“That is by far the very best end line I’ve ever crossed. Right now, I can confidently say I’m the happiest man on the earth,” mentioned an exhausted Charlie Dalin shortly after crossing the Vendée Globe end line this morning.
The 40-year-old skipper had spent 64 days, 19 hours, and 22 minutes at sea, racing solo around the globe on his IMOCA 60 MACIF Santé Prévoyance. He’s now the quickest solo sailor to circumnavigate the planet, and the winner of the 2024/25 Vendée Globe.
Picture: Mark Lloyd–Alea
Dalin, who’s considered one of IMOCA 60 fleet’s most formidable skills, was the IMOCA 60 circuit world champion in 2021 and 2022, sailed with the successful eleventh Hour Racing Group marketing campaign throughout The Ocean Race 2023, and scored line honors within the 2020/21 Vendée Globe. Final time round, the second-place finisher Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq IV) corrected over him to win the occasion after time was awarded again to Bestaven for his search and rescue efforts following the sinking of Kevin Escoffier’s PRB 4 south of the Cape of Good Hope. Dalin says that being so shut final time fueled him to dream of being on the high of the rostrum this time.
“Profitable the Vendée Globe in 2024 has been a dream of mine because the conclusion of the Vendée Globe 2020. We’ve labored tirelessly over the previous 4 years to make this dream a actuality. The boat was unimaginable, and all the things we’ve lived and labored for got here collectively on this second,” he mentioned.
Picture: Vincent Curutchet Alea
Amongst a lot else, that tireless work included the constructing of a brand new foiling IMOCA designed by Guillaune Verdier. “Whereas I confronted some minor challenges alongside the best way, the boat held up fantastically and that’s due to the unimaginable work of the workforce. I felt like I had a real gem in my fingers all through the race.”
In a race so long as the Vendée Globe, upkeep is essential, and considered one of Dalin’s strengths was balancing pushing for pace with not breaking the boat. Commenting on his efforts, The Ocean Race successful navigator Simon Fisher, who helped Dalin put together for the race, mentioned “it was a mixture of fine techniques/technique and good boatspeed, and utilizing these two issues when he wanted to. You’ll be able to simply run your self into an enormous rut in these races and push too arduous, however I believe Charlie did a extremely good job of understanding when to place the hammer down and construct a lead, and when to be slightly bit extra conservative.”
On the time of his arrival, the following closest competitor, Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa), was about 150 miles away from the end. The 2 have been shut rivals for some weeks, and upon ending, Dalin celebrated his efforts.
Picture: Olivier Blanchet–Alea
“The battle with Yoann was superior,” he mentioned. “He sailed an impressive race, pushing arduous within the South and attacking relentlessly. It’s due to him that this race was so fast-paced. His fixed strain made each second of the journey a problem and this intense rivalry is what allowed us to set these data.”
There’s nonetheless quite a lot of race left on the board for the 33 rivals nonetheless on the course, lots of them in shut rivalry via the ultimate slog north via the Atlantic. To verify in on the tracker, which has been redesigned for this race to have pictures and updates embedded, click here.
January 2025
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