- Founded
- 1992
- Headquarters
- 1 boulevard Lavoisier, ZA de Kerhoas, 56260 Larmor-Plage, France
- Shipyard location
- Larmor-Plage (Lorient), Brittany, France
- Official website
- https://www.jpk.fr/
Brand Overview
Breton builder of IRC racers and fast cruisers drawn by Jacques Valer — JPK 1050 and 1180, the 39 FC and the coming 48 FC, plus the Nomad 40 motor cruiser — founded in 1992 by windsurfing champion Jean-Pierre Kelbert and building at Larmor-Plage near Lorient since the JPK 960 of 2003.
Overview written fromjpk.frread 9/14/2026
YachtCodex Analysis
AI-generatedAn independent reading of this builder written by AI. Unlike the specifications and descriptions elsewhere on this page, it is interpretation rather than a sourced fact — treat it as a starting point, not a citation.
What this builder is
JPK Composites was created in 1992 by Jean-Pierre Kelbert, a European windsurfing champion who first built high-end epoxy funboards, and moved into yachts in 2003 when his meeting with naval architect Jacques Valer produced the JPK 960 — a planing IRC racer that won inshore and offshore from its first season. The JPK 1010 (2010) took four Transquadras and the Fastnet, the 1080 (2014) was European Boat of the Year 2015 with an overall Fastnet and Sydney–Hobart double, the 1030 (2019) was typed for short-handed offshore racing and the 1180 (2018) for crewed IRC 1 and 2; the Fast Cruiser range began with the 38 FC in 2012 (Sailboat of the Year 2013), grew with the 45 FC (2016) and continues with the 39 FC (Sailboat of the Year and European Yacht of the Year 2022), while the Nomad 40 of 2023 is the yard's first motorboat. The current range is the JPK 1050 scow-bowed short-handed racer (2025), the 1180, the 39 FC, the 48 FC blue-water cruiser due in spring 2027 and the Nomad 40; the yard is a team of fifty at Larmor-Plage in the French Sailing Valley, builds every mould and composite part in-house by infusion, and its model pages list hull length, waterline, beam, keel drafts, displacement, ballast, sail areas and engine, with the older boats still documented.
Who sails them
JPK owners are IRC racers — solo, double-handed and crewed — who want a boat that wins the Fastnet, the Transquadra or the Spi Ouest France out of the box, and cruising sailors who want that same planing hull, light build and Valer balance in a fast cruiser with a doghouse, a lifting or long keel and a bright, wood-and-light interior for coastal and blue-water passages.
Signature models
The JPK 1010 and 1080 made the yard's name in IRC, the 39 FC carried it into cruising with both the French and European Yacht of the Year titles in 2022, and the JPK 1050 — a scow-bowed racer that won the Spi Ouest France on its debut in 2025 — is the current racing flagship.
Strengths
JPK is known for Jacques Valer hulls that plane early and stay balanced, in-house infusion of every part, a high ballast ratio and light build, an exceptional IRC record from the 960 onwards, a fast-cruiser range with lifting-keel and long-keel choices, and a fifty-person yard that keeps the older models documented.
Considerations
The site prints a single 'Length' figure for most models (hull length; only the 48 FC gives an LOA), engine power in CV rather than hp, displacement without its basis, and few tank or berth figures for the racers; the 48 FC is not yet launched, and the older 960, 1010, 1030, 1080, 38 FC and 45 FC are listed as older yachts rather than current production.
Analysis generated 9/13/2026
Part of
Where they build
The building sites this yard publishes, in its own order.
Larmor-Plage
Larmor-Plage (Lorient), Brittany, France
Fleet at a Glance
11 models in total
Calculated from the models in the YachtCodex catalog, not from the builder's claims.
Sailing range
- Models in catalog
- 10
- Length range
- 15.9 m
- Hull forms
- Sailing Monohull 10
- Cabins
- 2–4
Motor range
- Models in catalog
- 1
- Hull forms
- Motor Monohull 1
- Cabins
- 2
- Production years
- 2023
Models by this brand
11 models
IRC Racer6
Fast Cruiser4
Motor Cruiser1
History
JPK tells its history in its founder's own words. Jean-Pierre Kelbert caught the sailing bug at thirteen, raced windsurfers through the boom years of the 1980s, joined the French team in 1986, was European champion in 1988 and 1989 and second in the Olympic selection for Seoul 1988. In 1992 he founded JPK Composites to build high-end epoxy-sandwich funboards; after French and world titles and an eight-year speed record, the venture turned to sailing yachts in 2002, and meeting the naval architect Jacques Valer brought the first JPK 960 into the water in March 2003. The JPK 1010, still drawn by Valer, built the yard's record with overall wins in the Transquadra of 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015 and the 2013 Fastnet; a Fast Cruiser range opened in April 2012 with the JPK 38, Sailboat of the Year 2013, the 1080 of 2014 was European Boat of the Year 2015 after winning the Rolex Fastnet and Sydney Hobart overall in one season, the JPK 45 took the 2016 title and the 1180 of 2018 won the 2019 Fastnet two-handed by over five hours. The JPK 39 FC replaced the 38 in 2021 and was Sailboat of the Year 2022, and in 2023 the yard built its first motor boat, the JPK Nomad 40.
History written fromjpk.fr/le-chantier/histoire-du-chantier/· Histoire du chantier par Jean-Pierre Kelbertread 9/22/2026