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). Together, they specialize in racing multihulls design. Their first boat is a 50-foot (15m) foiler baptized Gerard Lambert and was the first in a long line of racing
trimarans. In an undated interview Vincent Lauriot-Prévost credits
Phil Morrison with the revolutionary idea that they then successfully developed, large volume floats (amas), initially with the revolutionary Poulain for Olivier de Kersauson in 1986. Poulain's hull similarity to Morrison's
Exmouth Challenge design in which Yvon Fauconnier won the
OSTAR 1984 is obvious on inspection. The elegant long floats are nearly as long as the hull. Lauriot-Prévost says: "Because in the meantime, the winner of the OSTAR 1984, it was Umupro Jardin ... (Phil Morrison design, first name was Exmouth Challenge). And the inspiration turns to voluminous amas and as long as the central hull, a radical change. Previously, the amas were sinking into the sea and Phil Morrison was successfully exploring a new approach with his 1982 Exmouth Challenge! On the foilers, the leeward ama did not sink because there was the vertical lift of the foil as soon as there was speed. We did not know all that yet but either we were gaining length at the waterline with a lot of finesse of hull, or we had a small ama with a foil: we discovered the balance sheets issue at all speeds ... With a large ama, we had a better dynamic stability in difficult conditions and we were more efficient in light winds because the foils dragged a lot. Also Olivier de Kersauson wanted to do a program around the world alone: he wanted big amas for security." Their multihulls became famous and won many victories in races, including the
America’s Cup in 2010 and records around the world. Later, this success would Marc Van Peteghem and
Vincent Lauriot-Prévost international references in the field of
naval architecture.
VPLP also develops yachts such as «
Douce France » and « Hemisphere », which are the two largest cruising
catamarans in the world. The agency also works with the Groupe
Bénéteau to design their cruising
catamarans, produced at nearly 3,000 units since 1986, and works with the shipyard Outremer. In 2004, Marc Van Peteghem meets
Yves Marre and begins to work with him on a
catamaran ambulance for
Bangladesh, built in
TaraTari Shipyard. 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. 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. In 2014, Marc Van Peteghem took part in
TEDx Cannes with the talk "Let's reduce our fuel consumption at sea!" In 2022, Marc Van Peteghem launches his own winery, Les Oeuvres Vives, in
Bandol. == Awards ==