The hair is still there. The outspokenness and the accent too. Facing the camera, when asked to introduce himself, he does so: “Jean Le Cam, 65 years old, not all my teeth! Finisterian, therefore Breton, French, European, global (laughs)… Earthling.”
Savior of Escoffier
Jean Le Cam is indefinable. Unclassifiable. Essential too. A Vendée Globe without him would not have the same flavor. Four years ago, the man we nicknamed King Jean, after his three victories in the Solitaire du Figaro, played the Saint Bernard of the seas, retrieving, in the middle of the night, a drifting Kevin Escoffier in his raft of survival after seeing his boat break in two. “Yes, it was hot,” remembers the man who then had the right to a private video with the President of the Republic. Before receiving, a few months later, the Legion of Honor at the Élysée.
Fourth in the previous edition with Hubert, the name of his boat, Le Cam will therefore take the start of his sixth Vendée Globe. He has dedicated his life to this race for 24 years, where he has known everything. Joys, sorrows: 2nd in 2004, abandonment following a shipwreck, in 2008, off Cape Horn, after losing her keel, 5th in 2012, 6th in 2016 and therefore 4th in 2020.
A new boat without foil
When asked why he was returning at the age when the vast majority of sailors have already shocked the sheets, he replied: “Well, what else do you want me to do? “. He could continue to pamper his Swan, a superb boat purchased in the United States during the health crisis and which offers much more comfort than his new racing machine. Retirement will wait.
Not at all convinced by foiling monohulls, “which are not suitable for the Vendée Globe”, he repeats, Le Cam had an Imoca with straight daggerboards built for five million euros, or three million less than a foiler. With this new machine which bears the colors of “Everything Begins in Finistère – Armor Lux”, the South Finistère knows that it will have difficulty competing with semi-flying boats. No matter, he has other objectives: “Giving people pleasure is super important: if you give to people, they give it back to you”.
“Jean is the perfect teacher”
So, Jean, always supported by his wife Anne, gives. Not to mention. He gives to the youngest, in particular. To Violette Dorange, 23 years old, youngest competitor of this 10th edition to whom he entrusted the helm of Hubert: 42 years separate them. The sea brings them together. “Jean is the perfect teacher,” said the young sailor.
Barely older but just as inexperienced around the globe, Malouin Benjamin Ferré also found refuge in Port-la-Forêt, in the lair of King Jean. At 33 years old, here he is at the start of his first circumnavigation. “I asked Jean if he thought I was capable of traveling around the world, he said yes. I listened to his advice. »
It's a fact, Jean Le Cam is today one of the French's favorite sailors. You have to follow him on the pontoon in Les Sables d'Olonne to realize his popularity: the requests for autographs and selfies are incessant. “Why do people like me? Pfff… Maybe because I say what I want to say and when I have nothing to say, I keep my mouth shut. » Clown sometimes, silent when it suits him.
“I don’t want to be bothered at sea”
The Quimperois, who sometimes takes some liberties with the language of Molière, always has his outspokenness. He said all the bad things he thought about “the stupid qualification system” of this Vendée Globe, the WhatsApp groups between skippers, these obligations imposed on sailors to send photos and videos every week, under penalty of financial penalties. “Only my wife has the boat number. I don't want to be bothered at sea. I only make videos when I have something to show. So ! », says the one who unwittingly creates the buzz.
When we talk about ever more powerful boats, the speeds reached and the repeated shocks which sometimes force solo sailors to wear helmets, he frowns: “There, we're talking bullshit: we don't make sea boats.”
However, Le Cam is lucid, he sees clearly that offshore racing is going like a charm, that the shipyards are running at full speed: “So much the better but it's thanks to the public's interest, let's not forget that . We make them dream, it takes them out of their daily lives.”
Making as many people as possible dream, sailing cleanly, leaving a beautiful mark, speaking little but well, this is the course set by this exceptional sailor for his sixth Vendée Globe. Probably the last. So, let's make the most of it.
