After six consecutive Vendée Globe races, Jean Le Cam announced this week in Le Télégramme that he will not be taking part to the 2028 edition, denouncing the “elitism” of the Imoca class and the “infernal” rules. Tip & Shaft looks back at this announcement.
A constant participant in the Vendée Globe since 2004 – he finished second, his best result in six participations – Jean Le Cam has announced that he will not be taking part in 2028. This is a decision that the 66-year-old sailor has taken a few weeks after finishing 20th in the tenth edition aboard his daggerboard-designed Raison Tout Commence en Finistère-Armor-lux, which was launched in autumn 2023.
“I took stock, and at one point I said to myself that it no longer made sense,” confides “King Jean”, contacted on Thursday by Tip & Shaft. I’ve always fought to try and stay within reasonable projects, and I have to admit that nobody is in that vein. Before, you could arrive a year early and do the Vendée Globe, but now you have to do the whole programme, which costs a fortune.” The three-time winner of the Solitaire du Figaro also criticises a qualification system which, in his opinion, gives pride of place to the wealthiest projects and does not take into account individual cases.
“The rules are horrendous, because I can’t find millions of euros if I’m not sure I’ll qualify,” he continues. To be obliged to qualify when you’ve done five Vendée Globe races, no thank you! The system doesn’t suit me any more.”
No specific rules
Contacted by Tip & Shaft to react to Jean Le Cam’s announcement and these criticisms, Alain Leboeuf, president of the SAEM Vendée which organises the Vendée Globe, and Antoine Mermod, president of the Imoca class, were firstly keen to salute his achievements. “Jean Le Cam’s history with the Vendée Globe is exceptional,” commented Mermod. He’s been one of the main driving forces behind the race for nearly twenty years now, and he’s helped to ensure that it reaches more and more people.” For the President of SAEM Vendée, “we were attached to Jean, who has a marvellous record in the Vendée Globe, his rescue of Kevin (Escoffier) will forever remain an image of the Vendée Globe, he himself was rescued, he lived through some incredible stories, he was also appreciated by the public, with always the little joke that went down well.”
What do they think of the criticism of the rigidity of the rules? “It’s true that a Jean Le Cam or a skipper who has been doing this for twenty years doesn’t necessarily have the same needs in terms of preparation,” replies Antoine Mermod. But alongside that, we also have skippers who are doing the Vendée Globe for the first time, so it’s very important to offer them preparation that is equal to the challenge. Our championship also responds to the need for excellence among skippers looking to win the Vendée Globe, with very high-level competitions upstream.”
For the President of the Imoca, “the vast majority of skippers have found their way around this preparation very well, the very essence of a race is to have a single set of rules for everyone and not rules adapted to each individual case.” Alain Leboeuf adds that “single-handed circumnavigation of the globe requires training, some have been doing it for a long time, like Jean, but this experience needs to continue to be worked on.”
He also points out that the rules will be changing – the broad outlines were unveiled on 6 November, with the details to be published shortly – with “fewer qualifying races” and a miles race replaced by a points-based ranking taking into account the results recorded in the Imoca Globe Series championship. A system once again judged elitist by Jean Le Cam, but also by other skippers interviewed by Tip & Shaft. “Where I agree with Jean is that this ranking inevitably favours the big teams who are capable of lining up in all the races, which isn’t necessarily the case for the smaller projects,” says Fabrice Amedeo.
A request for double classification
The fact remains, however, that this new rule based on ranking could well be useless. “In the current context, we’re a long way from having 40 boats in 2028, so if things don’t change between now and then, there won’t be any disappointments,” Amedeo sums up. While the qualification and selection stakes seem to be less tense than they were in the previous cycle, several sailors share Jean Le Cam’s concern about the financial accessibility of the Vendée Globe – which he raced in 2024 with a total budget of 4 million euros, he points out.
At the press conference after his arrival last February, the Finistère skipper openly asked the SAEM Vendée to create a specific ranking for daggerboard boats, a good way in his eyes to “keep the race alive after the first boats have finished”, but also to promote smaller projects. “I’ve been turned down,” he laments. “If we start to have a separate ranking for the boats, I’m also going to be asked to draw up rankings for men and women, for young people, for foreigners… The single ranking makes it easier to understand for those who are watching us and who aren’t necessarily specialists,” justifies Alain Leboeuf.
The few skippers interviewed by Tip & Shaft on this subject are divided. While Fabrice Amedeo is “against it, because what makes the Vendée Globe so magical is the simplicity of the concept”, Sébastien Marsset replies: “I’d rather listen to the opinion of the sponsors. Mine, Dominique Foussier, was very much in favour of the idea, using the example of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where there are several classifications.” Benjamin Ferré explains: “I hear this argument of ‘One race, 40 boats, one winner’, which is very simple and easy to understand. At the same time, the general public didn’t need anyone to make the distinction between daggerboard boats and foilers, the proof being that when I crossed the line, some journalists ran the headline “The other Vendée Globe winner”.”
Jean Le Cam is not done yet
The fact remains that the proportion of daggerboard boats – which are less expensive, but offer less performance – will no doubt continue to decline, which is why Benjamin Ferré says: “I would never have been able to do the Vendée Globe as a first-time competitor if there hadn’t been daggerboard boats, as the smallest foiler budget was double mine. It’s really important to preserve this accessibility, as it allows us to welcome atypical profiles who make up the richness of the Vendée Globe and also help to raise the public interest. When you add up the interest aroused by Tanguy Le Turquais, Violette Dorange, Guirec Soudée and others, it really adds up!” Sébastien Marsset agrees: “The stories that bring the Vendée Globe to life are not just those of the top teams. Can we deprive ourselves of a future Violette because the entry level is too high?“
While the 2028 Vendée Globe will be without Jean Le Cam – “That’s definitive”, he asserts – he won’t necessarily be very far from it, since his boat, which belongs to Crédit Agricole, is up for sale (€4.2 million ex VAT) or for charter, provided it’s for a project in Finistère which he would be happy to support. In the meantime, he is finishing refitting a Swan 59 he bought four years ago, “perhaps to take part in the Route du Rhum”, he smiles.
Benjamin Ferré concludes: “It’s a shame to see Jean leaving the Vendée Globe, it’s a bit like when ‘Zizou’ (Zinédine Zidane) announced he was quitting the French national team, but I’m sure he will bounce back with something else, as the sea is his life, his breath, and we haven’t heard the last of him.”
Photo : Eneour Leost
