64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds: these are figures that will go down in the annals of ocean racing. On Tuesday 14 January 2025, skipper Charlie Dalin crossed the finish line of the 2024/2025 Vendée Globe, breaking the world record. An impressive performance hailed by the entire sporting world.
Some first places have a very special meaning. It was to great applause that Charlie Dalin became the Vendée Globe record holder in his tenth edition. It took him less than 65 days to complete this solo round the world yacht race, smashing Armel Le Cléac’h’s previous record. He achieved this feat in 74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 49 seconds. It was a crowning achievement for the 40-year-old skipper from Normandy, who has been in love with the waves since his early youth.
Sailing since the age of six
Although his parents were not particularly immersed in the world of the sea, Charlie Dalin’s maternal grandfather, Christian Le Pape, is the former director and co-founder of the Finistère Course au large national training centre, which has trained some great skippers. At the age of six, the young sailor from Le Havre enrolled in L’Optimist, a small single-handed dinghy class, in Crozon.
‘As a native of Le Havre, I’ve always had a fascination for the sea and pebbles. For me, it all started on a family holiday in Crozon. My mother signed me up for Optimist classes so I wouldn’t get bored. That was the start of my passion,’ Charlie Dalin told Actu.fr.
It was at the age of 15 that he actually started racing as part of the French 420 championship. Close to the ocean, the young man studied at the Porte Océane high school, then at the University of Southampton in naval architecture from which he graduated in 2006, aged 22. A year later, with Laurence Château, he won the Transgascogne double-handed race in the Series, then the solo race in 2009.
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Joining the Finistère Course au Large centre in Port-la-Forêt in 2011, he won the double-handed Transat AG2R in Concarneau with Gildas Morvan. From 2014 to 2016, Charlie Dalin climbed the podium in the Solitaire du Figaro and won the title of French solo ocean racing champion in 2014 and 2016.
In 2019, the skipper joins the IMOCA circuit under the colours of Apivia in a four-year partnership. He finished second in the Vendée Globe in 2020 and the Route du Rhum in 2023. For health reasons, he withdrew from the Transat Jacques Vabre 2023.
A new record for the Vendée Globe
2025 marks the best year of his career. On Tuesday 14th January, Charlie Dalin was the first to cross the finish line of the tenth Vendée Globe on his IMOCA MACIF Santé Prévoyance. It took him just 64 days 19 hours 22 minutes and 49 seconds, well ahead of Armel Le Cléac’h’s 2017 record of 74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 49 seconds. ‘I’m the happiest man in the world,’ he told the Vendée Globe website.
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While the sportsman bombed along at 17.79 knots over 51,240 km, he also broke four new intermediate records: Equator – Good Hope (7 days and 18 hours), Good Hope – Leeuwin (9 days 22 hours), Equator – Sables d’Olonne (8 days 16 hours) and finally Sables d’Olonne – Sables d’Olonne. ‘The emotions are indescribable. It’s the fruit of so much hard work! I’m delighted to have won this Vendée Globe, this monument to ocean racing, and to be joining this very select club of winners. Four years ago, I came close, but Yannick (Bestaven) won. This time it’s me, and it’s a victory for the whole MACIF team. It’s fantastic! […] It’s a crazy feeling, I’ve never felt anything like it before. Crossing the line with the light of day shining on perfectly smooth water, the boat gliding along… It was simply fabulous. An explosion of emotions in my head: immense joy. It’s by far the best finish of my entire career!’
An incredible triumph for this lover of the sea, whose record will be hard to beat…
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Featured photo: © Charlie Dalin
