Excess Riders’ Edition
Turning a Catamaran into a Base Camp for Adventure
Earlier in the year, Excess launched the Riders’ Edition, a factory pack for the Excess 11 and Excess 14 built around one idea: kitting the boat out as the launch point for your next adventure. The Riders’ Edition equips it to carry kayaks, mountain bikes, dive gear and paddleboards, and to support whatever you do once you step off the transom.
And to go with it, the French brand has a new ambassador series, Meet the Riders, in which they profile adventurers who share the same instinct for adventure: read the terrain, pick your line, go further. So far they have teamed up with a whitewater kayaker and a mountain bike champion.
Below, we break down what the pack includes, what each item is for, and how the two ambassadors fit into the story.
What’s in the Riders’ Edition pack
The pack is split into three groups: gear for sailing performance, gear for recovering and equipment that extends how long you can stay off grid.
| What you get | What it brings |
|---|---|
| Performance sails with Pulse Line rigging | Sharper sail trim and easier handling for covering more ground between anchorages |
| Black helms | A dedicated, purposeful look at the helm to match the pack’s positioning |
| Electric inflator | Fast setup for tenders, SUPs and packrafts without manual pumping |
| Fishing rod holders | Built-in fishing on passage or at anchor |
| Custom dinghy | A tender sized for reaching remote coves, beaches and trailheads |
| Garmin Quatix 8 watch | Navigation, tracking and boat data on your wrist while you are off the boat |
| Sunbrella indoor and outdoor upholstery | Durable, salt and UV resistant seating that copes with wet gear and constant use |
| 727 Sailbags cushion kit | Recycled sailcloth cushions built for a hard-use boat |
| 727 Sailbags modular maxi pouf | Flexible outdoor seating that adapts to guests, gear or downtime |
| Integrated water purification system | Extended time at anchor without relying on shore water or bottled supplies |
| Electric plancha | Cooking on deck after a day on the water, no return to a marina galley needed |
The pack is available on the Excess 11 (11.42 m / 37’5″, sleeps 6 to 12) and the Excess 14 (13.97 to 15.99 m / 45’9″ to 52’5″, sleeps 6 to 12), so it scales from the smaller expedition boat to the larger platform for bigger teams and more gear.
Launch offer: the first eight Riders’ Edition packs sold worldwide come with additional outdoor kit at an estimated value of €2,500: an Excess windsurf board, two SENA helmets, two Musto bob hats and an original artwork from the “Energy” collection by artist and surfer Peïo. Excess reserves the right to substitute items of equivalent value, and the offer cannot be combined with other promotions.
Technical partners behind the pack include Garmin, 727 Sailbags, SENA and Musto, alongside Jaws (packrafts) and SUNN (mountain bikes), whose products feature in the ambassador stories below.
Meet the Riders: Paul Aubertin, Extreme Kayaker
The first ambassador is Paul Aubertin, a whitewater kayaker from Vosges in France whose expeditions have taken him from Costa Rica to the Balkans, Africa and the Italian Alps, often on rivers and in canyons that are only reachable by kayak or packraft. His approach centres on what kayakers call “the line,” the ideal trajectory through moving water, a concept Excess draws a direct comparison to, where trim, heading and timing are all important factors.
On expedition, Aubertin relies on a Jaws packraft: an ultra-light inflatable boat designed to pack into a bag, a backpack or a boat locker, built from technical materials for durability and UV resistance. Those same qualities, portability, resistance to salt and sun, ease of stowage, are what make it a fit for a catamaran that needs to carry gear without adding bulk.
Meet Lucas Frigout, Mountain Bike Champion
The second ambassador, Lucas Frigout, sees the catamaran as a floating base camp for mountain bike expeditions. One of his standout memories: dropping anchor at the foot of a volcano in Italy’s Aeolian Islands, climbing, then riding 500 metres of vertical descent down black volcanic earth with the boat visible the whole way down.
Frigout shares his expertise about what an expedition like that takes: reading weather windows, planning access and water points along a route, and packing gear that is light but ready for anything, bikes, tools, spare parts, technical clothing, electronics protected from humidity.
Securing bikes against boat motion and protecting them from salt corrosion, on chains and bearings especially, is part of his routine before any crossing. He rides a Radical Factory by SUNN, a carbon downhill bike with a slack 64° head angle built for steep, technical terrain, developed using telemetry and suspension work borrowed from Formula 1.
His view on exploring sums up the ethos behind the Riders’ Edition: it means stepping outside your comfort zone and going to see what is out there. You find out by going. you can read the full article here.
More Adventures within Reach?
The Riders’ Edition is designed around the idea that your gear and your boat should work together, not around one specific sport. That opens up a wide range of ways to use the pack beyond kayaking and mountain biking:
- Ocean cliff rock climbing: Mallorca’s north and west coasts, around areas like Cala Magraner and Sa Gubia, offer sea cliff climbing accessible by tender, with the boat doubling as a base to dry off and warm up between routes.
- Foiling: open water off anchorages give space to run a wing foil or hydrofoil board without dodging beach traffic, launched straight off the transom.
- Freediving: Clear water and steep underwater terrain suit freediving, and an anchored catamaran works as a surface support point between dives.
- Scuba diving: wrecks and reef systems are reachable by tender from an anchorage, with the boat’s water and power systems supporting kit rinsing and air refills where equipment allows.
- SUP safaris: sheltered coves along the coast suit multi-hour paddleboard routes launched and finished from the boat, with the electric inflator cutting setup time.
- Caving: coastal caves or the wider karst systems are often only reachable by sea or a long walk, making an anchored boat the practical way in.
Tripls like these need a catamaran set up to carry the gear, keep it dry and salt free, and get you back on board ready to do it again the next day.
The Excess Riders’ Edition, in other words!