The storm warning is issued for the most famous offshore race, the Vendée Globe, a solo round-the-world trip, non-stop… and without assistance. Clarisse Crémer, 12th in the last edition, is suspected of having benefited from the help of her husband, Tanguy le Turquais, a skipper who in 2020 remained on land. It was via an anonymous email that the navigator was denounced, more than 3 years after the events. The French Sailing Federation will entrust the matter to an international jury.
What do we blame Clarisse Crémer for?
On Sunday, the French sailing federation was the recipient of an email containing photos. According to the author of the email, who remained anonymous, these are screenshots of the phone used by Clarisse Crémer during the Vendée Globe in 2020. It relates exchanges, captured at different moments of the 87 days of racing, between the skipper, then in the race, and her husband Tanguy Le Turquais. Sweet words but also references to the weather, to routing (a photo which could come from a weather file also appears), which, taken out of context, could be similar to remote guidance.
However, the Vendée Globe regulations prohibit weather assistance and routing, hence a suspicion of cheating. “I have never cheated, I have never had any desire to break a rule during this 87-day world tour,” defends the sailor on social networks.
What is an on-board telephone?
The skippers set off alone, but with a mobile phone provided by their team, Banque Populaire in the case of Clarisse Crémer. In particular, it allows sailors to communicate during the race with their technical team (we can assist technically and psychologically), the race management, their loved ones but also journalists. Usually via messaging services, such as WhatsApp.
Nothing prevents a browser from deleting certain messages during the race or receiving voice calls (and therefore information?). On arrival, the messages are not purged to remain, in particular, available to the Team or the organizers. The smartphone used by Clarisse Crémer therefore remained in the hands of Banque Populaire, a team that she left a year ago.
Do Vendée Globe organizers check messages?
Requested several times, SAEM Vendée, organizer of the Vendée Globe and Laura Le Goff, the General Director of the race, did not respond to our messages. The teams engaged on the last round-the-world trip that we interviewed are unanimous: the on-board telephones were not checked on arrival. They never are. This is therefore the first time, and on the sole basis of an anonymous email, that exchanges will be analyzed.
Compliance with the regulations therefore rests solely on the good faith of the skippers, who before departure sign a simple sworn certificate. Alain Leboeuf, president of the Vendée Globe, interviewed by Ouest-France, half-heartedly recognizes a hole in the racket. “We are in the process of seeing how to do it (to change the rules), he points out. With these new technologies, to continue to protect both the race and the skippers. Everything is not ready but we need to be able to agree so that all communications can be recorded in a black box which can only be consulted by the jury, the referee. »
Clarisse Crémer and her husband Tanguy le Turquais after the arrival of the Vendée Globe 2021. AFP/Loïc Venance
A jury, therefore, which until now has not checked the messages left on the on-board telephones, although at its disposal. A change in the rules is therefore envisaged…. but only for 2028 and not from the next edition, in November 2024.
Is the suspicion of cheating something new?
Messages potentially transmitted by courier have never been referred to a jury. However, the subject is debated in the industry, which is teeming with anecdotes about potential exchanges of routing information during certain races. It even came to the forefront, after the Vendée Arctic 2022 (also organized by SAEM Vendée), where certain teams were suspected of having violated the assistance rules. No investigation was then opened.
What are the two incriminated skippers at risk?
The French Sailing Federation is in the process of reconstituting an international jury, which officiates during the races and which had been dissolved after the arrival of the Vendée Globe, in 2021. Three years after the events, it will have to look into the matter and determine if the regulations have been violated. Depending on the report it makes, the federation will possibly decide to refer the matter to its disciplinary body. On paper, Clarisse Crémer risks being downgraded and banned from participating in the next edition, in November 2024.
What about Tanguy Le Turquais? Skipper, he is entered in the 2024 Vendée Globe but in 2020 he was “only” the husband of Clarisse Crémer. His status as a licensee with the French sailing federation means that he is now under threat of being summoned by the jury. Would the partner of a skipper who discusses the weather with her husband and who is not fired risk the same sanction? On this subject again, SAEM Vendée did not wish to respond to us.
