- Founded
- 2005
- Headquarters
- ZA Convenant Vraz, 22220 Minihy-Tréguier, Brittany, France
- Shipyard location
- Minihy-Tréguier (Tréguier), Brittany, France
- Official website
- https://www.boreal-yachts.com/
Brand Overview
Breton builder of aluminium centreboard expedition sailboats founded in 2005 by navigator-designer Jean-François Delvoye — four models from the 13.9-metre Boréal 44.2 to the 21.6-metre Boréal 70, built at Minihy-Tréguier for the tropics and the high latitudes alike.
YachtCodex Analysis
AI-generatedAn independent reading of this builder written by AI. Unlike the specifications and descriptions elsewhere on this page, it is interpretation rather than a sourced fact — treat it as a starting point, not a citation.
What this builder is
Boréal grew out of a voyage: Jean-François Delvoye spent six years sailing round the world with his wife and four children on a 12-metre boat he had built in his garden, ending with two years in the channels of Patagonia, and came home with notebooks full of what the ideal long-distance boat should have. He drew the 15-metre aluminium Boréal 50 in 3D; two were sold before the prototype touched the water, and the company was created in 2005 with three clients. In 2010 he was joined by Jean-François Eeman, for whom the first Boréal 44 was built, and later by Eric Vautrin, who now runs the yard with him while Delvoye heads the design office. Boréal Yachts SAS builds at ZA Convenant Vraz in Minihy-Tréguier, Brittany. The concept, as the yard sets it out, is a 'five-legged sheep': a ballasted centreboarder in 5086/5083 aluminium with triple chines, a keel stub that lets the boat dry out and houses engine, batteries and lead ballast, one centreboard and two raked rear daggerboards, an ice-breaker stem and watertight bulkheads, full insulation and double glazing, and a doghouse with a chart table and a 360° view. The current range is the 44.2 and 47.2, the 56 (a new hull succeeding the 52, 55 and 55 OC) and the 70 flagship, all drawn by Delvoye; each page lists length, waterline, beam, draught board up and down, sail area, engine, fuel and water.
Who sails them
Boréal owners are long-distance cruisers — couples and families, often with children aboard — who want a strong, simple, comfortable boat to live on for years and to take to Patagonia, the Arctic or the Polynesian lagoons, who value being able to dry out on a beach or slip into shallow anchorages, and who like to sail under shelter from a doghouse rather than out in the cockpit.
Signature models
The Boréal 44 was French Sailboat of the Year 2010 and won the same title in the Netherlands a year later; the Boréal 52 was European Yacht of the Year 2015 among bluewater cruisers, the 47 was overall Boat of the Year 2018 in the United States, and the 47.2 took the Voile Magazine jury prize and European Yacht of the Year 2021 in the bluewater class.
Strengths
The yard stresses the toughness of welded aluminium, the ability to beach and dry out on the keel stub, a low centre of gravity with engine, batteries, chain and ballast placed low and central, a centreboard with rear daggerboards that balance the helm, a protected doghouse and dedicated navigation area, insulation for cold and heat, large tanks and storage, and a design forged by its founders' own ocean miles.
Considerations
The English pages print engine power in 'cv' for the 44.2 and 47.2 and in 'hp' for the 56 and 70, so only the latter are stored as horsepower; the 47.2 page repeats the 44.2's beam, draught, sail area and tankage; displacement is published only for the 70; and the English and French Boréal 70 pages give different length, draught, weight and tank figures — the English set is stored, the French noted.
Analysis generated 10/18/2026
Part of
Boréal Yachts · since 2005
Fleet at a Glance
Calculated from the models in the YachtCodex catalog, not from the builder's claims.
- Models in catalog
- 4
- Length range
- 13.9–21.59 m
- Hull forms
- Sailing Monohull 4
Models by this brand
4 models
History
The first Boréal was born from the notebooks and sketchbooks Jean-François Delvoye kept on a six-year family voyage round the world with his wife and four children, aboard a 12-metre yacht he had built himself in his garden: from the Mediterranean to Cape Verde, Brazil and Argentina, ending with two years in the channels of Patagonia, asking every sailor they met what their boat lacked to be the best in the world. Back in France he drew the 15-metre aluminium Boréal 50 in every detail in 3D, meaning to build it and sail again; instead two yachts were sold before the prototype touched the water, and the company Boréal was created in 2005, a little by chance, with three experienced clients. In 2010 he joined forces with Jean-François Eeman, met on a pontoon in Ushuaia, for whose family the first Boréal 44 was built; when Eeman set off round the world again in 2020 on his Boréal 47, Eric Vautrin took the helm alongside Delvoye, who designs every boat and heads the design office while Vautrin looks after the clients. The Boréal 44, launched in 2009, was Yacht of the Year 2010 in France and in 2011 in the Netherlands; the Boréal 52 was European Yacht of the Year 2015 among bluewater cruisers; the Boréal 47, shown at Annapolis in 2017, was named Best Midsize Cruiser and overall Boat of the Year 2018; and the Boréal 47.2 won Voile Magazine's jury prize and European Yacht of the Year 2021 in the bluewater class.
History written fromboreal-yachts.com/boreal-histoire-2/?lang=en· Boreal, the storyread 10/18/2026