Antoine Blouet, a former loyal teammate of Francis Joyon, is busy on deck. He too is not there by chance. “When Idec decided to end things with Francis, I found it hard to believe it. Above all, I didn’t know what to do next. There, I saw that Jean Le Cam had a new boat and I said to myself that it made sense to go and work with a sailor as experienced as him.”
Or how to go from one ocean racing dinosaur to another. “They both have such experience…” notes Antoine, renamed Francis by the team.
Mathieu Moulinec, one of the six members of the team, says nothing else, he who has worked with Le Cam for six years: “Jean does not change, he remains passionate. And it shows that he is happy at sea.”
“There is no such thing as a ready boat”
In the bay of Concarneau, calm has settled. Barely a slight breeze caresses the mainsail and the gennaker.
– “Hey guys, this sticker thing in the mainsail is not working at all. These things cost money! »
No one flinches after this little morning rant. “That’s Jean, he lets you do it but if you do it wrong, he doesn’t miss you. Normal,” says one of the teammates.
The Cam has eyes everywhere, he sees everything in all areas. Nothing escapes him. The boat is new, so not yet ready. “Well yes, obviously it’s not yet ready. We have work, it never stops. Besides, there is no such thing as a ready boat.”
On the other hand, anticipation is essential. Experience too. Which makes Le Cam say that certain on-board systems must be duplicated. Even triplets.
This is the case for autopilots and masthead weather vanes. “Why, do I have three weather vanes? Well, if I lose one, I have two left! “. A Lecamerie of which he has the secret.
Belt and suspenders
After the problems encountered on its sister ship, Éric Bellion’s Imoca, Le Cam did not hesitate to reinforce the structure of its vessel built at the Persico shipyard in Italy. He made belts and suspenders: “We reinforced six partitions at the front. In case… “
The Finisterian has no desire to relive the stress of his previous Vendée Globe when he had to complete two-thirds of his world tour with a weakened boat at the front. For his sixth Vendée Globe, Jean Le Cam admits to having never had so much time to prepare. Third new Imoca, he qualified having participated in only one race in 2023, the Return to Base. That’s 3539 miles swallowed. “With their c… qualification system, I wouldn’t have been able to compete in just one of my five Vendée Globes.”
During the last edition of the world tour, he annoyed more than one by saying “that foilers are not suitable for the Vendée Globe”.
He has not changed his mind and even mentions the idea of a Division 2 in Imoca: “If we are looking for excessive elitism, let’s go for it: the Imoca fleet will grow with increasingly higher budgets and we are going to lose sailors and sponsors along the way.” He believes that not everyone will be able to follow. And recalls that “most sponsors come to Imoca only for the Vendée Globe”.
“I do my thing”
His Imoca with straight fins cost 3 million euros less than a new foiler, or 5 million euros. At certain speeds, it necessarily goes slower. The skipper knows it but that doesn’t stop him from sleeping. “I do my thing and we’ll see the result at the end.”
The island of Groix is right there in front of us. Thaïs Le Cam’s proto 650 too. A little family hello and chambering on the VHF radio:
– “So, shall we strut?” »
Father’s response to his daughter: “Uh oh, we work here.”
Correct, at Inside, a technician has had his eyes glued to the screens since leaving Port-La-Forêt: he is in charge of adjusting and calibrating the devices, including pilots, weather vanes,etc.
Jean Le Cam takes his place at the helm. To feel his boat. “I couldn’t stay in a closed cockpit where you don’t feel anything,” he said.
This need to feel the wind, the sea spray.
