An edited Instagram post and an enigmatic removal. Then the speech of the president of the French Sailing Federation. The weekend was stormy for the skipper of Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine) Kévin Escoffier. The one who won the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2005 is accused of having had an "inappropriate behavior towards a young woman during a party in Newport", as announced, in the Telegram, the president of the FFVoile, Jean-Luc Denéchau.
On Saturday, the French sailor had announced that he would not take part in the last two stages of the Ocean Race, a crewed round the world race. "I have decided to leave my position as skipper of the PRB-Holcim team until the end of this edition of The Ocean Race. I salute the commitment and the quality of the work of this magnificent team that I have been leading since the beginning of the race," he wrote on his Instagram account.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Escoffier Kevin (@kevinescoffier)
He initially said he was leaving his post due to an "alleged incident," without giving further details. This post has since been deleted. A message that intrigued everyone in the navigation world. Especially since, for its part, its team, PRB-Holcim, has published a press release to unveil a new composition of its crew "with Benjamin Schwartz, Yoann Richomme, Abby Ehler and Martin Le Pape embarking", without mentioning the departure of Escoffier. The organization of the race, it advanced "personal reasons".
A report to the Ministry of Sports
This Sunday, the boss of the Sailing Federation, was questioned. "I became aware of all this last night and I admit I was surprised by the dissonance between the press release of Team Holcim-PRB and the message on the Instagram account of Kévin Escoffier who spoke of an alleged incident. So I made a number of phone calls that lead me to believe that the alleged incident mentioned by the skipper is in fact inappropriate behavior he would have had towards a young woman during a party in Newport, "explains Jean-Luc Denéchau. "Behaviors that cannot be tolerated," according to the sailing boss.
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The skipper from Saint-Malo should also be reported to the Ministry of Sports. "It's still unclear," admits Jean-Luc Denéchau. He nevertheless assures of "the greatest firmness" if the facts were to be verified. "I also reserve the right to take precautionary measures and/or to open disciplinary proceedings according to the tangible evidence that can be sent to me," he continues to our colleagues of the regional daily. The International Sailing Federation would also have been seized.
PRB-Holcim, with Escoffier as skipper, was leader of The Ocean Race since the start of the event in January, before ceding first place in the 5th stage to the American crew 11th Hour. At the end of 2020, his rescue at sea, off the Cape of Good Hope, by Jean Le Cam, while they were participating in the Vendée Globe, had kept the France in suspense.
