the triumph of Armel Le Cléac’h and Sébastien Josse

2023-11-13 01:53:00

A prestigious success for Armel Le Cléac’h and Sébastien Josse. At the helm of the Maxi Banque populaire, the two sailors crossed the finish line of the Transat Jacques Vabre in Martinique on Sunday evening, November 12, as big winners, after several years of setbacks in multihulls. Setting off from Le Havre, 14,000 km from the finish, Le Cléac’h and his co-skipper arrived at 6:19 p.m. local time (11:19 p.m. in Paris), after 14 days 10 hours 14 minutes and 50 seconds of racing.

The Banque Populaire Ultim (multihull 32 meters long) covered 9,263 miles at an average speed of 26.76 knots (50 km/h) to succeed the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, winner in 2021. The maxi-trimaran helmed by Le Cléac’h entered the bay of Fort-de-France in the Martinican night and its passage of line was signaled to a dense crowd gathered on a pontoon of honor a few hundred meters away by several cannon shots .

The first pursuer from Banque Populaire, the SVR Lazartigue of the tandem François Gabart and Tom Laperche, already second in 2021, crossed the line only five hours later, at 11:10 p.m. local time.

A bold strategic choice when passing Madeira

“It was a high-level race with competitors who didn’t give up. If we cross the line first, it will be a hell of a victory,” Ronan Lucas, director of the Banque Populaire team, told Agence France-Presse a few hours before the finish.

First inserted in ambush along the Atlantic coast, the “Banque Pop” took the lead of the fleet passing Madeira, thanks to ideal weather conditions and a daring strategic choice: it was the only sailboat to go around the island from the north. Caught in the South Atlantic by François Gabart, then briefly overtaken near Ascension Island, Le Cléac’h and Josse were then able to take advantage of the best performance of their sailboat downwind (when the wind comes from the rear of the ship, Editor’s note).

Racing on the water at an average of more than 30 knots (55 km/h) for several days off the coast of Brazil, the Maxi Banque populaire XI achieved a perfect end of the race to close and then widen its gap with SVR. “The film turned out really well. Sébastien and Armel were super strong, very relaxed throughout the race and focused on their subject,” commented Ronan Lucas.

The end of bad luck in multihulls for Le Cléac’h

Thanks to this 14-day journey carried out at full speed from Normandy, Armel Le Cléac’h won his first major victory on a multihull in Martinique. Winner in a monohull of the Vendée Globe in 2017, this Breton father of two has been one of the figures in ocean racing since the early 2000s, and his first coronation in the Solitaire du Figaro (2003).

Having become principal skipper of the Banque Populaire multihulls in 2013, he had bad luck on this medium for a long time. In 2014, suffering a hand injury, he was replaced at the last minute by Loïck Peyron, who won the Route du rhum. In 2018, still on the Route du rhum, he capsized after two days of racing and came close to death.

“It will do him good if he wins. He is a very high level athlete and a great champion. But, in a multihull, he never had the chance to show everyone what he could do. It will be a relief,” said Ronan Lucas.