The yard that built the first four boats of the 2019 Transat Jacques Vabre
In the 2019 Transat Jacques Vabre, the first four Class 40s to finish all came out of the sheds at JPS Production, in La Trinité-sur-Mer. Nicolas Groleau runs this yard, which he co-founded in 1996 with Jean-Pierre Souviron — hence the JPS acronym. Alongside construction, he also races in IRC on his own Mach 45s.
JPS Production: from Open 7.50 to Mach 40.6
The first boat rolled out of the sheds in 1998: an Open 7.50. From 2010, JPS launched production of the Mach 40 designed by Sam Manuard, the first in a series that would go up to the Mach 40.6. Since 2011, the yard has focused primarily on Class 40s — Edenred, IBSA, Solano, Redman, and in 2024 the Mach 40.6 Bleu Blanc #205. JPS also builds to David Raison’s design the Class 40 Crédit Mutuel #158 launched in 2019 — the first scow-hulled Class 40.
The Mach 45, his racing boat
His personal mount: a Mach 45 designed by Sam Manuard, a 45-foot canting-keel monohull with daggerboards, optimized for offshore IRC racing. The first example was launched on 8 September 2007 in La Trinité-sur-Mer. He has raced it under the names Cartouche, Bretagne Telecom then BT Blue.
Palmarès
- Rolex Fastnet Race 2013 — 1st IRC Canting Keel on Cartouche (Mach 45)
- Rolex Fastnet Race 2015 — 1st IRC Canting Keel on Bretagne Telecom (Mach 45)
- Armen Race 2018 — 1st IRC 1 on BT Blue
- Rolex Fastnet Race 2019 — 2nd IRC Zero on Bretagne Telecom
JPS Production official website: jps-production.com.
