Celebrating the Vendee Globe finishers, SailGP, RORC Transatlantic Race
by David Schmidt 22 Jan 05:00 NZDT
January 21, 2025
Charlie Dalin (FRA) is photographed after winning the Vendée Globe, on January 14, in Les Sables d'Olonne, France © Vincent Curutchet / Alea
It's one thing to win a sailboat race—it's a different thing to absolutely shatter the existing course record. Charlie Dalin, skipper of the IMOCA 60 Macif Sante Prevoyance, accomplished the latter in the 2024/2025 Vendée Globe race, which he won last week when he crossed the finishing line of this solo, nonstop around-the-world race after 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes, and 49 seconds.
For comparison, the previous course record for the Vendée Globe race, which was set in 2017 by Armel Le Cleach (FRA), was 74 days, three hours, and 36 minutes.
Dalin's proud efforts represent a gain of more than nine days on a course that wends past the world's three great capes and gives all skippers long weeks (or, in some cases, entre months) to steep in the Southern Ocean's cold, windswept waters.
Even more impressive was the fact that Dalin was also the first skipper to cross the finishing line of the 2020/2021 Vendée Globe, but the win was awarded to skipper Yannick Bestaven, who received a time credit for helping to rescue a fellow competitor.
So, it's fair to say that Dalin was deeply invested in winning this highly prestigious race.
"I'm happy to have won this Vendée Globe, this veritable monument of ocean racing, and to join this very exclusive club of winners," Dalin said in an official Vendée Globe report soon after cinching his win. "I am the happiest man in the world today, that's for sure. These are crazy emotions, I've never felt like this before. Crossing the line with the dawn light shining on perfectly smooth water, the boat gliding along... It is, by far, the most beautiful finish of my entire career!"
While Dalin's performance was nothing short of brilliant, it's important to note that skippers Yoann Richomme, who raced aboard Paprec Arkea and finished in second place, and Sebastian Simon, who raced Groupe Dubreuil to a third-place finish, also obliterated Le Cleach's 2017 record. Their finishing times were 65 days, 18 hours, 10 minutes, and two seconds, and 67 days, 12 hours, 25 minutes, and 37 seconds, respectively.
To help set these achievements in the correct light, Richomme finished just 22 hours, 47 minutes, and 13 seconds astern of Dalin after racing around the entire globe.
Even more impressive is the fact that skipper Jeremie Beyou, racing aboard Charal, is currently sitting in fourth place and (as of this writing, Monday morning, U.S. West Coast time) still has over 1,100 nautical miles left to sail, even though almost a week has elapsed since Dalin's stunning win.
Sail-World extends a huge congratulations to Dalin for a gob-smacking win, and we raise a glass to Richomme and Simon for their downright impressive work in this grueling race.
Meanwhile, in Auckland, New Zealand, the sailing world got treated to the second event of SailGP's fifth season, which unfurled this past weekend in front of packed crowds.
All teams were using SailGP's new titanium T-Foils, which allow the fleet of identical F50 catamarans to achieve even faster speeds than the league's older L-shaped foils.
After seven fleet races and the event final, skipper Tom Slingsby and his Australia SailGP Team emerged as the event winners, followed by Diego Botin and his Spain SailGP Team, and Dylan Fletcher and his Emirates Great Britain team.
"We sailed our best this weekend and our best is good enough to beat anyone - I'm glad we got to showcase that," said Slingsby in a SailGP communication.
The next SailGP event is set to take place in Sydney, Australia, from February 8-9, 2025.
Finally, in fully crewed offshore racing news, Bryon Ehrhart's Lucky (née Rambler 88) earned line honors and set a new course record in the RORC's Transatlantic Race.
The race, which began on January 12 off of Marina Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, finished off of Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in Grenada. Lucky beat the previous record, set by Comanche in 2022, by over an hour.
"The breeze picked up for the last third [of the course], but honestly, six hours from the finish we did not think we would make the record," said Ehrhart in an official RORC report, noting that he and the Lucky crew, which includes America's Cup winner Brad Butterworth and The Ocean Race winner Charlie Enright, have great respect for Comanche.
"This is the longest race that we have done, and it is a beautiful racecourse," continued Ehrhart. "We have a very experienced and senior leadership group making the boat go fast all the time, so the boat does what it's supposed to do at all times. We've had tight spots in this race, especially a light patch of wind in the second third, but we fought through."
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor