What is your first memory at sea?
My first cruises with my family, on my dad's sailboat, a Melody. I started when I was only one year old. We sailed in the bay of Morlaix and often crossed to the Scilly, which was our summer vacation spot.
What made you want to start this career?
My victory in the 1999 Challenge Espoir Crédit Agricole selection. It was a real turning point for me. I was a student at the INSA in Rennes in engineering school. I had two choices. By winning the challenge, I would have gained two years on the Figaro circuit, with a boat and a budget by joining the Pôle Finistère in Port-la-Forêt. Conversely, I would have continued my studies and had a job on land.
This victory allowed me to see that this was what I wanted to do and, more importantly, that I had the ability to do it.
Armel le Cléac'h at the finish of the Vendée Globe © DPPI / BPCE
Which boat left you the best memory?
It remains the Maxi Banque Populaire IX even if it has disappeared. It was part of the Ultimates, which reach incredible speeds and make it possible to cross the Atlantic single-handed in less than a week. They are difficult to sail and require a lot of work to make them efficient and reliable, but they are fabulous boats.
Did you have a mentor or another skipper who marked you?
My coaches when I started in Optimist. They made me want to continue, and allowed me to progress. I did a lot of departmental, regional and national regattas in Optimist. We are quite young and the coach is very important, because he gives us the means to progress and to quickly achieve great things.
My trainer allowed me to like what I was doing at the beginning and not to be disgusted by the competition. He taught me the requirements and the pedagogy necessary for a certain level of sport. He made it "fun".
My first coaches in Optimist gave me the desire to continue in this sport and to train to reach the highest levels.
What is your greatest achievement as a sailor?
My victory in the Vendée Globe. It's a victory that was built over almost 10 years and required three circumnavigations. It's something very strong to win this race with the work and the people involved: the team, the sponsor and the family
It's the best thing I've ever done in this sport.
On a daily basis, what is your practice of boating?
I practice it with my family, with my two children. I have a wooden caravel with which we participate in small local regattas or simply for fun in the south of Finistère. When we have time, we go a little further by boat for family cruising. We really cut with the mainland and we find ourselves all four.
What is your favorite and dreaded sailing area?
There are plenty of them. There is the one of heart which is the bay of Morlaix. I grew up there and I learned to sail. It's a magical place for that.
Now, I sail more between Port La forêt and the Glénan. It is a small paradise all year round. And as soon as the weather is good, it's always nice to go and enjoy this place. You can go there quickly by boat and it is really nice.
As for the places I dread, I haven't sailed enough to know. I've been around the world several times, but it's often on the same course. I would say that it's not the place that makes it difficult or austere, but the weather. Even near Brittany, when it blows very hard, you don't necessarily want to be on the open sea. I think that it is the weather that will make the place very difficult.
If you had not been a skipper, what would you have done?
I think I would have been in the world of ocean racing, but more in the engineering and design department. It corresponds to my studies and it would have fascinated me.
Today, I have the chance to do so because I have built boats with Banque Populaire or my former sponsor. I am in daily contact with architects, engineers, calculators. I bring them my know-how and my experience as a user of the boat on which I will be sailing. My training allows me to exchange more easily and I understand what they say.
Portrait
Armel le Cléac'h began his career as a professional skipper by joining the Figaro Bénéteau circuit and the Pôle Finistère de Course au large in 1999. ORMA, IMOCA, he tried his hand at different supports and races before joining the Team Voile Banque Populaire in 2011. First in IMOCA euros he won the Vendée Globe 2016-2017 euros he will then talk powder in maxi trimaran. While waiting for the construction of his new boat, he rediscovers his first love, the Figaro Bénéteau. Except that today, it is the No. 3, a hydrofoil boat that makes its debut in 2019. He will then accompany Clarisse Crémer on her 2020 Vendée Globe campaign before getting his new Ultime, which will be launched in the winter of the same year.
