Antoine Mermod hails a fantastic race - the epic 10th edition of the Vendée Globe
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 11 Mar 22:27 AEDT
Charlie Dalin (FRA) celebrating with flares after winning the Vendée Globe © Jean-Louis Carli / Alea / Vendée Globe
The 10th edition of the Vendée Globe will go down as one of the greatest in the race's history, featuring more boats on the startline than ever before, more finishers than ever before, and an emphatic and record-breaking winner.
With the last boat crossing the finishing line off Les Sables d'Olonne within the time limit last Tuesday, the story of the epic 2024-'25 Vendée Globe, which set sail in early November, is complete.
At the front it proved to be an out-and-out sprint round the world like we have never seen before, featuring 24/7 racing by the leading skippers in the latest foiling IMOCAs, led by Charlie Dalin of France on MACIF Santé Prévoyance.
Dalin took line honours in the 2020-'21 race, only to be demoted to second place on corrected time, and this was the sweetest redemption for the sailor from Le Havre. His performance was astonishing, circumnavigating the globe in 64 days and 19 hours, smashing the previous race record by nine days and eight hours and achieving an average speed of 17.79 knots, with a distance sailed of 27,667 nautical miles.
Behind him the podium places were filled by his fellow countrymen Yoann Richomme on Paprec Arkéa, who finished 23 hours after Dalin in second place, and Sébastien Simon on Groupe Dubreuil in third, two days and 17 hours behind Dalin.
A week after Simon finished, Jérémie Beyou of France on Charal led an intense battle for the places from fourth to ninth. Beyou was followed across the line in short order by Paul Meilhat (Biotherm), Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB), Thomas Ruyant (Vulnerable), Justine Mettraux of Switzerland (Teamwork-Team SNEF) - the first female skipper and non-French finisher - and Britain's Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable). Separated by only 37 hours at the line, these skippers endured some of the worst conditions of the entire race as they made their way back towards Les Sables d'Olonne.
In the daggerboard-configured boats, meanwhile, the racing was no less intense with France's Benjamin Ferré the first home in 16th position on board Monnoyeur-Duo For a Job, followed 16 minutes later by Tanguy Le Turquais on Lazare, and with the race's oldest participant - the veteran Jean Le Cam (Tout Commence En Finistère-Armor Lux) in third place, at the age of 65 - finishing 20th overall.
The remainder of the fleet featured some remarkable sailors. Among them was Frenchwoman Violette Dorange on DeVenir who finished in 25th position, becoming the youngest sailor ever to complete the Vendée Globe at the age of 23 and capturing the imagination of France as she did so. Seven places behind her came the first Chinese sailor to complete the race in the form of the remarkable Jingkun Xu (Singchain-Team Haikou), who lost his left forearm in an accident as a child.
The finishing positions tell one part of the story, but this was a race rich in challenges met, personal achievements made, heartbreak and joy. We saw a new 24-hour monohull solo distance record of 615.33 nautical miles set by Sébastian Simon on the way south in the Atlantic; the bitter blow for sailors like Maxime Sorel (V And B Monbana-Mayenne), Eric Bellion (Stand As One), Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée) and 2020-'21 race winner Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq V) who all had to stop and abandon the race; and then there were the feats of Violette Dorange climbing her mast twice to effect repairs, or Guirec Soudée (Freelance.com) scaling his rig seven times and swimming under his boat to free debris from his keel near Cape Horn.
Antoine Mermod, the president of IMOCA, said this had been a fantastic race that had stirred among its protagonists and its followers powerful emotions like only a Vendée Globe can do.
"It was a huge catalyst of emotion and more than all the other races," said Mermod. "We had so many emotions - at the start, during the race and at the finishes. We followed it with great passion - all the adventures of the sailors from the first to the last participant. And from November until now, it seems that it has gone very quickly, but so many things happened in that time."
Dalin's finish was special. "The emotions were so powerful because this was a fantastic achievement, especially after what happened four years ago," said Mermod. "And the sailors who finished from fourth-to-ninth - that was also amazing. They had such tough conditions in the final stages compared to the top-three and with them we saw a huge level of racing.
"After that," he added, "there were some great moments, especially with the first daggerboard finisher for Benjamin Ferré, who was just a few minutes ahead of the next skipper, with seven boats coming in over two days. But actually, as is always the case in the Vendée Globe, all the finishes were unique in their own way and amazing too."
This race saw a record-breaking number of sailors completing the course, with only seven retirements out of 40 starters, the lowest proportion in the history of the Vendée Globe. Mermod says it underlines that this solo round the world marathon is no longer about sailors being eliminated because of technical issues and is now a race at a high level of sporting excellence. He says keeping the same Class rules for the last four years has helped raise the level of boat reliability, as has the rigorous qualification process for the race, and the IMOCA Globe Series racing which has seen boats competing for more than 60 days-a-year.
"Another positive point," explained Mermod, "is the fact that the last Vendée Globe of 2020-'21 was a success. It meant that most of the teams could find good commercial partners thanks to the return they achieved from that race. In turn, that meant they were able to establish stronger teams with a higher level of people involved. You can see that there have been huge improvements in the technical level and the size of the teams compared to four years ago, and this also helps explain the improvement in reliability."
Mermod is optimistic that the record-breaking 40-strong fleet that started this race will be replicated in 2028. "We will see but, for sure, there are more than 40 skippers who want to participate next time because it is a fantastic race and a fantastic challenge," he said. "The return for sponsors and the numbers seem to be very good - we will have this published in the coming weeks. But it seems to be very positive and very strong, and that means it will help the skippers to find partners and to build strong projects and I hope we can go to 40 again."
He said the appeal of the Vendée Globe to commercial partners is rooted in the way it tells the stories of a solo global yacht race and of human beings at the limit taking on the adventure of a lifetime. "It appeals to young people, to people who live in cities, to people from Brittany and to people from non-French backgrounds all over the world," he said. "When they discover our story, they feel the passion of the race and that is the way to convince partners to join us."
Mermod said the success of the race owed an enormous amount to its race management team and to the organisers, the SAEM Vendée, whose staff, he said, worked around the clock to ensure a successful, safe and well-promoted and managed event. "There were a lot of people working very hard day and night to make this race a success," he said. "So a very important thank-you to them because the success of this edition was down to the skippers and the teams but these people are a major part of it too."
A successful Vendée Globe creates positive energy and the IMOCA Class is buzzing with new plans as new teams form, new skippers come into the Class and boats change hands ready for the next four-year cycle to the 2028 race. Mermod says the Class is now focused on the challenges ahead.
"You could feel it at the finishes," he said. "Most of the skippers were already focusing on next season which will be a fantastic one with very strong races - especially The Ocean Race Europe, which is a very interesting challenge for the teams.
"But it is also the whole cycle that is in front of us now. It's 18 races over the next four years with a lot of challenges ahead, a lot of stories to share and, for sure, with a fleet that will continue to improve and to play the game," Mermod added.