A list of achievements and records. At 65 years old, Jean Le Cam is back for a sixth participation in the Vendée Globe, a record, which will start on Sunday November 10 from Les Sables d’Olonne. Twenty years after his first turn of the world in sailing, solo, without stopover or assistance, Jean Le Cam has made more than a name for himself in the world of ocean racing with four Vendée Globes completed out of five, and always in the top 10. His best performance dates back to the 2004-2005 edition, where he finished second after 87 days of racing, behind Vincent Riou, with a gap of just seven hours. A CV known to everyone, so much so that in Sables d’Olonne, the skipper cannot go 10 meters without being stopped by the crowd.
However, he gets no satisfaction from it: “It doesn’t do much, he responds humbly a few days before departure. It’s one more edition”, smiles the skipper of the Imoca It all starts in Finistère-Armor-Lux. For his sixth consecutive start, Jean Le Cam’s first objective is to “to end” this offshore race before thinking about the ranking. With this in mind, he therefore chose to focus on a boat with fins, and not with foils (which go faster), designed by him. A strong choice, when more than half of the fleet opted for foiling.
But above all, this decision remains faithful to the skipper’s values. While the search for performance goes ever further, thanks to technological advances which make it possible to increase the speed of boats, Jean Le Cam advocates the human adventure, the very essence of the Vendée Globe, before the competition. “What interests people, above all, are the stories we tell, this somewhat inaccessible thing of a skipper all alone around the world. Whether the boats do 35 or 25 knots, the public doesn’t care” , slices “King Jean”, proud of his fourth place four years ago with his monohull already with fins, Yes We Cam.
“Besides, he continues, the Vendée Globe record dates from the penultimate edition [Armel Le Cléac’h détenteur du record de l’épreuve en 74 jours en 2017]with a delta of six days. We can explain it in different ways, but when I say: ‘is this progress?’, not everyone likes it.” he laughs. The evolution of boats driven by the search for speed puts skippers in more and more danger, according to him. The shocks are “in the square of speed, which means that at one point, it is the human being who will be the fuse”, exposes the browser.
“The evolution is enormous, in technology and in mastery of the boat. We are moving towards complete elitism”, further explores Jean Le Cam, who sees the great technological revolution taking place for the next edition in 2028. “Of the 40 places at the start, there are already eight boats under construction. We can estimate that there will be ten new boats, so there will only be 30 places left. Entering the Vendée Globe system is not an option easy if you’re not already there, finding funding, building a boat, qualifying, all of these will become almost impossible steps. he regrets.
He himself has already almost missed the 2024 start for these reasons. Without the help of skipper Eric Bellion, who had the funds to begin studies for a new boat, Jean Le Cam would have remained at the dock. Well into this tenth edition, the dean of the race does not yet know if this participation will be his last. In the meantime, he wants to savor this sixth start with a taste for adventure.
