Charlie Dalin ready to defend his IMOCA Globe Series title in 2025
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 8 May 19:46 AEST
Charlie Dalin: 1st in the 2024 IMOCA Globe Series © IMOCA Globe Series
If you follow the IMOCA Class, you will know that Charlie Dalin is a serial race winner, and last season he emerged for the third time in his career as IMOCA Globe Series Champion in a year capped off by a record-breaking victory in the Vendée Globe.
The 2024 IMOCA Globe Series Championship was a huge success, both in terms of competition and audience. It was a season of high intensity and exceptional talent on the water. Ultimately, it was Charlie Dalin and MACIF Santé Prévoyance who stood at the top of the podium as overall champions. Yoann Richomme and Paprec Arkéa claimed an impressive second place, while Sébastien Simon and Groupe Dubreuil completed the podium in third, after an inspiring and determined campaign.
You might think the 40-year-old originally from Le Havre would be struggling to summon up the energy to take on the 2025 season, but not at all. The skipper of the Verdier-designed MACIF Santé Prévoyance is already impatient to get going again and to defend his IMOCA Globe Series title.
"My objective this year? Well, it's to win races again," Dalin told the Class this week. "I'm still passionate as before and, you know, I love sailing IMOCAs."
The storied Concarneau-based skipper has yet to announce who he will be sailing with in the crewed Course Des Caps - Boulogne sur Mer - Banque Populaire du Nord at the end of June, the Rolex Fastnet Race in July, or the double-handed Transat Café L'Or that sets sail for Martinique from Le Havre in late October.
"I'm looking forward to the challenge this season," added Dalin. "I think it's good to have a double-handed and a fully-crewed season post-Vendée. It's a good way to get back into racing with people on board and good for coming back to a solo programme in 2026."
The big prize will be the 3,750-nautical mile Transat Café L'Or (formerly the Transat Jacques Vabre), a race Dalin won alongside Yann Eliès in 2019. He was second in 2021 with Paul Meilhat, but did not compete in 2023. Now Dalin wants to get back to the podium in Martinique.
"It's an important race for me because I am from Le Havre and I couldn't race last time so yeah, I have revenge to take on that event. I would quite like to win it a second time," said Dalin. He added that his next big goal will be his final race under his current sponsorship contract, the 2026 Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe.
In the season ahead, Dalin is looking forward to renewing his on-the-water rivalry with the top skippers in IMOCA after a superb battle in the Vendée Globe against second-placed Yoann Richomme on Paprec Arkéa and Sébastien Simon who finished third on Groupe Dubreuil.
"Yoann will be there this season, Thomas (Ruyant, who will sail alongside the Italian former Mini champion Ambrogio Beccaria) will probably be eager to get good results in as well. The same for Jérémie (Beyou - Charal). I think we are going to see that all the favourites from the Vendée will still be there," said Dalin.
One other skipper Dalin will be keeping a close eye on is a newcomer to the Class - Elodie Bonafous at the helm of Horizon 29, a brand new sistership of Dalin's own boat that has just been launched. Dalin's team has been on hand in Concarneau to help Bonafous learn the ropes. "Yeah it will be interesting to sail against a sistership of MACIF Santé Prévoyance and interesting to see how she performs," commented Dalin.
Dalin's first race will be the Course Des Caps-Boulogne Sur Mer-Banque Populaire Du Nord which sets sail on June 29th and features a 2,000-mile voyage around the British Isles for crews of four. It is a new event for IMOCA on what is an iconic course. "I am looking forward to it. I think it's a very interesting course, sailing around Britain like this. It's going to be good," said the MACIF skipper.
It is now nearly three months since Dalin crossed the finish line of the Vendée Globe after a voyage of 64 days and 19 hours that smashed the race record by an incredible nine days and eight hours. He said he is still recovering.
"It's a slow process but I will be in shape for the first race of the season for sure. But it takes a bit of time. Obviously the rhythm and pace of the Vendée Globe was pretty intense and with a lot of pressure. The last time, in 2020-'21, it took me about eight months to recover - it might be faster this time, but we'll see," said Dalin.
Looking back, he feels that his victory, that followed taking line honours in 2021 but being demoted to second place on corrected time, has lifted a weight off his shoulders. "I had one goal really and if I had finished after Yoann, I would obviously be happy to have finished a second Vendée Globe, but I would still have this sense of unfinished business. But I am happy with the result and with the way the campaign was run. The team was great and we made the right choices in the design and race preparation and also the race went well for me," he said.
We asked him what advice he would give to a young skipper dreaming of emulating his achievements in the Vendée Globe. Dalin thought for a moment. "It's a race you win in the details," he said, "and you've got to sail as much as possible and test, and test the boat, and push hard before the race to make sure you can pinpoint everything that might be too weak or not well designed. Spend as much time as possible on the water and when you are not on the water, spend as much time as you can with the team."
After his stunning victory on the global course, Dalin knows he will be the IMOCA skipper with a target on his back this season - the one everyone will be trying to beat. But Dalin is quite happy with that.
"Well," he said, "I'd rather be in this situation than the reverse..."