Sunreef Yachts
Through the Eyes of Its
CEO Francis Lapp
With no family tradition of sailing, Francis Lapp never imagined he would go on to establish a boatbuilding brand that would quietly upended the conventions of luxury yachting. Yet, within two decades, the former electrical engineer has fashioned the high-end catamaran builder Sunreef Yachts into a respected global name in sustainable yacht design. In an exclusive audio interview with Maison Ë, Francis Lapp discusses how Sunreef Yachts rebounded from a disappointing debut, why luxury buyers are increasingly choosing premium catamarans.
In Conversation with Francis Lapp
(Yachts)By reimagining design parameters to achieve not only optimal function and form but, more compellingly, a closer connection to the sea, Francis Lapp has emerged as a pioneer of the custom luxury multihull. His company, Sunreef Yachts, is known for sumptuous, spacious sailing and power catamarans, each build tailored to the client’s precise preferences. Yet the company’s true point of difference lies in its innovation: by applying breakthrough technologies—from hybrid propulsion to advanced solar integration—Sunreef has long championed a forward-thinking approach to sustainability.
Since the founding his of company in Gdańsk in 2002, Lapp has refused to follow the legacy yacht building playbook. Moving to Poland in the 1990s to start an electrical and industrial equipment manufacturing business, Lapp soon developed a passion for sailing and a love of racing fast, fun Hobie Cats. As his interest in multihulls grew, Lapp discovered limitations in design. A budding travel agency business he set up in Madagascar, specializing in yacht charters, revealed a glaring gap in the market.
“All the catamarans were made of plastic and composites,” he tells Maison Ë. “It was not the luxury I was looking for. So, I started a boatbuilding business.” Within a year, Lapp had launched the world’s first 74 ft luxury oceangoing catamaran with a flybridge, revealing a new page in yachting design history. More importantly, he rewrote the book on multihull design.
“With a 60 or 80 ft catamaran, you can
travel the world. It’s easier to
anchor off an island and be alone.”
Lapp found an unlikely ally in Poland’s former president Lech Wałęsa, who—by a fortuitous twist of fate—worked as an electrician in the Gdańsk shipyard where Sunreef was conceived. That partnership set the company on a steady course to success, and simultaneously earned Poland an international reputation for premium yacht builds.
Today, Sunreef has production facilities in Gdańsk and Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, and an eclectic client base from Asia to South America. Rafael Nadal and Fernando Alonso count among the brand’s high-profile ambassadors. From solar panel-integrated hulls to highly bespoke interiors, the company’s evolution echoes a deeper shift in yachting that favors understated style, greater silence on the water, and cleaner, more efficient cruising.