Marc Van Peteghem

Born on January 9, 1957 in Paris, Marc Van Peteghem studied at Southampton Solent University from 1977 to 1979 where he became a naval architect. There he met Vincent Lauriot-Prévost with whom he became a friend.[1]

In 1983, Vincent Lauriot-Prévost and Marc Van Peteghem became associates and founded the naval architecture agency VPLP (the acronym of the initials of their names: Van Peteghem and Lauriot Prévost).[2]

Together, they specialize in racing multihulls design. Their first boat is a 50-foot (15m) foiler baptized Gerard Lambert[3][4] and was the first in a long line of racing trimarans.

Their multihulls became famous and won many victories in races, including the America’s Cup in 2010[5] and records around the world. Later, this success would Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost international references in the field of naval architecture.[6]

VPLP also develops yachts such as « Douce France »[7] and « Hemisphere »,[8] which are the two largest cruising catamarans in the world.[9] The agency also works with the Groupe Bénéteau to design their cruising catamarans,[10] produced at nearly 3,000 units since 1986, and works with the shipyard Outremer.[11]

In 2004, Marc Van Peteghem meets Yves Marre and begins to work with him on a catamaran ambulance[12] for Bangladesh,[13] built in TaraTari Shipyard.[14] In 2010, he decided with Yves Marre, Alain Connan and Gerald Similowski to create NGO Watever which assists underprivileged populations living on the shores of oceans and rivers.[15][16] He is the President of the NGO.

In 2012, he co-found « The Sustainable Design School » with Maurille Larivière and Patrick Le Quément, a school of design and sustainable innovation based in Nice.[17]

In 2014, Marc Van Peteghem took part in TEDx Cannes with the talk "Let's reduce our fuel consumption at sea!"[18]

• Official website
• watever.org
• www.the-sds.com