A day charter offer with associated services
Yann Herriot has joined forces with Cyril Ambrosi, director of the shipyard that builds the Orphie 29, which for the record belonged to Yann's father. Winners of the Entreprendre network since September 2020, the two partners successfully raised 193,000 euros from individuals to launch their company. They then commissioned the architecture firm Piaton Bercault & Co to draw up the plans for the Orphie 29, an electric trimaran dedicated to day charter.
The objective of Orphie Boats is to offer a turnkey solution for the operation of day charters with an associated service offer to provide a sailing experience to individuals:
- Digital platform for marketing, management and promotion
- Ongoing maintenance, technical assistance and training
- Preferred partnership solutions for financing.
"Our business model is B to B to C. Our clients are people who are involved in rental management, boat clubs or hotel chains. We offer them a turnkey solution with a boat, a digital platform, a maintenance service and financing solutions. The Orphie 29 is also a boat that could appeal to private individuals, but which would require adjustments to the new layout and a fairly large budget of around 200,000 euros excluding tax. But our core target is the seasonal operation by professionals" explains Yann Herriot, founder of Orphie.
Each boat is marketed at a price of 165,000 euros (excluding tax) with engine, including skipper training. Each trip costs 1,300 euros for a group of 10 people who can take the boat out for a day at sea to discover the local environment. Reservations can be made directly online on the brand's website. Numerous services are available, such as meals on board.
The first unit is already rented in Hyères at Riding Watt, and the company is currently in talks for a winter season in the West Indies. The goal is to be able to offer this solution throughout the world.
Pay as you go
Currently, the company is testing a "Pay as you go" payment option. This means that the customer pays as they go.
"He signs a license contract and pays for part of the sea trips he has made, which allows him to finance the boat. Eventually, he can buy the boat in parallel with the brand's operating license, through leasing. We are also going to develop this offer to private individuals through management/leasing and BoatClubs. This is my long-term vision. Accompanying customers on several accompanied outings so that they acquire the necessary autonomy to take control of the boat on their own via the BoatClubs" says Yann Herriot.
A composite wood construction
The Orphie 29 is built with plywood, a construction method that has three advantages, according to Yann Herriot. First, a more sustainable construction, with the use of wood on the one hand, and the use of biosourced resin on the other.
On the other hand, the speed of implementation. Here, no molds, but a digital cutting according to the plans of the boat and an assembly.
"It allows us to inject innovation very easily. We can take existing plans, and modify them: change the length, create technical boats for national parks, add foils for areas where there are long distances to cover... We are also working on hydrogen propulsion." explains Yann Herriot.
Finally, this type of construction allows us to work with sites all over the world, whether for construction or maintenance.
"Scalability is not about having a big factory that builds boats, but rather being able to provide plans to small local entities. The idea is to have a parent company whose workshop designs, develops and tests the units while being able to localize production by developing local partnerships to build the boats." concludes Yann Herriot.
