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This Sunday, November 10, the 65-year-old iconoclastic sailor will set off on this world tour solo and without assistance for the sixth consecutive time. On board a different and less expensive boat, without these famous “foils” that make you fly.
When he walks with his hands in the pockets of his black jacket these last few days in Sables-d'Olonne (Vendée), Jean Le Cam is pampered like a rock star. The sailor, who is about to start his sixth consecutive Vendée Globe, is being watched. Admired. Sometimes jealous. A form of consecration for the 65-year-old man, who showed a taste for solo sailing from his earliest years, and clearly very quickly understood the benefits of sail propulsion. On the beach, the kid hides a parasol in the bottom of a boat, a sort of canoe, heads out to sea despite the screams of his grandmother who is supposed to be watching over him, then proudly returns to shore after having opened it so to use the wind rather than the paddles. As a teenager, he cut his teeth on the family boat, an eight-meter plywood Armagnac named Mervent. Father and son Cam like to race on weekends, and bring home cups. The son already has a nice “touch” of the helm, maneuvers wonderfully, especially when a nice Atlantic depression sweeps the Breton coasts.
It didn't take long for the sailor to be spotted. Logically, he was taken on board by Eric Tabarly during his military service for a first round-the-world race and crew trip, then
