The first monohulls could be launched this summer ; the moulds are already under construction. It is the start of a new adventure for VPLP, Van Peteghem-Lauriot Prévost.

The naval architects and engineering group, designer of record-breaking maxi trimarans, of the America’s Cup and ocean races, of Orma and Multi 50 multihulls and of IMOCA 60 monohulls, is now turning its sights to Class’40 because “It is a very active class that will allow us to express our architectural ideas.”

The monohull will be built at the Larros shipyard where Marc Guillemot’s Safran monohull was launched, among others.

Bertrand de Broc felt so interested in the project so he became technical adviser beside the architect and the shipyard.

Why embark on such an undertaking now?
“We’ve been wanting to see what we could do in Class 40. We’d been contemplating such a move for a while and had already been approached. But this time all the right conditions are in place at the Larros shipyard to embark on such an adventure,” exults Vincent Lauriot-Prévost.

“The Class 40 is very interesting, it’s a dynamic class in which there’s a lot of play. This is very motivating for all the young architects in the firm who are working on this project.”

Quentin Lucet, one of these young architects:
“It is extremely interesting to become involved in a new measurement rules for VPLP. We have worked very hard, essentially on three main aspects: optimizing the design with regards to the constraints of the rules, studying hull and studying the roof geometry associated to the performance of the sail plan. Even if our Class 40 obviously draws inspiration from our latest designs in the IMOCA, the Class 40 rules is such that this boat cannot be a small IMOCA. To design her, we had to develop in house specific tools in order to study this type of hull very closely.”

Is it possible to optimize a Class’40 even more?
Quentin Lucet: “Of course! For example, the Class 40 is reputed to be a downwind sailing boat. We didn’t want to degrade her behavior upwind, so we have designed a very narrow roof to optimize the foresail sheeting angle”

Vincent Lauriot-Prévost: “We have kept the weight prescribed by the rule to a minimum, and the stiffness of the canvas to the maximum authorized by this same rule. The result is a boat that can be adapted to the calendar of the class, able to navigate around the world, in transatlantic races and up and down costal routes. It is an off shore monohull and we have not compromised the comfort of the skipper either.”

The objective of the Larros shipyard is to launch the VPLP/Black Pepper for the.

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Photo Credit: VPLP

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