At the end of January, Banque Populaire announced to Clarisse Crémer that she would not be at the start of the next Vendée Globe, on November 10, 2024, due to her recent maternity. Almost three months and a huge controversy later, with the involvement of the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the situation has been reversed: the sailor will participate in the single-handed sailing race without stopovers and without assistance. Unlike Banque Populaire, which withdrew.
The 33-year-old young woman will wear the colors of L’Occitane en Provence, as the cosmetics brand indicated in a press release on Wednesday, with the support of experienced British sailor Alex Thomson, buyer of the former Apivia that Banque Populaire intended for him. Crémer will set off at the helm of the boat aboard which Charlie Dalin won the Transat Jacques-Vabre (2019) and finished 2nd in the Vendée Globe (2021) and the Route du Rhum (2022).
The last “intense” and “sometimes hard” months
“These last few months have been intense, sometimes hard, but I will nevertheless always remain grateful to all those who believed in me and who allowed me, year after year, to progress and take part in the major events of ocean racing”, said reacted the 12th in the last Vendée Globe, in 2021, and the first woman to finish (with the new women’s record in passing).
“We have decided to join forces and combine our forces to promote female leadership in sailing, a competitive universe that is still too largely male,” said Adrien Geiger, CEO of Occitane en Provence. See you in a year and a half at Les Sables-d’Olonne.