And eight! Jean Le Cam crossed the famous Cape Horn for the seventh time. It was 7:01 a.m., at breakfast time in France, when Jean Le Cam passed the longitude of Cape Horn after 54 days 17:59'03'' at sea, i.e. 11 days and 8 hours after Yoann Richomme, who had beaten Charlie Dalin by… 9 minutes! In a northwesterly flow of around twenty knots and in the night, the skipper of “Everything begins in Finistère – Armor Lux” is the 17th solo sailor in this 10th edition of the Vendée Globe (16th in the race after abandoning of Yannick Bestaven after Cape Horn) and the first of the straight daggerboard boats to put an end to the South Seas. He is some 1,060 miles ahead of Benjamin Ferré, second boat with straight daggerboards.
As he crossed the line at night, a VHF call interrupted his video. He is the keeper of the Lighthouse. In English, the skipper responds that it's “a big emotion. That it's his eighth Cape Horn”. A few minutes before, he had launched in a loud exclamation: “Wow, magnificent! You will have passed the night with me. This night passage is a bit like 'Sheriff, scare me'.”
The first in 1982 as a teammate of Éric Tabarly
This is the eighth Cape Horn for King John! The first visit took place in 1982. At the time, the Forester was a teammate of Éric Tabarly on “Euromarché”. On board, there are also Michel Desjoyeaux and Roland Jourdain. Twenty-two years later, it was solo at the helm of a 60-footer under the colors of “Bonduelle” that he crossed it… in the lead ahead of Vincent Riou, before finally finishing second in the fifth Vendée Globe.
In 2008, while having a good race, he capsized a few miles before Cape Horn. The race direction asks Vincent Riou and Armel Le Cléac'h to divert. The two skippers find VM Matériaux upside down. In an incredible maneuver, Vincent Riou picks up Jean Le Cam aboard his Imoca “PRB”. It is therefore in doubles that the skipper from South Finistère crosses this Cape Dur, as the sailors call it, for the third time.
First boat with straight fins
Cape Horn is always a passage awaited and at the same time feared by sailors. In 2013, on “Synerciel”, Le Cam sent a video where he admitted to being happy to see him: “Sometimes, it didn't do anything for me, but now, it's okay, it's okay! “. Two years later, it was with Bernard Stamm, today boat captain of Tout commence en Finistère – Armor Lux, on the Barcelona World Race (double-handed world tour) that he completed his fifth Horn.
In 2017, it was at the helm of “Finistère Mer Vent” that he signed a new stint… the sixth! But there’s no question of stopping there. Four years later, after having saved Kevin Escoffier in the meantime, Jean Le Cam, who was progressing on an injured boat (delaminated hull bottom), was able to enjoy his return to the Atlantic.
This year, she is the first boat with straight daggerboards to return to the Atlantic after 54 days. At 64, he proves that experience still pays off.
The eight Cape Horn of Jean Le Cam:
- In 1982 with Éric Tabarly on Euromarché (Whitbread)
- In 2004 with Bonduelle, 1st Vendée Globe
- In 2008 with Vincent Riou on PRB following the capsize of his Imoca VM Matériaux
- In 2013 with Synerciel
- In 2015 on Cheminée Poujoulat with Bernard Stamm (Barcelona World Race)
- In 2017 with Finistère Mer Vent
- In 2021 with Yes We Cam
- In 2025 with It all begins in Finistère Armor Lux
Cape Horn passage time
1. Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa) on December 23 at 12:27 a.m. after 43 days 11:25:20 a.m.
2. Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance) in 43 days 11 h 34' 50''
3. Sébastien Simon (Dubreuil Group) in 44 days 21 h 19' 38''
4. Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable) in 47 days 5 h 36' 29''
5. Jérémie Beyou (Charal) in 47 days 16 h 14' 46''
6. Nicolas Lunven (Holcim PRB) in 47 days 16 h 29' 46''
7. Boris Herrmann (Malizia – Seaexplorer) in 47 days 22 h 49' 30''
8. Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) in 47 days 22 h 50' 01''
9. Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable) in 48 days 2 h 42' 52''
10. Justine Mettraux (TeamWork – Team Snef) in 48 days 4 h 20' 23''
11. (abandonment). Yannick Bestaven (CoQ V Master) in 49 days 7 h 19' 6''
12. Clarisse Crémer (L'Occitane en Provence) in 52 days 2 h 17'7''
13. Benjamin Dutreux (Guyot environment – Water Family) 52 days 3 h 26' 27''
14. Sam Davies (Initiatives-Cœur) in 52 days 9 h 7' 15''
15. Romain Attanasio (Fortinet – Best Western) in 53 days 18 h 15' 51''
16. Damien Seguin (Apicil Group) in 53 days 20 h 55'
17. Jean Le Cam (It all begins in Finistère – Armor-lux) in 54 days 17 h 59' 3''
France
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