Sailing: accused with her companion, Clarisse Crémer denies any cheating in the Vendée Globe

The names were quick to leak. After the announcement at the start of the week by two media, Le Télégramme and L'Équipe, of a suspicion of cheating in the 2020-2021 Vendée Globe concerning two sailors, one at sea and the other on land, the names by Clarisse Crémer and Tanguy Le Turquais are now in the public eye. Companions in life and parents of a little girl, they must now answer to an accusation of cheating for having exchanged information concerning the weather, which is formally prohibited by the regulations of the solo, non-stop round the world trip but also without assistance.

The screenshots of the WhatsApp application sent to the French Sailing Federation by an anonymous email hardly seem to leave any doubt about these totally prohibited routing exchanges. And the federation was quick to react, by deciding to compose an international jury, a priori of five members, which, according to our information, has already been designated and should meet within ten or fifteen days to study the facts and hear the sailors. The federation's disciplinary committee should then meet to decide whether or not to impose sanctions after the jury's opinion.

The two parties were quick to react. And to respond this Thursday on social networks. “We never cheated or ever had any desire to break a rule during this 87-day world tour. During our discussions, which essentially concern the intimacy of a couple, Tanguy never gives me the slightest information that I do not already have, assures Clarisse Crémer. No conversation with him contributed to me changing course or making a strategic choice that would have had an impact on my race. I have always made all my performance choices alone and without assistance, in accordance with the rules. Three years after the end of the Vendée Globe, we can only wonder about the motivations and timing of this anonymous disclosure and we reserve the right to file a complaint if necessary. »

At the end of last year, two sailors in the Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, Benoît Tuduri and Pierre Daniellot, were sanctioned for having downloaded weather files during the race with their phone (which is prohibited on the Solitaire, but not on the Vendée World). The first was excluded from the race classification and the second disqualified from the second and third stages, before the federation suspended them from all competition even before their appearance before the disciplinary commission.

Despite their denial, for Clarisse Crémer and Tanguy Le Turquais, the sky is turning into a storm, even a storm. Because, if the facts are proven, the first risks exclusion from the last Vendée Globe and therefore the loss of her 12th place and that of “first woman”. And, for the two sailors, the risk is certain that they will not be able to participate in the next edition, which is due to start from Les Sables-d’Olonne on November 10. The young Ile-de-France woman had already been at the heart of the turmoil just a year ago after being dropped from the Vendée Globe project by her partner, Banque Populaire, who feared that, due to her maternity, she would not be able to qualify for the 2024-2025 edition. His ouster had been widely criticized, even by the Minister of Sports. And she managed to bounce back by finding a new sponsor, L’Occitane, and a boat that she is currently preparing in England with former world tourer Alex Thomson. Here she is now, with her companion, forced to defend herself to save her image damaged by this new affair.