us at J&J allowed for the smooth, fast and efficient making of a new model. The resulting sailboat was well-mannered and balanced, simple and easy to sail (and sell), and of high quality and value. A bestseller. she remained in production for many years. 

When a Dufour 30 Classic was shown at the main square of La Rochelle, the heart of the world sailing industry, we felt like we’d walked straight in the lion’s den…