Les Sables-d'Olonne (France) (AFP)
"I have known a lot of rather difficult things in my life, but then I experienced the unbearable and in fact the unbearable, we get there", explained Jean Le Cam, injured in a rib and worried for his damaged boat, after completing its fourth Vendée Globe.
"That I'm here today is a miracle," added the dean of the event, who cut the line in 8th position but was finally classified 4th thanks to the compensation of sixteen hours and fifteen minutes that 'he received for having saved on December 1 Kevin Escoffier, shipwrecked after his boat was broken in two.
A: "I've known a lot of pretty difficult things in my life, but then I experienced the unbearable and in fact the unbearable, we get there. It's always amazing the things we manage to do whereas we say to ourselves + it's not possible +. And that I'm here today, it's a miracle. In addition there is the classification, this fucking classification. The day before yesterday (Wednesday) I was eighth, then I find myself sixth and there I finish fourth. I haven't had much luck in my life but on that one, I was served! "
Q: Why do you say "unsustainable"?
xR: "When I landed Kevin on the Nivôse (the French Navy frigate that picked up Escoffier, editor's note), I was in the warm front. The next day, I went to see the front of the boat, he was delaminated (sheared, editor's note) When you have the shell that moves two inches like that, the foam that cracks, you tell yourself that it's going to blow up at any moment, and if it breaks, you sink. I repaired the first time, after that it farted again. Stop a second time, repair. And there every day, every hour, you say to yourself + it mustn't hit +. Hubert (the name he gives to his boat, editor's note) brought me back and I helped him bring me back. That's why I said it was very difficult ".
Q: Isn't that the Vendée Globe too many?
A: "I don't know. You tell me + I'm leaving tomorrow? +, (I answer) no. Now it's hot. This question is asked every time. In fact, I don't know. I crossed the finish line five, six hours ago, I'm happy to have arrived, my life will continue, it will change, something else will happen ".
Q: Did you have fun?
A: "When you are stressed from morning to night to know if you are going to arrive or not, the pleasure, there is not much".
Q: You finish fourth, you already said it was the "con's place" ...
A: "The + places of the con +, I made a bunch of them in Figaro. I was eight (th), finally it was good, things are so that I finish 4, instead of the + con +! In fact, what I did was I relieved the possible con who might have been in my place. "
Q: Why return to the Vendée Globe?
A: "When you're in the south, you're cold and you go up to the flat sea, that's the dream, it's unattainable things on a daily basis. In this Vendée Globe, I come from very low and I go up very high ... The differential, it is very large ... (he tries to raise his arm high enough but can't do it, editor's note) I can't go any further because I lost my way I was pissing in the bucket, I had one hand to hang on and one hand to the bucket and then, a stroke of the thing, I see the bucket leaving, I remove the second hand like a moron and then the rolling bucket! "
Q: Are there any sailors who got you excited?
A: "Ah yes! There is already Benjamin (Dutreux, who should arrive Friday and finish 9th, editor's note), we rubbed shoulders together for days and days. And of course there is Damien (Seguin, a disabled sailor who finished 7th, note). Because with all that, we still have the old jerk, the disabled and the wanker! I found it a pity that Isabelle (Joschke, forced to abandon, note) is not there , that would have made the bitch! "
Interview by Sabine COLPART at a press conference
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