10 days to go: The Azimut's new challenges

by Défi Azimut Lorient Agglomération 4 Sep 09:07 PDT 16-19 September 2026

Défi Azimut Lorient Agglomération © JL Carli / Défi Azimut

With more than 15 solo sailors poised to take the start, the Défi Azimut Lorient Agglomération is proving to be a big draw for the runners and riders kicking off the autumn racing season.

All summer-long, the Azimut teams have been working flat out to pay tribute to this excellent cast and ensure that this 16th edition resonates ever more strongly with the IMOCA community and the heart of Sailing Valley.

On the programme for this latest edition is a whole new suite of digital tools to gen up on all the insider knowledge of the racing, complete with new faces and a partners' club to make the event even more dynamic... Suffice to say, the Défi Azimut is laying on a first-rate competition once again! We get the low-down on the line-up with just 10 days until the event kicks off on Tuesday 15 September at Brittany's Lorient La Base.

The human centre stage at the Défi

Sam Goodchild, skipper of Macif Santé Prévoyance, who has his eyes on the top prize, refers to the Défi Azimut as 'the sharing race'. It is an insightful observation because this year, in a step up from the previous fifteen editions, the event will focus on sport as well as networking and exchanges from 15 to 20 September.

"With five days of racing, the Défi is one of IMOCA's short format competitions and yet, paradoxically, it is an event where you can take your time," notes Jean-Marie Corteville. "We've placed even more emphasis on the networking and sharing experience in this year's programme," explains the president of Azimut, a company specialising in IT solutions.

Scheduled for Friday are four conferences organised by Bretagne Next, Audélor and the Université Bretagne Sud. In line with 2025, Pierre-Yves Lautrou will once again host this series of sessions centring on naval architecture and innovation in the domain of hulls, appendages and sails, with the focus on the Ferrari and K Challenge boats.

These and many other topics will also be discussed during two 'Afterworks' sessions organised late afternoon on the Thursday and Friday. These informal exchanges will primarily be open to this year's newly created Partners' Club with a view to bringing together all those providing private support to the Défi Azimut Lorient Agglomération, which Jean-Marie Corteville describes as "companies with meaningful local roots who are helping us to go from strength to strength."

Another challenge overcome this year

Who will succeed the 2025 winner Macif Santé Prévoyance? Benefiting from a new hull design, Charal may well be the primary candidate, offering Jérémie Beyou the chance to lay claim to his fifth Défi Azimut title! Further hot contenders include MACSF (Corentin Horeau), Allagrande Mapei (Ambrogio Beccaria) and Association Petits Princes-Queguiner (Elodie Bonafous). Also worth monitoring will be the progress made by Les P'tits Doudous, Armel Tripon's VPLP design, which was fresh out of the box last year and is now fully tweaked and raring to go. Three rookies will be making their single-handed debut in IMOCA: Pierre Louis Atwell (RESILIENT), Davy Beaudart (Bureau Vallée) and Japanese sailor Masa Suzuki (Milai-Furuno), who plan to use this event to gauge where they're at in terms of performance against the category's main movers and shakers.

To get the low-down, tune in from Wednesday 15 September at 2:30 pm, which is when the sporting action in the Défi Azimut will commence with speed Runs in the waters between the island of Groix and mainland Brittany. Raced in crew format with guests, the speed of the boats can be viewed in elapsed time on the website thanks to advanced high-frequency communication chips integrated in the Yellow Brick positioning beacons.

The 48 Hours event will see the IMOCAs setting sail on Thursday 17 at 3:30 pm local time. It too will be an immersive experience thanks to an interactive and downloadable cartography, fleshed out with content from the On Board Reporters, who will be aboard with the solo sailors. These media professionals will be working under the guidance of Yann Riou (Polaryse), who has played a key role in bringing this profession front and centre and he remains one of the foremost specialists in this field.

Alongside Francis Le Goff and Pierre Haÿs, who will once again step into a Race Management role, Christian Dumard will be the Défi's weather consultant, with a special emphasis on the offshore event that spans more than 500 miles and will be the final competitive showdown for the sailors prior to the Route du Rhum Destination Guadeloupe.

All the Runs, together with the start of the 48 Hours, will be broadcast live and available to view on YouTube and france.tv/sport.

In memory of Charlie, of course.

Prior to Wednesday's speed Runs, most of the IMOCAs will have already come together out on the water the day before as they sail to nearby Concarneau and back as a final tribute to Charlie Dalin.

They will also be accompanied by a number of other boats - Ultims, Figaros and sailing dinghies - for a huge parade around the port of registry of last year's Vendée Globe winner. Slated to be a lively, musical celebration, as requested by the skipper who passed away on 10 June 2026, his wife Perrine is eager to honour his wish.

With the IMOCAs scheduled to return to Lorient La Base before 08:00 am, our memories of Charlie as a modest, elegant, approachable and hugely talented sailor will continue to live on. Indeed, he had a major influence on this event as he skippered a boat in the Défi no fewer than five times and racked up three masterful wins in 2021, 2022 and 2024.