Vendée Globe: French skipper Charlie Dalin wins the 10th edition, breaking the round-the-world record

Charlie Dalin a remporté la dixième édition du Vendée Globe ce mardi 14 janvier 2025. MAXPPP – Franck castel

Charlie Dalin has just crossed the finish line. He wins the Vendée Globe in record time.

The French sailor Charlie Dalin (Macif) won the tenth edition of the Vendée Globe by crossing the finish line in Les Sables-d'Olonne (Vendée) on Tuesday morning, January 14, 2025 after 64 days, 19 hours and 22 minutes of solo racing around the world, non-stop and without assistance.

He smashes the record

Arriving at sunrise, the skipper of Macif Santé Prévoyance smashed the course record, with a theoretical distance of 45,000 kilometres, held since the 2016-2017 edition by Armel Le Cléac'h (74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 46 seconds).

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Charlie Dalin had already had the honour of crossing the line first during the previous edition, in 2021, but had to settle for second place behind Yannick Bestaven, who had benefited from time compensation for having diverted to rescue another competitor.

He led the fleet

Born in Le Havre, the 40-year-old navigator repeated that “history with the Vendée Globe [was] not over”, mulling over the two hours and thirty-one minutes delay on the winner in 2021. On a new Imoca, launched in June 2023, Charlie Dalin led the fleet for a large part of the race, taking the lead off Brazil in the descent of the Atlantic and then dominating the rankings again for more than two weeks in the Southern Ocean.

A daring bet

He particularly impressed with his daring bet to get ahead of a violent depression in the Indian Ocean at the beginning of December. Having moved into second position at Cape Horn, nine minutes behind Yoann Richomme, the skipper based in Concarneau (Finistère) has taken the lead since December 30, in the climb back up the Atlantic, benefiting in part from the loss, on Friday, of a headsail by his runner-up Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa).

For his part, Charlie Dalin had to repair a sail for 36 hours, mid-December, at New Zealand before climbing the mast, on January 2, for a small technical repair. Since the cruel outcome of the 2020-2021 Vendée Globe, the winner of the 2019 Transat Jacques-Vabre had taken second place in the same transatlantic race in 2021 and the Route du Rhum in 2022. He had been forced to abandon the 2023 Jacques-Vabre after the start due to health concerns. The Le Havre native had arrived at the starting line of the Vendée Globe on 10 November, having won the last two preparatory races: the Défi Azimut and the New York Vendée.