Image: Tout Commence en Finistère - Armor Lux skipper Jean le Cam (FRA) is photographed after taking 20th place in the Vendee Globe, on February 04, 2025 in Les Sables d'Olonne, France - (Photo by Jean-Marie Liot / Alea)
Isabelle Joschke, 19th in the Vendée Globe 2024
At 2328 UTC on 3 February, Isabelle Joschke crossed the Vendée Globe finish line in 19th position, after 85 days, 11 hours and 26 minutes of racing. Four years after a first participation that ended in retirement, the skipper of MACSF successfully completed her non-stop unassisted circumnavigation.
In doing so she overcame numerous problems, in particular a clean break of her starboard foil in the Pacific ocean. In doing this the Franco-German skipper achieved her goal of maintaining the positive and combative state of mind that she was aiming for.
Four years ago, Isabelle Joschke had sailed up the Sables d’Olonne channel on the same IMOC, but in a completely different context. Victim of a major keel failure, she had been forced to retire after rounding Cape Horn, before choosing to continue her solo circumnavigation after repairs had been completed.
This time the early part of Isabelle’s race proceeded relatively well, apart from a sail failure in 40 knots of wind while passing Cape Finisterre. The skipper of MACSF then settled into a rhythm, gaining places in the ranking and crossing the equator in 19th place, a position she still held passing the Cape of Good Hope on December 6. She also set a personal 24 hour speed record, covering 458 miles. "I think I'm doing quite well," she remarked at the time.
Isabelle describes the Indian Ocean this year as being "tough" and chose the northern route in the company of Jean Le Cam and Alan Roura. She also held her own against boats with higher speed potential, showing impressive consistency and passed Cape Leeuwin again in 19th place.
December 29 brought a tense moment: on hearing a loud crack Isabelle immediately feared the same keel damage as four years ago. She went out on deck to see that the "starboard foil has snapped clean off". Added to this is an engine failure that makes battery charging problematic, and the mainsail is torn.
"My race will not be the same from now on", she explains, obviously dejected, and worried about the rest of the journey. Finishing, no matter what, becomes the only priority. Before Cape Horn, Isabelle slows to avoid the worst of the storm, dropping to 18th place.
By contrast, the weather worked in her favour in the early part of the south Atlantic, when it slowed the group of competitors in front. With eight boats bunched together less than 150 miles apart, Isabelle decided to try her luck near the Brazilian coast. This option smiled on her and she crossed the equator in 15th place before accelerating in the trade winds, as long as she was on starboard tack and therefore using the undamaged foil.
However, she slowed again in the Azores high pressure system, when the same group of boats came together again. Isabelle then pushed the boat to the full in the very tightly fought closing stages of her race. For a skipper who once had doubts about returning to the Vendée Globe, successfully overcoming the problems encountered and completing a solo non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation is also a victory in itself.
Jean Le Cam, 20th in the Vendée Globe 2024
Legendary French ocean racing veteran Jean Le Cam (Tout Commence en Finistère – Armor-lux) completed his fifth successful Vendée Globe solo round the world race at the age of 65 this Monday evening when he crossed the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne in 20th position at 03 53 02 hrs UTC. Since finishing second in February 2004 just over seven hours behind Vincent Riou, Le Cam has successively finished fifth in 2012-13, sixth in 2016-17 and fourth in 2020-2021. He had to abandon the 2008-9 race after his boat overturned near Cape Horn before being rescued by Riou.
Le Roi Jean – King Jean as he is known in his native France – raced a brand new, modern David Raison designed IMOCA which he and Eric Bellion conceived jointly. As usual his wily, experienced strategies paid off at many points on his race but too many times he was snared by periods of light winds at key stages to really be able to make an impression on the top half of the fleet this time. Nonetheless he was again at his phlegmatic, humorous best as he came to terms with the many, many challenges of his race, not least having to climb the mast to replace his J2 forestay. But there was never any doubt how much the veteran is happiest at sea and fully content to be taking on the Vendée Globe again.
While he might appear like an aged rock star with his weather beaten face and the huge unruly quiff of jet black hair, Le Cam might more readily be associated with Sinatra’s ‘My Way’. He launched himself into a spectacular easterly option off Madeira right from the start of the race, when the trade winds were just not there His audacity paid off but only temporarily. But King Jean was momentarily crowned first in the rankings!
And he had fun with it… “In life you have to dare just believe in yourself!” he said at the time before slumping in a long, long period of light winds crossing the equator in 22nd position.
In the South Atlantic, Jean shows the full potential of this new boat and does takes the lead of his group. "22, 24 knots. Here we are flirting with the limits of stupidity .... It's hot potato, but it should ease off!", says Le Cam crossing the Cape of Good Hope for the ninth time, setting a new speed record for the boat at 32 knots.
