First solo race on Banque Populaire X for Clarisse Crémer

It’s 3:30 pm on Saturday, July 4 and Clarisse Crémer is getting ready to set sail in the Vendée-Arctic Les Sables d’Olonne, her first solo race aboard Banque Populaire X. The chosen route designed to respond to the upheavals linked to the health crisis has never been used before, taking the fleet from Les Sables-d’Olonne to the south of Iceland and then to the Azores before returning to the Vendée.

The competitors will be using the roughly 3,500 miles (5,632 km) of this race to measure their respective strengths less than five months before start of the Vendée Globe competition. This will give the young woman the opportunity to confirm what she has learnt and to build up her confidence before competing in her first round-the-world yacht race starting on November 8th.
 
“I’m very happy to be taking part in this race,” she said excitedly. “I really want to continue familiarizing myself with the boat, gain more experience, improve my maneuvering skills, and keep an eye on my trajectories.” Beyond these objectives, Clarisse is keen to “find the right pace” and to “sail cleanly” in order to “be as serene as possible.”