Transat Jacques-Vabre: triumph of Armel Le Cléac’h and Sébastien Josse in Martinique

At the helm of the Maxi Banque Populaire, Armel Le Cléac’h and Sébastien Josse crossed the finish line of the Transat Jacques-Vabre in Martinique on Sunday evening as big winners, “a relief” after years of setbacks in multihulls.

14 days 10 hours 14 minutes and 50 seconds of racing

The Ultim (32 meter long multihull) entered the bay of Fort-de-France in the Martinican night. His crossing of the line was signaled to the dense crowd gathered on the pontoon of honor a few hundred meters away by several cannon shots. “It’s a huge joy, because we’ve wanted this big victory with Banque Pop for a long time,” explained Le Cléac’h upon arrival with a big smile, under the lights of the fireworks to celebrate. his victory.

Having left 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 mainland France, GMT+1), after 14 days 10 hours 14 minutes and 50 seconds of racing . “We had to go get her, there was a big match, the pressure from François (Gabart)… We were in symbiosis with Armel, always in a good mood and that’s what made the difference,” said estimated Sébastien Josse, 48 years old.

The first pursuer of 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 (4:29 a.m. Monday in mainland France, GMT+1).

A long neck and neck

During these fifteen days of navigation, the two most recent ocean machines in the Ultim fleet, launched a few months before the previous edition of the Transat Jacques-Vabre, were neck and neck for a long time. 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 able to take advantage of the best performance of their sailboat downwind — when the wind comes from the rear of the ship. 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 went really well. Sébastien and Armel were super solid, very relaxed throughout the race and focused on their subject,” commented Ronan Lucas, director of the Banque Populaire team, to the AFP.

First victory in the Transat Jacques-Vabre for Le Cléac’h

Thanks to this 14-day journey carried out at full speed from Normandy, Le Cléac’h won his first victory in the Transat Jacques-Vabre in eight participations and his first major coronation on a multihull. Winner in a monohull of the Vendée Globe in 2017, this Breton father of two children has been one of the figures of offshore racing since the early 2000s and his first coronation in the Solitaire du Figaro (2003). But having become principal skipper of Banque Populaire multihulls in 2013, he had bad luck on trimarans for a long time.

“He is a very high level athlete and a great champion. But in multihulls, he never had the chance to show everyone what he could do,” said Ronan Lucas.

In 2014, suffering a hand injury, he was replaced at the last minute by Loïc Peyron, who won the Route du Rhum. In 2018, still on the Rhum, he capsized after two days of racing and came close to death. And last year “there was another complicated Route du Rhum”. “We broke a drift and turned around. This victory is a relief,” said Le Cléac’h after his triumph in Fort-de-France.