Amel Yachts
Encyclopedia
Chantiers Amel is a shipyard which was founded in La Rochelle
by French yacht designer Henri Amel in 1965.
The shipyard produces blue-water cruising fiberglass
ketch
s which included a popular 16 metre series branded Meltem, Mango, Super Maramu and Amel 54, as well as smaller sloop and ketch series branded Kirk, Fango, Euros, Sharki and Maramu. All discontinued series were designed by Henri Amel, who was blind for an extended period of his career. Yacht design is now outsourced to the Jean Berret & Olivier Racoupeau firm who have developed the Amel 64 flagship and the Amel 55, now in production.
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
by French yacht designer Henri Amel in 1965.
The shipyard produces blue-water cruising fiberglass
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
ketch
Ketch
A ketch is a sailing craft with two masts: a main mast, and a shorter mizzen mast abaft of the main mast, but forward of the rudder post. Both masts are rigged mainly fore-and-aft. From one to three jibs may be carried forward of the main mast when going to windward...
s which included a popular 16 metre series branded Meltem, Mango, Super Maramu and Amel 54, as well as smaller sloop and ketch series branded Kirk, Fango, Euros, Sharki and Maramu. All discontinued series were designed by Henri Amel, who was blind for an extended period of his career. Yacht design is now outsourced to the Jean Berret & Olivier Racoupeau firm who have developed the Amel 64 flagship and the Amel 55, now in production.