As the Grand Pavois boat show opens today, the flags of this 2023 edition are being sadly lowered to half-mast with the announcement of the death of Marc Lombard, a French architect from La Rochelle, on September 18.

A true man of the art, equally at ease at the helm of a yacht, at the drawing board or with his hands - gloved - in the resin, Marc Lombard personified the passion for his craft and the visions behind his yachts.

The world of sailing is in mourning and we join with the family of Marc Lombard, who passed away on 18 September.

Marc Lombard was probably the French architect who had the greatest impact on the world of yachting.

A man whose training, both academic and practical, was fuelled by a passion for anything that floats propelled by the wind.

From the benches of Southampton University, where he obtained his degree in naval architecture, to the construction yard of Walter Greene, the father of technical multihull construction, Marc Lombard knew how to combine theory and practice like no other. A lover of beautiful yachts, but especially when they are high-performance, the architect, who set up his own firm in 1982, spent the first part of his career focused on racing. Lombard designed his first Imoca, Crédit Agricole IV for Philippe Jeantot, followed by a number of ocean-going catamarans and trimarans.
It was the start of Lombard's reputation and the turn towards yachting.

Privilège Marine, a client since 1986 and of which Jeantot was the founder, RM, whose firm designed the entire range, Nautitech, but also Bénéteau with the Figaro 2 and the Oceanis, and Jeanneau with the success of the Sun Odyssey 35, soon to be followed by other models.

Buoyed by the commercial success of the yachts from the boatyards they work with, Marc Lombard and his team are developing partnerships with Black Pepper, JFA, Neel, Marsaudon with the ORC 57 and still racing with minis and Class 40s.

An amateur racer in his spare time, Lombard has been able to transpose his racing experience (weight, appendages, etc.) to the yachting sector, where the success of certain models (1200 Sun Odyssey 35) has made his agency a success.

An agency that has been passed on, in the form of a SCOP, to his employees, who are now at the helm of the company. A final fine gesture, not unlike that of Henri Amel, another great man from La Rochelle.