One of the projects closest to our hearts was our first opportunity to work with Jeanneau’s legendary “concepteur” Hugues Huisson. We were delighted to also team again with Patrice Crepeaud, the Vendean loyalist who led the Jeanneau design office, to develop a new project for the yard. 

The excellent teamwork brought forth not only a good design for the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45.1, but also a very advanced tooling and production process concept that built upon the strengths all main European boatbuilding cultures. 

The result was a “classic” design in all respects: three- or four-cabin, with two large bathrooms, a clean deck with simple handling of sails and maneuvers, and a large cockpit. A sweet classical sheerline distinguished the 45.1 from the rest of Jeanneau fleet—and most of the other boats on the water. Well-balanced and well-behaved in all conditions (even with non-expert crew), fast and sea-kindly, easy to clean and maintain, the Sun Odyssey 45.1 became a favorite of the owner market and of owner-charter fleets. The solid, strong, and well-built boat with good value was liked on both sides of Atlantic and remained in the yard’s offer for ten years, with more than a thousand units sold.