Discover our world of tenders, combining lightweight carbon construction, exceptional craftsmanship and refined design. AST - Yachts & Composites was founded in summer 2017. The summer when the fleet of the racing A-Class catamarans started to foil. Among them CEO and owner Thilo Keller, who invented the ACC - Automatic Cant Control, the very first stable foil system. Thilo has been sailing and racing A-Class catamarans for almost 2 decades, won 20 international titles and always pushed the technical boundaries of this development sailing class. Not only did he built his own boats since he couldn’t afford a new boat as a student, he also started his first serial production in 2010 when he was 23 years old. He majored in Naval Architecture to quench his thirst for knowledge and specialized in hydro dynamics and yacht design. During a sailing regatta at university he met Catarina Jentzsch, the other future CEO and owner of AST. They soon had their first project together: a solid wing for the A-Class weighing only 26kg with a sail area of 13.94m². Both finished their Master’s and Diploma studies and worked several years in the industry before the decided to run their own projects again. In 2017 AST started their business with what they know best: building high-performance boats and light weight composite parts. The first serial product to launch was The Foiling Dinghy. A singlehanded dinghy with the trickled-down foil system from the A-Class racing. The idea was to bring foiling into the mass market: Foiling for everyone. The Foiling Dinghy turned out to be a huge success with 120 boats built in the first 2 years of serial production. 2020 they presented their first rigid carbon tender with the pedigree of their racing yachts. The ASTender is another example of ASTs capabilities to build boats from sailors for sailors. Throughout the young history of the company they’ve always remained true to their ideals of industrializing boatbuilding in their home country Germany.
