In 2020, 30-year-old Clarisse Crémer set off on one of the most ambitious feats in sailing—the Vendée Globe. Alongside 32 other competitors, she left Les Sables-d’Olonne to race around the planet alone without stopping on a 60-foot monohull. Among the fleet were some of the greatest offshore solo racers of the modern era: Alex Thomson, Sam Davies, Jérémie Beyou, and Kevin Escoffier just to name a few. Of the 33 competitors, only 25 finished.
As the field winnowed down, Crémer held fast. For nearly three months, she fought to finish, ultimately setting a new course record for female competitors at 87 days, 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 25 seconds. The record had been in place for 20 years, since Ellen MacArthur’s historic 2001 second-place finish. A 12th-place finish was enough for Crémer to beat her pace by more than a week.
“I have had the Vendée Globe 2024 in mind since I last rounded the Cape of Good Hope [during the 2020 edition],” Crémer recalls. Shortly after completing the race, she secured the continuation of her 2020 sponsorship with Banque Populaire. Preparations for the next campaign began…