Vendee Globe star Clarisse Cremer returns for 2024 race after refusing to choose between being a mum and sailing
- Frenchwoman has overcome the loss of her biggest sponsor and the threat of not making next year’s race, just 5 months after giving birth
- Vendee Globe organisers are re-examining qualifications rules, thanks in part to Cremer’s stance
French star Clarisse Cremer is returning for next year’s Vendee Globe despite being dropped by her sponsor and fighting against maternity rules that put the new mother’s place in doubt.
The 33-year-old had already qualified for the round-the-world race after completing the event in 2020, but with so many sailors reaching the mark, organisers imposed further criteria that favoured sailors with the most race mileage.
But the rules for the world’s toughest non-stop, unsupported solo race, failed to take into account that women such as Cremer, who have children in intervening years, were at a huge disadvantage.
Even her sponsor, Banque Populaire, decided the Frenchwoman, who gave birth just five months ago, was in danger of not getting one of the 40 spots available and dropped her.
When she revealed the news on social media in February there was uproar.
“I’ve never really accepted that idea. That’s the reason why now I am back. I refuse to make the choice [between motherhood and sailing],” she said.
