Reminder: at the beginning of 2023, Clarisse Crémer set herself the tough but reasonably realistic challenge of launching a new Vendée Globe project aboard a new boat, under the colours of a new title partner – L’Occitane en Provence – accompanied by a brand new team and anchored in a different home port, Gosport, England.
18 months from the start of the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe the project has been made possible by unfailing determination and commitment of the team she set up with Alex Thomson, who is committed to this adventure with his former team and his structure. Let’s take a look in the rear-view mirror at the last 18 decisive months, before the big start!
April 2023: the genesis of the L’Occitane en Provence project
On 19 April 2023, Clarisse officially announced that she was embarking on a new Vendée Globe 2024 project: ‘I’m particularly happy and proud to be able to start this new adventure with L’Occitane en Provence. The Vendée Globe 2024 has been on my mind since I last rounded the Cape of Good Hope and it’s a privilege to have them by my side! Today, I’m focused on the future: it’s a great joy to have an extraordinary boat and a great team to accompany me on this adventure, and I can’t wait to get back to sailing.”
“Clarisse is one of the most talented sailors in ocean racing. My team and I are delighted that L’Occitane en Provence is supporting her in the Vendée Globe. We intend to provide Clarisse with all the tools she needs to compete fairly,’ said Alex Thomson at the time.
In May 2023, the technical team at L’Occitane Sailing Team will be rolling up their sleeves to adapt the structure of Charlie Dalin’s 60-foot ex-APIVIA to her new skipper Clarisse Crémer. An intense first few weeks before being ready for the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race.
July 2023: 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race from Cowes
This is Clarisse’s first race aboard HER IMOCA L’Occitane en Provence, double-handed with a brand new co-skipper and top-level training partner, Alan Roberts. It was a great warm-up in tough conditions, which did wonders for morale, since for their first confrontation, and despite testing conditions and stiff competition over more than 600 nautical miles, the ‘Crémer – Roberts’ duo performed marvellously, finishing 6th out of the whole fleet. An impressive performance, which means they can look forward to the rest of the season with determination and enthusiasm.
“I’ve had an incredible time getting back to the open sea, racing and feeling all the sensations. We found ourselves in some unlikely situations during the race because we didn’t know everything about how to use the boat,’ she laughs. And given the immediacy of the race, you have to ‘keep it simple’ and this IMOCA lends itself to that! It’s a boat that’s fairly ‘easy’ to sail and very consistent in all points of sail. Being in the race has freed me up!
Before turning our attention to the next race on the IMOCA Globes Series calendar, it’s time for some key events for the L’Occitane Sailing Team, including the arrival in the project of H2air – a producer of renewable electricity – as an official partner until 2024… and the Baptism of the IMOCA, in Brittany!
September also offers Clarisse and Alan a new opportunity to test themselves against their future rivals at the end of the year, with the Azimut Challenge in Lorient. With 33 IMOCA boats taking part in the race, the Franco-English duo will be clocking up nearly 638 extra miles in the Bay of Biscay, in some invigorating conditions. After a busy summer and a short break – necessary to keep their motivation high – Clarisse has gained invaluable experience, which has allowed her to rediscover her taste for competition, the euphoria of starting out and the desire to do well. As for the complicity and complementarity on board, this is confirmed by a crew that has been jockeying for position in the Top 5 for a long time. Clarisse and Alan crossed the line in 10th position, less than 3 hours from 5th place, demonstrating that they are on the pace of the best and that they can be counted on for the big events in the autumn!
Barely seven months after launching this new adventure, Clarisse is preparing to cross the Atlantic twice in less than two months. On the programme: the Transat Jacques Vabre, double-handed with her partner Alan Roberts, starting in Le Havre and finishing in Martinique, followed by the Return to Base, heading for Lorient, single-handed. This last race promises to be decisive, as it will be the qualifier for the Vendée Globe. As usual, Clarisse is approaching this sequence of events with enthusiasm, seriousness and a great deal of determination!
With a 9th place finish in the ‘Route du Café’, with 40 IMOCA boats competing, after 13 days and 50 minutes of racing, Clarisse and Alan are ending their collaboration (in competition, since Alan will be staying with the team for the long term) on a high note!
Less than 10 days after their arrival in Martinique, it’s already time to set sail again! And this time, the top start – in the opposite direction – was given with Clarisse, alone at the helm. Eleven days later, she crossed the finish line of the Retour à la Base in 12th position, ticking off a major milestone in her qualifying campaign. And it wasn’t without its difficulties, as Clarisse explained a few days after touching down: “An accumulation of tiredness and pride the likes of which I’ve rarely experienced before… Returning to competition after a pregnancy, going solo again after 3 years, recreating a team, managing life as a mother, a sailor and a sailor’s wife: you could say I’ve had a busy year! (…) But I stuck it out and made it to port. I had to put the frustration of being a competitor aside and not lose sight of my goal. Because with these two transatlantic races under my belt, I’m starting to get very close to my Vendée Globe dream.”
May – June 2024: Clarisse pockets her ticket for the 10th Vendée Globe!
After a well-deserved winter break, the writing of a comic book and work on a well-tested IMOCA L’Occitane en Provence, Clarisse is back in business this spring for another double Atlantic crossing! And the skipper is sharper and more confident than ever, with her entry ticket for the Vendée Globe just around the corner: “Today our team is more solid than ever and 2024 is likely to be even more intense: 2 solo transatlantic races in the spring to France and New York and the final goal, a solo round the world race in November!”
In fact, there are still two ‘short’ transatlantic races to complete, both solo, before we can hope to qualify and be selected for the Vendée Globe. After a tumultuous Transat CIC, marked by a diversion to the Azores for a technical stopover following major structural damage, but whose mere participation enabled Clarisse to tick the first ‘qualification’ box, here she is again, on the home straight, solo, on the New York-Vendée. After 14 days at sea and some 4,000 miles of solo sailing, it’s now official: Clarisse has been regularly selected as one of the 40 participants in the 10th edition of the Everest of the Seas!
Some will say that only victory is beautiful, and what will be considered by others as a feat already has all the flavour of it!
Clarisse now has just a few days to finalise the last details with her technical team, spend time with her family and share her experiences with her partners and the public, before setting off on her second round-the-world voyage aboard her yellow and blue rocket. And in the meantime, to savour this incredible journey over and over again… Another Everest all her own, thanks to so many outstretched hands, before the long-awaited solo voyage across the seas!
