Paris (AFP)

He probably had a tight heart thinking about the departure of the Ultims on Tuesday: for lack of a boat, Armel Le Cléac'h is not part of the multihulls party but is working hard on the Transat Jacques Vabre, supporting the young Clarisse Crémer.

Armel Le Cléac'h drew a line on the monohulls after his superb victory at the last Vendée Globe 2016/2017 to experience the adventure of the giant trimarans.

But after the destruction of his maxi-multihull trend in November 2018 during a capsize, he agreed to take on the role of teacher for the sailor, the latest recruit of Team Banque Populaire, which he is the flagship.

"This is the first time that, in quotation marks, it is not me who chooses my teammate.I had been told to do the Jacques Vabre Imoca (monohulls of the Vendée Globe) to make a performance, clearly I 'I would have never chosen Clarisse, I did not know her and she did not have the level of people I could have contacted,' tells AFP the sailor, who lives his sixth Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV), race in double from Le Havre to Salvador de Bahia (Brazil).

Creaming herself did not believe it. "I was relatively surprised at the time, I'm offered this to myself, something like this, it's a bit of a fairy tale, it's wonderful and at the same time a heavy weight on your shoulders", remembers the sailor, who says she has "not a huge seafaring experience".

- Taken to the game -

But the project is launched, Banque Populaire wants to come back on the next edition of the Vendée Globe - the race around the mythical world alone which is played in a year. And it will be with Clarisse Crémer pending the release of the new Ultim (maxi-flying trimaran 32 m long), scheduled for 2021.

"At first it was not necessarily obvious when I was recovered in Portugal (at the capsizing), pretty quickly behind me asked questions about what I want to do, remake the Ultim," says Le Cléac 'h, who has no hesitation about his willingness to continue with the big multihulls.

While waiting for the new machine, it is proposed to him to train and transmit his knowledge to a sailor of 29 years, who has never been mounted on an Imoca. And it goes through a crossing of the Atlantic to two, the TJV.

"It's been a little hard to explain that to my wife was not easy either, tell her: + I'll do it with someone I do not know, a woman, young, rather cute. 'is full of things at the same time, you have almost left your skin (at the capsizing), a month after you are told that you will do that, "says the browser 42 years.

And in the end, Le Cléac'h is stung in the game! The young student is attentive and applied and Le Cléac'h discovers a navigation without stress or pressure, with the pleasure to find the open sea, which he had not lived since his world tour victorious.

And the duo seems to work perfectly. While aiming between 5th and 10th place, he could afford the podium in a few days in Brazil.

© 2019 AFP