VPLP Design team wishes you a Happy New Year 2020
VPLP designs its first maritime transport ship using Oceanwings®
The naval architecture firm has reached a new milestone with the development of a 121-metre-long RORO vessel for transporting components of the Ariane 6 rocket from Europe to French Guiana. Equipped with four Oceanwings®, the vessel is designed to have the least impact possible on the environment.
The Figaro 3: first season review… A triumph!
The Figaro Beneteau 3 concluded its first season of racing on Saturday 14 September at La Trinité Sur Mer with the final leg of the Round Brittany Race. It had been a heavy schedule comprising the five events of the France Elite offshore racing championship, and marked by an outstanding Solitaire du Figaro. Vincent Lauriot-Prévost reviews the first year of the firm’s one-design foiler.
Hugo Boss: an exciting and radical new IMOCA
For VPLP Design the new Hugo Boss is more than just the second 2020 generation IMOCA to be designed by the firm after Charal, it is a project milestone. Officially unveiled on Thursday 19 September in London, skipper Alex Thomson’s new sailing machine is designed to achieve one single goal: win the next solo round-the-world race (the Englishman was runner-up in the 2016–17 Vendée Globe).
Gunboat 68, a concentrate of VPLP know-how
“ll okay from Condor,” read the email sent in early April to all the teams which had contributed to the design and construction of the Condor, a Gunboat 68 launched a few weeks earlier in La Grande Motte. The skipper of the boat (owned by a New Yorker) was sending news from the middle of the Atlantic – “The food is good and the crew are happy!” – which included two key figures: true wind 16 knots, boat’s speed 19 knots…
Oceanwings for Energy Observer
Oceanwings is now entering a new phase. Born of the experience gained during the America’s Cup, the automated furlable and reefable wingsail has been in development at VPLP Design for several years. After having tested the prototype on Roland Jourdain’s Gwalaz (built by Tricat) in the spring of 2017, and after concluding an industrial partnership with the CNIM group in 2018, the Oceanwings project is now entering the pre-manufacturing stage with two wings fitted to Energy Observer, the world’s first hydrogen-powered ship.
VPLP Design team wishes you a Happy New Year 2019
VPLP and the Route du Rhum
This year VPLP Design is celebrating 35 years in business, while the Route du Rhum hits 40. With only a few days to go before the boats cross the starting line, it’s the perfect opportunity for Vincent Lauriot-Prévost to reflect on the shared history between the firm and the legendary transatlantic race whose seven previous winners were all designed by VPLP. Race starts November 4.
For a decarbonized shipping industry
Invited to MovinOn, the sustainable development summit which took place in Montreal in early June, Marc Van Peteghem took the opportunity to sketch out VPLP Design’s vision for the future of maritime transport. Here follows what may be considered VPLP’s manifesto on a subject that has held the firm’s attention for many years.
VPLP’s pool of engineers is expanding
In recent years the firm has been developing a veritable engineering department. The aim is to develop in-house the modelling and digital simulation tools that have become ubiquitous in the design of sea-going vessels, from racing thoroughbreds to cruising yachts and even working boats.
