Justine METTRAUX

At the age of 16, Justine joined the Centre d'Entraînement à la Régate in Geneva where she honed her taste for competition by participating in several Tour de France à la Voile.

At the same time, she became a skipper for sailing camps and the attraction for the open sea became more and more important. After 10 years with the CER, Justine sailed for 2 years on LadyCat, the D35 skippered by Dona Bertarelli, and took advantage of the winters to set off on long-distance sailing trips around the world.

Then she took the plunge and participated in the 2013 Mini Transat with TeamWork. She came second in the overall series ranking, and was the first woman to reach the podium!

In 2014-2015, Justine took part in the Volvo Ocean Race as part of Team SCA, an all-female crew skippered by Sam Davies, who finished the race in 6th place. Then, from 2016, Justine led a Figaro project, participating in 4 editions of the Solitaire, still under the colours of TeamWork. She finished in 7th position in 2017, her best result.

In the meantime, she had a series of experiences: a Transat Jacques Vabre with Bertrand Delesne on the Class40 TeamWork, participation in a few stages of the 2017-2018 Volvo Ocean Race with Dongfeng - which won this edition -, record-breaking round-the-British Isles race on board the Class40 Banque du Léman...

From the end of 2020, Justine will join the American IMOCA team 11th Hour Racing Team, with a view to The Ocean Race in 2023. With them, she participated in The Ocean Race Europe, the 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre alongside Simon Fisher, and gained a lot of experience in IMOCA foils.

In the summer of 2022, TeamWork, her historical partner, announced the acquisition of Charal 1, in order to accompany Justine until the Vendée Globe 2024. After very good results in her first solo IMOCA races in 2022, including a seventh place in the Route du Rhum, Justine will be joining the crew for the round-the-world stopover.

Like several IMOCA skippers, she took part in Leg 3 and reached Itajaí in 37 days after suffering numerous incidents in the Southern Ocean. She will join 11th Hour Racing Team again for the transatlantic race that will bring the fleet back to Europe, to Aarhus, from Newport at the end of May.