JPK

JPK Composites builds racer-cruisers in Larmor-Plage, on the Brittany coast at the mouth of Lorient harbour, and sells them the old way: you call Jean-Pierre Kelbert and he answers. The yard's boats, drawn by Jacques Valer, have a habit of embarrassing bigger and more expensive machines. In 2005 the JPK 110 dominated IRC racing so completely that the rating office hit the design with a penalty for being too effective; the yard's answer was to split its range into Racers and Fast Cruisers and keep going.

In 2013 a JPK 1010 sailed by a father and son from Cherbourg became the first doublehanded crew in the Rolex Fastnet's history to win the race outright, with another 1010 second overall. More than a decade on, the model still fields one of the largest single fleets in that race, and the yard's later designs keep collecting the same silverware. By the end of 2025 the yard had completed the grand slam of the Rolex handicap classics — the Fastnet (2015, 2025), the Sydney Hobart (2025) and the Middle Sea Race.