Catana, the French Daggerboard Cat Brand Behind Catana Group

From a bluewater brand to a listed group

Catana made its name with fast, comparatively light bluewater catamarans fitted with daggerboards, the kind of boat ocean cruisers choose when they care about upwind performance and daily runs. In 2003 Olivier Poncin bought the brand. A few years later he concluded that the bluewater catamaran market was too small for financial stability and launched a far more cruising-oriented line, Bali, whose first boat appeared in September 2014.

Today Catana Group is listed on Euronext Paris and employs about 1,300 people at four boat production sites: Canet-en-Roussillon in the south of France, its historic headquarters, Marans near La Rochelle, El Haouaria in Tunisia and a site in Portugal, plus a joinery shop in Rivesaltes. Bali now sits alongside the Catana name, which continues as the group's performance line with its Ocean Class models.

The Catana 90, a one-of-one flagship

Our model page covers the Catana 90, a one-off built at Canet-en-Roussillon in 2008 for an owner who had already sailed around the world on a Catana 582. He specified almost every detail. The result, Orion, is a 90-foot daggerboard catamaran with a 38-foot 3-inch beam, a 126-foot carbon mast, a carbon boom and twin Perkins Sabre diesels. Draft runs from about 5 feet 5 inches with boards up to 15 feet 5 inches with boards down.

Orion has been refitted steadily, with new sails and Kevlar shrouds in 2022 and a lithium house bank in 2024, and in 2026 she was listed in the Caribbean at $1,399,000. Anyone searching for a Catana 90 is looking at this single boat.

Buying a used Catana in the US

Catanas are prized by experienced multihull sailors, and well-kept boats tend to hold value because the daggerboard performance niche is small and loyal. Supply in the US is thin, with many boats arriving from the Caribbean and Europe, so expect to travel for surveys and to budget for import paperwork on European boats. Older Catanas also need specialist attention to board trunks and structures that heavier charter-oriented cats do not have.

Parts and warranty questions go through Catana Group in France, while engines, rigs and electronics are serviced by their own networks.

• Inspect daggerboard trunks, boards and lifting gear for cracks.
• Survey crossbeams and any longeron for stress cracking.
• Check rudder bearings and steering systems.
• Review engine hours and saildrive or shaft seals.
• Have a rigger survey the mast, standing rigging and chainplates.