Vendée Globe, week 5: “I live from day to day!

After 32 days at sea, it's time for an initial assessment for Clarisse Crémer, a solid 12th and impressive for her consistency and fighting spirit, but also for her hindsight and clear-sightedness about her performance. Just hours away from facing a violent low-pressure system and crossing the second milestone of her round-the-world voyage, the skipper of L'Occitane en Provence answers our questions.

Clarisse, how would you sum up this first month of racing? Does the reality match your expectations?

In all honesty, I'm starting to get completely lost in the notions of time and duration. On the whole, I'm happy - it could hardly have gone better, either in terms of my state of mind or my performance. I'm really happy to be where I am.

It's very different from 4 years ago, I'm really enjoying it in a different way. In 2020, I was very emotional, I was very sensitive, and I took full advantage of it emotionally. There were also some more difficult moments. This time around, I'm much more carpe diem. I live from day to day, and when it's hard, I tell myself it'll get better in the end.

Does your focus on performance also change the way you experience racing?

4 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to do what I'm doing now. I was in a state of total discovery, whereas this year, my “performance” objective allows me to discipline my days, to stay focused on this objective and therefore to last.

At the same time, it's harder, because you demand more of yourself and your boat, and at the same time, it's a rigorous approach to trimming and sail changes that keeps you on course. Over the long term, I think it's the right recipe!

What's your rhythm on board, and what's your secret to staying the course over the long term?

That's where the difficulty lies! Between the changes in weather and time of day, the problems encountered onboard, the multitude of things to do on a boat. It's hard to get into a rhythm. I force myself to follow the sun's cycle and as soon as I'm faced with a moment of “latency”, I cook myself a meal to force myself to eat. And since the more I eat, the more I sleep and the more I recover, I try as best I can to keep up this pace. There's also always the option of reducing the canvas to recharge the batteries by going for a rest, but that's not ideal in a competition!

Your little group, Boris Justine and Sam, are always together: is it stimulating to sail with several people?

I've sailed two oceans with them, so it's really cool to sail with several people. Now I'm hoping to catch up with Boris and Justine when the wind catches up with us. Sam and I haven't left each other since the equator, which is really stimulating and reassuring too. The longer it goes on, the better I feel! And finally, I'm pretty proud to be neck and neck with them, and I'm not ashamed of my place, so that's great.

What's the outlook for the next few days? 

For the moment, I'm mainly looking ahead to the big “plum” that's going to hit us right under Australia, right under Tasmania, in the next 3 to 4 days. With gusts of 60 knots and 6-metre swells forecast, it's going to be one hell of a ride! I don't know if we're all going to take it in our stride. I don't know if this low will behave in the same way as a low in the middle of the ocean. There may be some acceleration... I could be in for a hot 24 hours. So, I have a lot of questions on this subject.

For it to be playable, we'd have to be 150 miles behind the position we'll naturally find ourselves in. So, either I slow down, to protect the boat and myself, but the risk would be to be caught by the group behind... The gap would shrink considerably: barely a hundred miles. I'll think about it. We're not there yet, so we'll see what I decide to do!