Posted by It appears that long-time sailing and Vendée Globe sponsor Banque Populaire has dropped its sponsorship of female IMOCA skipper Clarisse Cremer. Having just purchased arguably the best current boat in the fleet for her – Charlie Dalin’s APIVIA – Clarisse looked poised to turn in a better result than in her first Vendée Globe where she finished a somewhat underwhelming 12th place on a non-foiling two-generation old boat.
Now, however, it looks like she won’t get that shot, at least not with Banque Pop. The reason? Motherhood, of all things, at least according to an Instagram post where the new mother shared her anger and frustrations with the world. Having missed the Route du Rhum, and also the Vendée Arctique (in which Nico Lunven replaced her), Clarisse had sacrificed a couple of valuable opportunities to gain qualification miles in the IMOCA Globe Series to start a family.
Despite having nearly two full seasons and a handful of opportunities left to potentially qualify for the next Vendée Globe, the top brass at Banque Populaire have now dropped the popular female skipper due to it being too risky that she may not qualify for the next Vendée Globe; a risk that the company was reportedly unwilling to take.
Whether this is the real reason for Banque Pop dropping Clarisse, or merely just a convenient cop-out with abysmal optics is up for debate. As always, our forums were on it within minutes. What do you think? Nothing to see here, or is misogyny on full display?
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