Barring major damage, Armel Le Cléac’h and Sébastien Josse will win the Transat Jacques-Vabre on Sunday November 12 aboard the Maxi Banque Populaire.

Having left Le Havre on October 29 to conquer the “Route du Café”, the famous double-handed transatlantic created in 1993, they are expected overnight in Fort-de-France.

“A few hours before arrival in Martinique (…), we are moving at an average of 35 knots (64 km/h). There was a bit of squall last night, but now it’s clearing and we’re flying! See you later”, launched Le Cléac’h at midday, in a video broadcast on X (formerly Twitter).

His co-skipper, Sébastien Josse, appeared serene and focused, gray cap on his head and shaved beard, in this video sent from his foiling sailboat, launched in 2021.

Its first pursuer, the SVR Lazartigue of the François Gabart and Tom Laperche tandem, is more than 150 nautical miles (277 km) away. He was due to arrive a few hours later in the Martinican night.

During these two weeks of sailing, the two most recent machines in the Ultim fleet (32 meter long multihulls) were neck and neck for a long time.

“It was a high-level race with competitors who didn’t give up. If we cross the line first, it would be a hell of a victory,” Ronan Lucas, director of the Banque Populaire team, told Agence France-Presse on Sunday.

Bad luck

First inserted in ambush along the Atlantic coast, “Banque Pop” took the lead of the fleet near Madeira, thanks to ideal weather conditions and a daring strategic choice: it was the only sailboat to go around the island from the north.

Caught in the South Atlantic by François Gabart, then briefly overtaken near Ascension Island, Le Cléac’h and Josse then took advantage of the best performance of their sailboat downwind – when the wind came from the rear of the ship.

Sailing at an average speed of more than 30 knots (55 km/h) for several days off the coast of Brazil, the Maxi Banque Populaire XI achieved a perfect end to the race to close the gap and then widen its gap with SVR.

“The film turned out really well. Sébastien and Armel were super strong, very relaxed throughout the race and focused on their subject,” commented Ronan Lucas. If Le Cléac’h wins in Martinique, it would be his first major victory in a multihull.

Winner in a monohull of the Vendée Globe in 2017, this Breton father of two has been one of the figures of ocean racing since the early 2000s and his first coronation in the Solitaire du Figaro (2003).

Having become principal skipper of Banque Populaire multihulls in 2013, he had long had bad luck on this medium. In 2014, suffering a hand injury, he was replaced at the last minute by Loïc Peyron, who won the Route du Rhum. In 2018, still on the Rhum, he capsized after two days of racing and came close to death.

“It’ll do him good if he wins. He is a very high level athlete and a great champion. But in a multihull, he never had the chance to show everyone what he could do. It will be a relief,” Ronan Lucas said.