The news went viral in no time and has since triggered a wave of indignation. Clarisse Crémer, the successful French skipper who was the first of six women to finish the Vendée Globe 2020, has been sacked by her sponsor Banque Populaire.

In November 2022, the circumnavigator gave birth to a baby girl. She had already told her sponsor about her decision to have a child a year earlier and made it public. „I had already informed my sponsor Banque Populaire about my wish to have a child in February 2021. They still chose me for this next Vendée Globe and communicated our mutual commitment in autumn 2021,“ she wrote on Instagram.

Clarisse beim Training mit ihrer kleinen Tochter © privatAt the end of last week, Clarisse Crémer learned that the sponsor has decided to replace her. She will not be at the start of the Vendée Globe 2024 despite her best efforts. „I’m left high and dry!“ the successful skipper writes indignantly.

Falling behind the competitors

The Vendée Globe rules for the 2024 edition require all skippers to sail qualifying races and accumulate miles. According to these criteria, the young mother fell behind the other competitors because motherhood prevented her from taking part in the qualifying races for a year. For Banque Populaire, this represents a risk that the sponsor ultimately does not want to take, Crémer writes.

„I’m shocked because other projects that started recently are going on without a second thought. I still had two full seasons and four transatlantic races ahead of me to get back to the same level and I wanted to complete my rehabilitation as soon as possible,“ says the dedicated offshore sailor. But apparently the sponsor was more willing to take the risk of a huge trimaran with all the technical and human imponderables than the risk of motherhood.

Who with a child may go sailing?

Today, ocean racing only exists because sponsors choose it as a means of communication to tell beautiful sporting stories about people, she says. „I have no understanding at all for the story that this sponsor is telling today: ‚The Vendée Globe at any price‘.“ Allowing a young mother to compete would therefore mean taking too great a risk.

Boris Herrmann became a father shortly before he set off for that very Vendée Globe. He only saw his little daughter on the display for months. His wife Birthe had taken on the classic role of mother, enabling her husband to sail around the world and become famous.

Annie Lush’s four-year-old daughter was at the start of The Ocean Race in Alicante to see her mother off. Sam Davies had also left her son at home with the family to sail the 2020 Vendée Globe.

Not everyone had shown understanding for the fact that she, like her husband, also started the race. The idea of which parent is allowed to leave the child for the time of a circumnavigation of the world is still outdated, even in sailing.

The organisers need to put their foot down

The Vendée Globe organisation is apparently content to „feel sorry for me but can’t do anything about it“, reports Clarisse Crémer. Yet it is the organisation that writes the rules. Four years ago, Crémer would have been automatically selected for 2024 because she was a finisher in the previous race.

In addition, 13 new boats, a third of the fleet, had benefited from an exemption to be automatically selected for the next Vendée Globe as an innovation promotion.

„The rules of a competition are supposed to guarantee fairness and sportsmanship. Today, we have to note that the rules chosen by the Vendée Globe forbid a woman to have a child, even if the woman is a recognised ocean sailor who has already finished in the previous edition.“

Star seeks trustworthy partner

She continues: „In the 21st century, who are we to believe that such rules are fair? It is easy to lament afterwards the low number of women on the starting lines … I am determined to sail again, under the colours of a trustworthy partner whose human convictions I will share.“

Clarisse Crémer aka ClaCla was the female star at the last Vendée Globe. The young Frenchwoman also made history as the first woman to do so. She reached the finish line in just 87 days, beating the record held for over 20 years by Ellen MacArthur, who sailed solo around the world in 94 days.

The 33-year-old Frenchwoman has one of the biggest fan bases due to her bubbly, fun nature, her dedicated racing and her good media work off the boat. She had become a role model for many young women as the youngest woman in the race.

No difference on the water

„Nothing is different on the water because I am a woman. Whether the competitors are men or women, I don’t think about that on the water. It doesn’t affect the way I race at all,“ Clarisse Crémer said in February 2021.

But that’s not what makes the race different for men and women. The difference is: you have to get on a boat .