Most people assume the yacht buying journey ends the moment you sign. Ask anyone who has stood on the docks in La Rochelle during Open Days, and they will tell you a different story.
Once a year, Fountaine Pajot takes over a big stretch of the harbor lock in La Rochelle for a week to share the full lineup of Fountaine Pajot and Dufour yachts. For a week, the town becomes part boat show, part factory tour, part reunion. This year carried extra weight: it marked Fountaine Pajot’s 50th anniversary, and the mood on the docks reflected it.
What Happens During Open Days
The setup itself is simple enough. Boats in the water, a VIP tent for hospitality, and a full week of test sails for clients considering their next boat. What sets the week apart is the order of it: clients get to walk around the factory and learn how the boats are built, then get on board and sail them, coming away with a real understanding of the brand rather than a spec sheet.
Here’s what that means for a prospective buyer: instead of comparing yachts across different showrooms and different sales teams over the course of months, you get one focused week to see how a boat comes together and then feel it under sail, with the people who build and support it standing right there.
The Week Starts with the Global Dealer Meeting
Open Days opens with a dealer meeting that brings together Fountaine Pajot’s sales and support teams from every corner of the world, before a single client sets foot on a boat.
“It’s sort of the Super Bowl of the brand,” said Jane Moede, Marketing Director at ACY Yachts, describing her first Open Days. “It’s this one moment where everyone comes together at once, instead of piecemeal, one meeting at a time. The dealer meeting reinvigorates the passion of anyone who works with the brand, and you get to meet the people behind Fountaine Pajot and really understand the vision.”
Dealers are also recognized for the past year’s performance. This year, ACY Yachts picked up the award for best communication across Fountaine Pajot’s global dealer network, a nice validation of a team that spends most of its year translating a French shipyard’s work into something clear and useful for American and Caribbean buyers.
Why the ACY Team Shows Up in Force
After the dealer meeting, the customer-facing part of the week begins.
“We were really the only dealership in the entire network with a support team like this on-site,” Says Chris Bent, Managing Partner of ACY Yachts. “From commissioning to sales support to the administration behind a boat deal, clients got to meet every person who would walk them through the process, start to finish.”
That extended past sales. ACY Yachts also brought its customer success team to the event.
“We brought Hallie and Ken, not just the sales team, which would have been the easy thing to do,” Jane said. “We made the investment to bring more of the team because we know how important that face time is for people asking questions about the process. I think that’s what sets us apart.”
It is also part of a broader pitch to anyone weighing where to buy a Fountaine Pajot.
“You can sail these boats all over the world, so where you buy from matters less on paper than it does in practice,” says Justin Joyner the EVP of marketing and sales. “We back that up with a support team that’s second to none, and we’re still the dealer people genuinely enjoy working with. You get both: the expertise and the experience. That’s a real differentiator between us and other Fountaine Pajot dealers, the ACY difference.”
Watching Your Boat Come to Life
For clients already in the process, Open Days is often the first time a boat feels real.
“I participated in one of the sea trials with a set of customers,” Jane said. “Just watching the excitement build, physically being on the boat, sitting at the helm for the first time. That was really special.”
The week also includes a factory tour of the boat production facilities located on the outskirts of the city, and this year the ACY sales team made the trip by bicycle rather than car, a nod to a city that has spent years prioritizing bike paths over traffic. It made for a good story back at the dinner table and a reminder that Open Days runs on more than spreadsheets and spec sheets.
There was plenty to see once everyone arrived. The FP 70, still under construction, had our experienced team impressed by its sheer size. The Fountaine Pajot 48 made its first appearance for most attendees. And the group got out on the water aboard the Dufour 54, rail down and sails full, the kind of sail that reminds a room full of catamaran owners why monohull sailing has its own devoted following.
A Community That Starts Before You Have the Keys
Open Days mixes first-time buyers with owners who have made the trip before. That combination is by design.
“For someone who just ordered a boat, they might not take delivery for a year,” Jane said. “Open Days is a chance to be welcomed into the community that has lasted for 50 years, to meet other owners and the Fountaine Pajot team and feel part of it before their boat is finished.”
ACY Yachts added its own layer on top of Fountaine Pajot’s programming this year, hosting a private owner’s party at a family home of Fountaine Pajot’s General Manager, the kind of evening that does not show up on any your average French travel itinerary. And the week closed on an unusually reflective note. Fountaine Pajot co-founder Jean-François Fountaine, gave a closing speech marking the company’s 50th anniversary as one of genuine appreciation for the team that helped him build the company and for all the owners that sail their boats all over the planet.
“‘For someone to give such a heartfelt speech, especially in a second language, was pretty special,” Justin said.
Is Open Days Part of Your Plan?
Open Days is not a casual open house. Spots are set aside for buyers who are seriously working through the decision, not simply browsing.
“Anyone seriously considering buying a boat should put this into their planning to get the full experience,” Justin said. “You won’t have any doubt you’re buying from the right people and the right manufacturer, whether it’s a monohull or a catamaran.”
The planning and the dreaming are not just a prelude to owning a Fountaine Pajot or Dufour. Time spent in La Rochelle, alongside the people and the community behind the brand, is part of what you are actually buying.
If you’re exploring a Fountaine Pajot or Dufour and want to know whether the next Open Days should be part of your plan, our team can walk you through it. Call us at 844.567.3087 or reach out to schedule a conversation.
