Jacques Valer is the French naval architect who has designed every model in the JPK range since meeting Jean-Pierre Kelbert in 1999. The first JPK 960 was launched in March 2003 — since then, all sailboats built at the Larmor-Plage yard bear his hull signature.
Trajectory
Valer works in Belz, in southern Brittany. He is one of the few architects capable of designing from IRC monohulls to multihulls, including fast cruisers. His collaboration with JPK is exclusive: no JPK boat is designed by anyone else.
Signature feature
Hulls with low wetted surface area and high power, optimized for IRC rating. The JPK 960, 10.10, and then 10.80 have each won major offshore racing titles in both crewed and double-handed categories, establishing the yard as a reference in the French IRC circuit.
Skysat on board
Skysat equipped Raging Bee², the JPK 10.80 sailed by Louis-Marie Dussere — an active boat on the RORC circuit (Fastnet in both double-handed and crewed categories).
