Garcia Exploration 45

Design

Naval architect

Olivier Racoupeau

Summary

Best Suited For

• Liveaboard

  From the published figures: LOA 14.88 m · 3 cabins · fresh water 500 L

Tags are derived from certified class, length, sail area, accommodation and tankage using the criteria described on the Sources page; an editor may add or remove one.

Sailing Ratios

Classic yacht-design ratios worked out from the builder's published figures, each shown against the bands designers read it by.

Most builders publish a light displacement. The ratios were defined on a loaded boat, so every boat here reads a little lighter than a surveyor's figure would — all alike, which keeps them comparable.

Tanks

What the builder publishes about how fast, how strong and how much the boat carries.

Dimensions

LOA

48.8 ft (14.88 m)

Hull length

44.3 ft (13.49 m)

LWL

—

Beam

14.6 ft (4.44 m)

Draft (min)

3.7 ft (1.14 m)

Draft (max)

9.5 ft (2.9 m)

Air draft

65 ft (19.8 m)

Displacement

32,209 lb (14,610 kg)

Ballast

10,009 lb (4,540 kg)

Cabins

2–3

Heads

—

Berths

5–8

Sail Plan

Main sail

—

Jib

—

Genoa

—

Sail area

980 ft² (91 m²)

Downwind sail area

1,722 ft² (160 m²)

Rig type

—

Engine and Tanks

Engine

80 hp

Engine count

1

Engine manufacturer

—

Propulsion type

—

Fuel capacity

185 gal (700 L)

Fresh water capacity

132 gal (500 L)

Black water capacity

—

Construction

Mast material

Aluminium

Hull material

Aluminium

Deck material

—

Keel type

Integral centreboard

Rudder type

—

Steering wheels

—

Builder's Own Figures

Spinnaker

160 m2

Gennaker

90 m2

Engine (brochure)

75 CV

Displacement

est.

Engine (site)

80 CV / 59.5 kW

Layouts & Drawings

3 drawings from the builder's page: general arrangement, sail plan, profile.

• 

  VERSION_standard--EXPLORATION_45 — Garcia Yachts

• 

  VERSION_confort--EXPLORATION_45 — Garcia Yachts

• 

  VERSION_famille---EXPLORATION_45 — Garcia Yachts

Brochure

Films of this model from the builder's official YouTube channel (Garcia Yachts). They are the builder's own; the figures above are the reference.

• 

  Why This Garcia Exploration 45 Was Built for Arctic Sailing | AKOR Expedition

  Garcia Yachts · 8/13/2026

Videos whose title names the Garcia Exploration 45, from the channel the builder's site links; last checked 9/30/2026. Playing one loads YouTube's player, which may set cookies.

About Garcia Yachts

Semi-custom

French builder of aluminium blue-water cruising and exploration sailing yachts, founded in Normandy in 1974 and now part of the Grand Large Yachting group.

In 1974 two metalworker brothers, Jean-Pierre and Jean-Louis Garcia, founded a shipyard in Normandy and, inspired by Moitessier and Slocum, built some sixty steel boats that made the yard's name on ocean-cruising routes. Aluminium arrived in 1984 with the 36.15 MET, a minimalist 60-footer built with Jean-Luc Van den Heede that took third place in the first Vendée Globe, followed by the Passoa range of 43 to 55 feet and the Nouanni. The 2000s were the one-off years -- Zurbagan, a 90-footer by Vaton and Couedel, won the Super Yacht Design Award in 2006 -- and in 2010 Garcia joined the Grand Large Yachting group. In 2013 the Exploration range was launched with the navigator Jimmy Cornell, whose Exploration 45 made the Northwest Passage in 2015; the concept grew to a catamaran in 2020 and to 60-footers in 2021, and three more Exploration 45s made the Passage in 2024. More than four hundred bluewater cruisers have left the workshops in fifty years.

The Garcia Yachts Range

Every model Garcia Yachts publishes, by length — where this one sits in the range.

1. Garcia Exploration 6064 ft
2. Garcia Explocat 5255.6 ft
3. Garcia Exploration 5254.6 ft
4. Garcia Exploration 45· this model48.8 ft

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