Sunreef’s offices at its main shipyard in Gdansk

For Sunreef Yachts, 100 is the new normal. At least, that’s the case in the newest and biggest of Sunreef’s two facilities along the Martwa Wisla (‘dead Vistula’) river in Gdansk, the city where Frenchman Francis Lapp founded the company in 2002 in the historic Gdansk Shipyard.

The Sunreef 100 Eco sailing catamaran, Ipharra, at this year’s Monaco Yacht Show is the model’s first unit and marks a world premiere. However, there are already seven units of the 100 Sunreef Power in the water including one Eco version, Double Happiness. And there are many more 100s coming, across both power and sail – at least a dozen or so.

Launched ahead of her debut at Monaco Yacht Show 2026, the first 100 Eco sail cat joins seven 100 Sunreef Power models in the water

Sunreef revealed the plethora of 100 models that it’s building during a tour of its main facility in Gdansk this summer, when Yacht Style was able to see hull after hull under construction at the 81,000sqm site beside the John Paul II Bridge in the east of Gdansk. 

Four years earlier, the 80 – both sail and power – was the ‘normal’ in the new facility, which became increasingly operational from the start of this decade as Sunreef’s growth escalated due to overwhelming sales during the Covid era.

In 2021, the first 100 Sunreef Power was launched at Sunreef’s then-new facility in Gdansk 

The brand has also benefited from celebrity clients and ambassadors. Rafa Nadal is among Sunreef yacht owners, with the tennis icon taking delivery of his 80 Sunreef Power in his native Mallorca in 2020. Three years later, compatriot Fernando Alonso took time out during the F1 season to receive his 60 Sunreef Power Eco, as the shipyard’s industry-leading solar-electric offering was in full swing.

Fortunately for Sunreef, it appears as though the catamaran builder has sidestepped the ‘slowdown’ that other builders have suffered post-Covid, one reason it continues to operate in its original 35,000sqm Gdansk Shipyard facility.

Overview of Sunreef’s main facility, by the Martwa Wisla river

“We build all our models from 80ft and above in the new facility, and all our 60 and 70 model catamarans in the Gdansk Shipyard,” said Artur Poloczanski, Sunreef’s Public Relations Director, who has worked for Sunreef since 2013.

“We had planned to move out of the original shipyard once the new facility was up and running, but we need to keep operating there due to orders. Last year, in Gdansk alone, we delivered about 15 catamarans in the new facility and 15 in the old.”

Remarkably, those figures don’t include the much-anticipated 43M Eco, a 140ft solar-electric sailing catamaran with multiple orders and whose first unit is due to launch by the end of 2026.

Hall H is a major new addition to the Gdansk facility 

As if all that wasn’t enough, Sunreef has added a third facility, in the UAE, where it secured a 65,000sqm site in Ras Al Khaimah and began operating in 2023, having opened a Dubai sales office earlier in the year. Lapp, now a French and Polish citizen, spends most of his time in the UAE, while still retaining a purpose-built ‘home’ on the site of the new Gdansk facility.

The Ras Al Khaimah factory is focused on the production of Ultima powercats, starting with the 55 that premiered at the 2025 Dubai International Boat Show. The next new model out was the 88, with hull one launching earlier this year, months ahead of its debut at the 49th Cannes Yachting Festival.

Earlier this year, Sunreef stated it had secured close to 30 orders for the Ultima 88, with Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz among buyers, although that figure has risen to above 40 following orders taken at this year’s Cannes Yachting Festival.

Carlos Alcaraz (right) tours the Gdansk facility, although the Ultima 88 he has ordered is being built in the UAE

Meanwhile, Polish football star Robert Lewandowski is among those to order an 80 Next, with ‘Next’ representing the second generation of the 60, 70, 80 and 100 models – sail and power – that boosted global orders for Sunreef catamarans from 2018 onwards.

Today, Sunreef has about 1,900 employees across its two Gdansk shipyards and expects to have close to 2,000 in Ras Al Khaimah by the end of the year. It ranks sixth in the 2026 edition of the Global Order Book for 24m-plus yachts, and is the only dedicated catamaran builder in the top 20.

Buoyed by its continuing success, Sunreef has announced a business plan designed to scale the company towards €1 billion in annual revenue by 2030.

GALEON’S PIONEERING PATH

If Sunreef is a story of a French entrepreneur, Polish workmanship and overseas expansion, Galeon is an all-Polish success story. Today, the shipyard has about 1,000 employees and produces 80-90 boats a year for markets around the world including Asia, where Asiamarine has represented the brand in key markets since 2016.

A world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Yachting Festival, the Galeon 430 Explorer was a winner at the 2026 Gdynia Polboat Awards in July

Galeon’s story started in 1982 when naval engineer Wieczysław ‘Janek’ Kobylko founded his company in Straszyn, on the southern outskirts of Gdansk. Initially producing automotive parts and fibreglass components for boatbuilders, it started working with Jeanneau from 1992 and began producing its own boats, including the 280 Fly and 380 Fly from 1996.

