VPLP design

Racing prototypes and results

Since 1990, All of the VPLP boats are still undefeated at the Route du Rhum.^[3]

Sport boats

Custom yachts

Production yachts

VPLP worked on several serial production boats programs, including the Lagoon range from the beginning, The Outremer 5X and the power monohul dayboat Smartboat.

Waterworld

In 1994 VPLP designed the racing trimaran made famous by the movie Waterworld starring Kevin Costner. Two 60-foot (18 m) trimarans were built at Jeanneau’s racing division (Jeanneau Techniques Avancées),^[8] one a conventional trimaran capable of speeds in excess of 30 kn (56 km/h) and a second boat with unconventional features that allowed it to transform for certain scenes in the movie and was used for most of the onboard and special effects scenes. This second boat, although used for many of the close up scenes, was able to sail but was not capable of the speeds of the conventional trimaran.

Hydroptère

In 1994 plans for an experimental Hydrofoil prototype was commissioned for Alain Thebault. The first Hydroptère was a 60-foot (18 m) trimaran. In the following years four additional evolutions were built. In 2006 HYDROPTÈRE 5 was launched. This was the first boat to cross the 50-knot (93 km/h) barrier (51 knots speed record set in 2009^[9]).

Groupama 3

Groupama 3 and Franck Cammas
The prime design consideration for Groupama 3 was for a multihull which can be manipulated by a crew of ten people and not to make then LOA a defining characteristic thus Groupama 3 is not a maxi multihull!. It's a trimaran, which is also heavily inspired by Groupama 2, the 60-foot (18 m) ORMA : with the adoption of foils and the installation of three rudders, with a wide, open cockpit and a proportionally moderate sail plan. As a result, we opted for a relatively small boat which is rather light, progressive and very reactive. The deck plan enables the crew to manoeuvre faster in order to adjust the sail area to changes in condition and hence permanently exploit the trimaran's potential.

As the record programme included above all the Jules Verne Trophy, it was necessary to take into account the `Southern ocean' parameter: the foils are far forward so that the boat is nose up, the freeboard is high to prevent the bow from burying, the height of the mast limits the trim changes. The balance when sailing is considerably safer than on a 60-foot (18 m) Orma."^[10]

Groupama 3 was reconfigured for Franck Cammas to enter the 9th edition of the single handed Route de Rhum 2010 which started 31 October 2010. Groupama 3 was the first to finish in 9 days, 3 hours, 14 minutes and 47 seconds. The Route de Rhum takes place once every four years, is a single-handed race across the Atlantic starting in Saint-Malo, France and finishing in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.

Maxi Banque Populaire V

Banque Populaire V, the largest ocean racing trimaran in the world, was launched in August 2008 in Lorient (Brittany – France). Built at sites in Cherbourg, La Rochelle and Lorient, the construction of the maxi trimaran took 250 000 man hours of work, utilising a total workforce of some 170 people. Under the leadership Pascal Bidégorry, skipper of the Banque Populaire trimarans since 2004, the crew of the Maxi Banque Populaire V has embarked on a campaign to beat some of the most prestigious ocean racing records.

For VPLP, the challenge consisted of designing a fully crewed, no compromise multihull, which is totally versatile but very high-performing, suitable for a mixed programme, which is always seaworthy but cutting edge and progressive, but which always preserves the safety of the crew on board. At 40-metre (131 ft) trimaran, Maxi Banque Populaire V is, to date the largest ocean racing trimaran ever designed and built.

Pascal Bidégorry and his associate Ronan Lucas, the Director of the Team Banque Populaire, sought a design centred on a very specific idea:

“We wanted a big boat which would be able to sail fast safely but with a range of speeds, all that we knew we could master from a technological point of view”. Pascal Bidégorry skipper of Maxi Banque Populaire V.

BMW Oracle BOR 90

BMW Oracle winner America's Cup 33 - Deed of Gift
The 33rd America's Cup was held under a strict Deed of Gift^[11] rules: The first team to win two out of three races is the winner of the 33rd America’s Cup. It was specified by the cup holder SNG that the match be sailed in yachts 90 ft (27 m) by 90 ft (27 m), and so the Golden Gate Yacht Club developed their trimaran BOR (BMW Oracle Racing) 90, whilst the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) have opted for a giant catamaran, Alinghi 5. When it was proposed that the 33rd edition of the America's Cup would be contested with multihulls, BMW Oracle team immediately signed^[12] VPLP to their core design team

BMW ORACLE Racing 'BOR 90, sailed as USA 17' the American challenger, representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club, won the 33rd America’s Cup Match in Valencia, sweeping past the Swiss defender, Alinghi, to a 2-0 victory.

Race one, a windward - leeward course with 20-mile (32 km) legs, saw BMW ORACLE Racing's trimaran winning by 15.28 minutes. In race two, a triangle, with 13-mile (21 km) legs, the Challenger crossed the finishing line ahead by 5.26 minutes.

Multi One Design MOD 70

An one-design 70-foot (21 m) multihull designed to create a new class of oceangoing racer. When compared to its predecessor the ORMA 60. the MOD 70 is 10-foot (3.0 m) longer, 5 feet (1.5 m) narrower, carries less sailarea with a shorter rig and higher crossbeam clearance. The design concept was to sacrifice some of the ORMA 60's extreme performance for reduced cost, reliability and safety.^[13]