France · Founded 1964 · Fountaine PajotDufour Yachts
The La Rochelle monohull specialist, drawn by Umberto Felci, that keeps a sailing bias where most of the segment chased volume.
The story
Michel Dufour was an engineer and a racer, and the boats that carried his name from 1964 showed it: the Sylphe, then the Arpège of 1967, were fast, well-built and unusually well finished for the period — over 1,500 Arpèges were sold, an enormous figure for the time. The yard built its reputation on boats that could be raced on Sunday and cruised in August without apology for either.
After several changes of ownership, Dufour settled into a clear position: a full range of cruising monohulls from 32 to 61 feet, naval architecture entrusted to the Italian Umberto Felci since the early 2000s, and hulls that consistently carry more sail area and a finer entry than the volume competition. The yard was acquired by Fountaine Pajot in 2018, giving the group a monohull arm alongside its catamarans while leaving the Dufour design language intact.
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