Vendée Globe 2020-2021: Clarice Kramer did not cheat, according to jury

On Saturday 2 March, Clarisse Kramer and Tanguy Le Turcaise were tried by an international jury reconstituted at the request of French Sailing Federation President Jean-Luc Denechau.

“No Misconduct”

The jury, presided over by Breton George Priol, made a decision and its verdict is final: “There is no misconduct, no rooting in this particular case”. Clarisse Crémer did not receive weather assistance from Tanguy Le Turquais during the 2020-2021 edition. In other words, he was not routed, which is strictly prohibited by the rules for this solo, non-stop and unassisted round-the-world trip.

The jury, reconstituted at the request of the president of FFVoile, who anonymously received an email “containing disturbing documents”, believed that the screenshots of the on-shore exchange between the sailor and her husband were a sequence of private conversations.

First affair

Remember that two years after the end of this Vendée Globe, Kramer was thanked by her sponsor Banque Populaire who believed that she was unlikely to qualify for the 2024 edition after her maternity leave. The dismissal immediately caused an explosion and an uproar on social networks, especially as the Minister of Sports and Judoka, Clarisse Agbenenou, took up the sailor’s cause. The decision to fire her after giving birth damaged the image and reputation of the banking group with over 30 years of sponsorship.

tarnished image

A little more than a year after the affair, this suspicion of routing cheating has somewhat tarnished the image of 34-year-old Clarice Kramer, who nevertheless managed to restart the project thanks to the helping hand of Welshman Alex Thomson, who rented her boat. But also with the arrival of a new sponsor, L’Occitane en Provence.

With this decision of the jury, Kramer is out of the woods, even if, on this occasion, his aura was affected: in fact, most of the captains we interviewed did not hide their displeasure at this kind of exchange between land and sea. “If we can do this in the next Vendée Globe, we can also authorize the routing immediately,” says the Imoka skipper who holds the oath declaration all competitors signed before leaving. It commits us to respect this “non-routing” rule. If some people don’t respect it, our sport has no value anymore. »

Change rule

This will bring the topic of routing to the table at Vendée Globe. Signing a piece of paper agreeing not to receive external weather assistance is clearly no longer sufficient. The president of the Imoka class, Antoine Mermod, has already admitted: “Maybe we will have to go through a more restrictive system”. A system of control of exchange between land and sea is still possible. Expensive, complicated but possible. “It won’t be before the 2028 edition,” estimates Antoine Mermode.

Another solution that is not unanimous among Imoka skippers is the authorization of routing as done on some races and has long existed for multihulls, Ocean Fifty and Ultimes. In these two categories, for security reasons.

Funny atmosphere

Now and the 2028 Vendée Globe, Clarice Kramer and Tanguy le Turquoise, both candidates for the 2024 Vendée Globe, can resume the qualification course. There are still 44 candidates for only 39 places + one invitation left at the discretion of the organizers.

To qualify, they must start one of two solo transits this year, the Transat CIC between Lorient and New York (departing on April 29) and New York – Vendee (departing on May 29).

Now it remains to be seen how the couple will be received by their colleagues after this story which some cannot really digest.