In the Indian Ocean he sails a direct straight course in the north and observes from afar the hot head "rookies" who plough through the big storms. Side by side with Isabelle Joschke (MACSF) who had impressed him so much four years ago and also Alan Roura (Hublot) and Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian), Jean Le Cam unfolds a neatly modulated, smart race.
In the Pacific, the weather gods are with him, and once he has got around the initial calm, they offer him a real motorway. He leaves his pack behind to catch up day after day with Damien Segin (Groupe APICIL) and Romain Attanasio (Fortinet – Best Western).
On January 4 at night, for the eighth time in his life, Jean rounds Cape Horn. He is in 16th position. “Oh my goodness!”, he exclaims as he passes, also talking to the light house keeper
On January 14, his J2 stay breaks. Caught in the calm, Le Cam drops to 22nd place, and above all had to climb the mast twice to get his rigging back in racing shape.
A failed bet
After the equator, the Azores and their high pressure allowed him to catch up with the pack again, but a broken hook forced him to climb to 29 metres again. Although he didn't spare himself in the final days of the race, Jean Le Cam was unable to keep up with those in front, and finished in 20th place, just ahead of Conrad Colman, and behind his non foiling daggerboard boats Monnoyeur Duo for a Job and Lazare.
Something of an advocate for a place in the fleet for the non foiling modern boats, Le Cam still hailed the "stratospheric" performances of Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) and Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA).
His conclusion? "My dream would be to go for a ride with Charlie Dalin on his foiling boat".
Conrad Colman, 21st in the Vendée Globe 2024
Conrad Colman, the Kiwi skipper of MS Amlin, completed his second Vendée Globe today when he crossed the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne at 04 06 33 hrs (UTC). He takes 21st place in an elapsed time of 85d 16h 04min and finishes 21st, 13 minutes after 20th placed Jean Le Cam. In the most biggest and most competitive Vendée Globe fleet ever Colman has completed an assured, accomplished race on a modest budget on a boat which he extensively refitted and made reliable himself with a very small team. After strategic error on the first section of the race, a non paying move he shared with Jean Le Cam, Alan Roura, Giancarlo Pedote and others, Colman fought back hard and consistently, pulling back hundreds of miles by pushing hard and making some better decisions.
And so while he might have liked to have been a little closer to the top two non foiling boats his overall result is excellent and adds to the spectacular finish he achieved in 2017 when he was dismasted 700 miles from the finish but completed his race under Jury rig. And for the second time Colman has completed his race using no fossil fuels.
If the tone of a Vendée Globe is decided in the first hour of racing, then Colman got a kind of early hint his race was not going to be easy. A few minutes before the starting gun, on November 10, a piece of rope got stuck in his propeller, preventing him from disembarking his crew. The skipper of MS Amlin had to wait to cross the line, and finally set off.
But unbowed three hours later, while the fleet was largely becalmed, Colman came back strong and even took the lead in the ranking in itself a reward for the hundreds of long hours of work he put into transforming an IMOCA which had something of an unlucky streak to date. As Kito de Pavaant’s Groupe Bel it had retire early before it nearly broke in half forcing Thomas Ruyant to retire into New Zealand in 2016 and in 2020 whilst Max Sorel finished in 10th place he had had to make substantial reinforcing repairs to the deck to finish the race safely. But Colman gave his MS Amlin a new lease of life.
Before Madeira, he tried his luck in the East like Jean Le Cam (Tout Commence en Finistère – Armor-lux). He attacks down the South Atlantic in 32nd position, and celebrates, despite a total blackout on board, his 41st birthday a few days before a big scare at Cape Finisterre, with his large gennaker falling into the water, at night, in 40 knots.
The Indian Ocean is tough and Colman goes South, to shorten the route. He climbs to 27th position, at the same time has to climb the mast repair his lazy bag battered by the southern ocean storms. In the Pacific, Conrad Colman tries again an unusual option, pointing his bow alone towards his native country to avoid the calm zone. Ten days later, there he is face to face with an iceberg, and he even gets out his drone to immortalize this chilling encounter.
At the end of the Pacific, MS Amlin does well after rounding Cape Horn in 22nd position.
"My fourth Cape Horn and certainly my most beautiful passage! It’s magnificent, and it’s proof that even in light winds, dreams come true,” he exclaimed, before weathering a storm in the Falklands that pushes him along the coast of South America.
After an exhausting Doldrums where he cools off with a quick swim to check the condition of his keel, the Kiwi who holds a US passport too, crosses the equator in 22nd position, and is still in the pack at the finish in the Azores High.
Battling with Jean Le Cam in the final days, the sailor snatches 20th place, eight years after his 16th place. Before the start, he said he wanted to “go all out and not give up!” And that is just what he did.