It is Nicolas Lunven, 40, who was appointed this Thursday to replace Kevin Escoffier at the helm of the Holcim-PRB sailboat for the next Vendée Globe – departure on November 10, 2024 -, after the latter was disembarked at the beginning of June for suspicion of sexual assault.
“Team Holcim-PRB is strengthening with the arrival of a great expert in offshore racing, the Frenchman Nicolas Lunven” who will carry “the ambitions of the project as skipper for the Vendée Globe 2024”, wrote the sailing team in a press release sent to AFP.
Breton sailor Nicolas Lunven has been appointed new skipper of the Holcim-PRB sailboat for the next Vendée Globe, after the departure at the beginning of June of Kevin Escoffier, hero of the last edition of the Everest of the seas and suspected of sexual assault #AFP pic.twitter.com/3oiIaYcTDM
— Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) September 14, 2023
Double winner of the Solitaire du Figaro (2009, 2017), this 40-year-old from Vannes has participated in most of the major offshore racing competitions as a crew member (Transat Jacques Vabre, Transat AG2R, Ocean Race, etc.).
“The Vendée Globe is becoming reality for me and, with Holcim-PRB, we are aligned on the ambitions. The challenge is great, but we will do everything we can to write the most beautiful page possible in this Vendée Globe,” explained Nicolas Lunven, quoted in the press release.
Questioned by AFP, Holcim-PRB did not wish to comment on the ongoing investigation targeting Kevin Escoffier but, with this new helmsman, the team wanted to “reaffirm its desire to have a lasting project in the world of ocean racing”.
Kevin Escoffier, 43, announced he was leaving the PRB-Holcim team on June 3 after discussing “an alleged incident” with a member of his team, which occurred in Newport in May, during a stopover in The Ocean Race. .
An investigation was opened at the beginning of July by the Paris prosecutor’s office against the sailor after an initial report made by the FFvoile for facts “related to sexual assault”, according to a source close to the case.
The French Sailing Federation must convene a disciplinary committee on September 20 to decide on possible sanctions against the skipper, hero of the last Vendée Globe after his extremis rescue from the waters by Jean Le Cam.
