- Title: ‘Small arms, big boat’: French female skipper to embark on Vendee Globe run
- Date: 5th October 2020
- Summary: AT SEA, FRANCE (OCTOBER 1, 2020) (REUTERS) FRENCH SKIPPER, CLARISSE CREMER, MANOEUVRING HER BOAT AS WATER SPLASHES ON HER FACE CREMER PULLING ROPES TO ADJUST SAILS ROPE ON WINCH CREMER MANOEUVRING BOAT LA FORET-FOUESNANT, FRANCE (OCTOBER 1, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH SKIPPER, CLARISSE CREMER, SAYING: "My name is Clarisse Cremer, I'm 30 years old, I'm a ski
- Embargoed: 19th October 2020 15:02
- Keywords: France Sailing Vendee Globe boat competition sea
- Location: LA FORET-FOUESNANT, FRANCE / AT SEA
- City: LA FORET-FOUESNANT, FRANCE / AT SEA
- Country: France
- Topics: Europe,Sport,Yachting / Sailing
- Reuters ID: LVA001CYUQURJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The roaring seas are no threat to French skipper Clarisse Cremer, one of the six women slated to participate in this year's Vendee Globe sailing race.
Cremer will set sail for the French competition, which spans more than 40,000 kilometres circling around the planet, along with around 30 other skippers on November 8.
Cremer was born in the Paris region, far from the coast, and went to business school. Her sailing career debuted when she met her husband, a professional skipper.
Now, racing on wide waters has become a passion for her.
"It's a real feeling of freedom for me to tell myself that, with the strength of the wind, my small arms and my big boat, I can go around the planet," she said. "It's truly my first motivation."
While at sea, Cremer she will have daily two weather sessions - one in the morning around 0700GMT and another in the evening around 1900GMT. These sessions are important to develop a good strategy for the race based on weather conditions.
She'll have three meals per day to be in good shape, but no good night's sleep - she can only count on 45-minute napping periods.
The race is taking place amid the global COVID-19 crisis, which almost hurt Cremer's training.
"It's true that there was a period of time when I was bothered by the fact that we didn't know if Vendee Globe would take place or not," she said. "If we begin to doubt whether an event will take place, we're not helping ourselves."
The Vendee Globe's 2020 edition is historic one since for the first time since its creation in 1989, six women are in the race's roster, a victory for gender equality, Cremer said.
"At the last edition, there was no female participant," she said. "The more women there are, the more chances there are to have more in the next editions."
(Production: Stephane Mahe, Maxime Lahuppe, Ardee Napolitano) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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