“I did what I had to do, alone in the night, in the wind”

In eight days of Vendée Globe, the sailor has experienced multiple adventures and calls us from the Doldrums, this intertropical zone feared by sailors which she approaches at more than 20 knots. Installed in her cockpit, she watches the unstable squall while remembering the key moments of her start to the race marked by damage, a hairy intruder, a poignant reading, a lack of wind and moments of majesty. As we publish this text, the sailor has just reported on her Instagram account that she experienced an electrical outage in the middle of the night, turning off her entire boat.

Madame Figaro.- How do you feel at this stage of the race? Is it different from your first Vendée Globe?
Clarisse Crémer.- I feel very good, very good morale! Last time, I had down moments at this stage where I felt like I was at the foot of a mountain. We have just had three really very calm days which allowed me to calmly approach the more complicated moments linked to the boat, on which there are always things to repair.

During the night of November 12 to 13, you experienced significant damage by losing your large gennaker. How do you control your nerves in such conditions?
I did what I had to do alone in the night, in the wind. It's a little thing that broke, degenerated. Of course, I lost with this strategic sail lots of little tools which were my jokers for the Vendée Globe, but I could also have dismasted, hurt myself very badly or even fallen into the water.

Did this push you to change strategy?
We sail with many systems to adapt our strategy to the configurations of the boat and the weather conditions. And this sail is a bit at the end of the chain, so it's easy to identify what this will change in the rest of the race.

You've shared recipe videos, photos and other mishaps, like the presence of a huge spider in the cabin. What role do these shares play in your daily life?
I don't ask myself too many questions to tell the truth, I make my daily three-minute videos quite naturally! The ones about food amuse me, it becomes an activity in itself when you have time, when there is no wind. But it's very relative: Tuesday evening, for example, it was very hot, we were going very quickly, I ate what came to hand. Concerning photos, I like to share my little moments of contemplation which are very precious for me. I had beautiful nights, calm and starry, it's very pleasant and it makes you want to go boating to enjoy the gentleness and the flying fish!

You mentioned the discovery on board of a very difficult novel, A special day, by Anne-Dauphine Julliand and which addresses the question parental bereavement . Is the sea – in calm weather – suitable for reading?
Reading is for me a way to gain perspective. As it is always difficult to start a book at sea, I use audio books – I have already listened to Thomas Pesquet's autobiography three times! But after reading this, I decided to choose another one, perhaps a little longer!

You have also been competing for eight days with your companion Tanguy le Turquais, this is his first Vendée Globe. How do you experience it?
It's very special. I have to say that I miss him less than if he were on the ground. As we are each on our boat, I have the impression of being with him. We don't talk much, just to know if we slept well, what we ate… We like to know that everything is okay. I look forward to discussing his impressions when he arrives. He has more experience than me, but the Vendée is special!