Galeon started building larger motoryachts in the early 2000s after employing the design services of Tony Castro following a meeting at the Southampton International Boat Show in the UK, forging a working relationship that continues today.

Galeon’s Pawel Gorski is interviewed on the 430 Explorer during the 2026 Polboat Yachting Festival in Gdynia’s Marina Yacht Park

In 2010, the company opened its second, larger facility in Wislinka, a half-hour drive east of Gdansk but also on the Martwa Wisla. This site remains the company’s main facility and includes its own marina by the river, which allows the yachts easy access into Gdansk Bay and the Baltic Sea.

Since 2012, the company has been led by Janek’s son, who has overseen the company’s most remarkable period of growth.

This was spearheaded by two major developments, including the 2015 introduction of the 500 Fly, whose ‘Beach Mode’ offerings included fold-down cockpit sides, port side bar stools and a rotating cockpit sofa, with the balconies since copied by almost all its competitors.

Asiamarine has sold a Galeon 520 Fly, which debuted at the Palm Beach show in March 2026

Meanwhile, Galeon’s first exports to the US in 2014 were followed by the appointment of MarineMax as its American dealer in early 2016, leading to the shipyard doubling its production within four years.

Working with Castro, Galeon has pushed design boundaries in the 30-80ft motoryacht sector for over a decade. Balconies, foredeck doors, opening saloon windows, sliding side doors, waterside bars, convertible furniture and many other flexible designs have made Galeon yachts the ‘Transformers’ of the boating world.

While the company’s extensive Flybridge line – from the 360 Fly to the flagship 800 Fly – remains the heart of its production, there are also Hard Top and Sport Cruiser models under 50ft, while the evolving Skydeck series soars from the 470 Sky to the popular 700 Sky.

Galeon boats are renowned for transformer-style features

Post Covid, Galeon added the fun-filled, performance-focused Grand Touring Outboards series, now comprising the 335 GTO, 375 GTO, 435 GTO and inboard 435 GTI. 

However, Explorer is its newest range, led by the towering, trawler-styled 430 Exp that debuted at the 2025 Cannes Yachting Festival. Taking Galeon on a completely new course in terms of exterior design, the 430 Explorer earned acclaim this July as the ‘Motorboats over 12m’ winner in the 2026 Gdynia Polboat Awards, presented on the first evening of the Polboat Yachting Festival in Gdynia.

In the past two years, Galeon has also started a new chapter of interior design with In Situ & Partners, a Hong Kong-based specialist in the hospitality, retail and residential sectors.

Galeon’s 570 Sky is set to debut at the 2026 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show

The company’s work for Galeon was first seen on the upgraded 640 Fly presented at Boot Düsseldorf in January 2025. Its subsequent designs for new models include the 620 Fly, 520 Fly and 570 Sky, the latter due to debut at this year’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (October 28-November 1), while its choice of moods are now also available on existing models including the 700 Sky.

SHIPS TO SUPERYACHTS

Conrad, headed by Mikolaj Król, is a 21st-century Polish success in the superyacht sector and operates as part of the Marine Projects commercial shipyard, located on the opposite side of the Martwa Wisla from Sunreef.

Conrad, led by CEO Mikolaj Król, is part of Marine Projects 

Król was working in the design department in 2002 when the company received its first superyacht order, from an American client. The Conrad brand was created in 2003 to manage the shipyard’s superyacht projects and following the successful launch of Escape S the following year, Król was named CEO of the new company.

Builds have included the 35m sailing yacht Lunar (2013) designed by Frank Neubelt and the 40m motoryacht Viatoris (2018), which appeared at both the Cannes Yachting Festival and Monaco Yacht Show in 2018.

Viatoris features exterior design by UK-based Reymond Langton, naval architecture by Dutch studio Diana Yacht Design and in-house interiors. Adding a plumb bow to the design led to Conrad’s most successful model, the C144S, with ‘S’ standing for the straight bow.

Featuring exterior design by Reymond Langton and interiors by m2atelier, Extra Time is the second of three C-144S models delivered to date

Ace, the first C144S, was built for a Swiss client, featured an interior by Italy’s m2atelier, and was delivered in early 2023 before appearing at the Monaco show later that year.

The second unit, Extra Time, was built for a French client and handed over in 2024. The third, Moonlight, was delivered earlier this year to a Middle East client, and is distinguished from earlier hulls by having interiors and exterior social areas by Italian studio Nauta. 

Conrad is building a 42m Frank Neubelt-designed sailboat

Conrad’s current projects include a 42m high-performance aluminium sailing yacht designed by Neubelt, which could launch in late 2027.

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Note: The original version of this article appears in Yacht Style Issue 91