Designed by Sébastien Schmidt design office in 2004, the Decision 35 (D35) is a demanding boat exclusively meant for competition. It is a multihull specifically designed for light wind conditions, prevailing on Lake Geneva. Her weight/power ratio is exceptional.

The D35 was developed around 2000 as a response to the ever-increasing costs and extremism in multihull sailing on Lake Geneva. A group of owners got together with designer Sebastien Schmidt to bring to life a fast, high-tech, but affordable one-design catamaran, keeping in mind a class spirit and the limitation of costs.

The class has gone from strength to strength ever since, now numbering twelve boats.

With a length of 35 feet (10,81 meters), for a mast height of over 20 meters, the D35 is a boat which combines great technological qualities. The prepreg carbon hull, thinner than a millimeter, perfectly illustrates it.

Her structure presents a unique characteristic: the boat is made of three hulls, but only two are floats.

 The central ‘pod’ is used to tie the structure together and withstand the stresses from the platform and rig. All together light and powerful, this solution allows an excellent aerodynamics. Fine carbon-nomex sandwich used for the hulls means the structure is light (total weight of 1200 kg).

Hull Length : 10.81m
Length Overall LOA : 14.95m
Width of Hull : 6.89m
Overall Width : 8.74m
Dry weight : 1200kg
Main Sail Area : 81.6m2
Jib Area : 21m2
Solent Area : 40.7m2
Genoa : 70.8m2
Reacher : 131.1m2
Crew : 5 (minimum)
Crew weight : 456kg (maximum)

The Design Team, headed by the naval architecture firm sebschmidt, is made of the following people:

Damien Cardenoso, Bertrand Cardis, Christian Favre, Jean-Marie Fragnière, Gerard Gautier, Rémi Laval-Jeantet, Steve Wasem, under the supervision of Sebastien Schmidt. www.sebschmidt.ch

Taking part in projects as diverse as building the boats of Team Alinghi for the America’s Cup, the administrative center of Nestle in Vevey – architectural and engineering feat – or the solar aircraft of Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, SolarImpulse, indeed shows the expertise in composite materials of Decision, whatever the field of use.

The construction of the D35 permanently places the yard as a reference for shipbuilding.

Since its creation in 1983, Decision builds structures whose common base is the creative exploitation of research on composite materials. The expertise gained in carbon fibers, aramid or glass has applications in boatbuilding industry, but also in building,  industry  and sports.