A skipper, whose name has not been revealed, is suspected of having benefited from routing information during the last Vendée Globe, which is prohibited by the regulations. The federation “asked the Race Committee to appoint a jury which will be responsible for analyzing the veracity and content of the elements in question.
An investigation has been opened into suspicions of cheating during the last edition of the Vendée Globe (2020-2021), the president of the French Sailing Federation Jean-Luc Dénéchau confirmed to AFP on Tuesday. “We received an anonymous email on Sunday which contains elements which, if proven, could raise suspicion of routing in the last Vendée Globe,” explained Jean-Luc Dénéchau.
Personalized weather assistance
The exchange of messages allowing “personalized meteorological assistance” and “routing” is prohibited by the Vendée Globe regulations, according to article 4.3.2. The “elements” received by the Federation are “essentially screenshots”, specified Jean-Luc Dénéchau, who did not wish to give any indication of the identity of the skipper concerned.
The federation “asked the Race Committee to appoint a jury which will be responsible for analyzing the veracity and content of the elements in question. I have complete confidence in the relevant sporting authority and I will await the conclusions of its investigation”, said Vendée Globe president Alain Leboeuf in a press release. The next edition of the Vendée Globe, the solo monohull round-the-world sailing race, will leave on November 10, 2024 from Les Sables d’Olonne, in Vendée.