Renowned yacht designer Marc Lombard has died at the age of 64 after a period of illness. Lombard was a passionate sailor since his early childhood, and – despite his parents’ objections – left school to work at the Hervé shipyard in La Rochelle. Having quickly realised that working on yacht construction took him away from sailing, Lombard then headed to England to study naval architecture at Southampton, where he graduated in 1981.
At the same time he worked delivering racing yachts, sailing with Mike Birch who introduced him to Walter Greene, builder of Birch’s famous yellow trimaran Olympus Photo. Lombard spent time at Greene’s yard in Maine, USA before setting up on his own a year later, aged just 23.
Lombard’s early notable designs included the radical 70ft foil-assisted trimaran Ker Cadelac II for Francois Boucher in 1985, and the first Formula 40 design, Festival of Lorient.
He worked on the development of some early wing masts, and in 1989, met Philippe Jeantot who commissioned him to design his 60ft Crédit Agricole 2 for the first Vendée Globe, Lombard’s first IMOCA. This led to a long partnership between Lombard and Jeantot Marine, now Privilège Marine, including collaborations on more than 13 models. This was swiftly followed by a collaboration with RM Yachts, and the expansion of the Lombard design team.
During the 1990s Lombard designs included Catherine Cha
