Sailing: the French Federation cancels the sanction imposed on Kévin Escoffier

The French Sailing Federation on Friday canceled the sanction imposed on skipper Kevin Escoffier, suspended after accusations of sexual violence, due to a “procedural defect” raised by a conciliator from the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNSOF), she announced in a press release. In an opinion delivered on March 15, the CNOSF conciliator considered that the FFVoile disciplinary body had not “sufficiently guaranteed the principle of adversarial proceedings” due in particular to the absence of confrontation between the navigator and the various witnesses. , and suggested putting an end to the proceedings initiated.

“In this context, and even if it regrets that a procedural defect led to the cancellation of the disciplinary sanction imposed on Kevin Escoffier, the FFVoile has decided to accept this conciliation proposal,” it was specified on Friday in the press release from the federation. On the basis of testimonies, the FFVoile accused Kevin Escoffier of “inappropriate behavior” during an evening in a bar in Newport (United States) in May 2023 towards a young woman from his team, who described having suffered sexual assault. Several other women then spoke of non-consensual touching on the part of the Breton sailor. Since the start of the affair last summer, which led to his disembarkation from the Holcim-PRB team, the 43-year-old sailor had always contested the alleged facts.

During his hearing before the federation's disciplinary committee, Kevin Escoffier was not confronted with “witnesses who reported facts relating to sexist or sexual violence”. “At the request of the accused person’s lawyer, these people were invited to participate in the disciplinary hearings but they all responded negatively to this request,” explains the federation. At the end of this procedure, the sailor received an 18-month suspension from all competition in October as well as a provisional withdrawal of his license for five years.

The FFVoile added on Friday that it would not relaunch a disciplinary procedure “which would require a hearing of the victims in the presence of Kevin Escoffier” in order to “protect the people who had the courage to make a report”. A judicial investigation was opened in July by the Paris prosecutor's office, which has since been entrusted to the Lorient police station (Morbihan). In its press release, the federation stated its “desire for the case to now be handled within the framework of the current criminal procedure which is based in particular on the complaints of the victims”.

Kevin Escoffier was one of the heroes during the last edition of the Vendée Globe. Shipwrecked on November 30, 2020 in a storm off the Cape of Good Hope, he jumped into his life raft before being rescued at the last minute by sailor Jean Le Cam.