At dawn on Tuesday morning, January 14, 2025, French solo sailor Charlie Dalin crossed the finish line off Les Sables d’Lonne, France to win the Vendee Globe non-stop race around the world. Dalin’s feat was remarkable both because of the huge lead he held on the feet of racers but also because it took him only 64 days, 10 hours to circumnavigate the planet, a distance of more than 26,000 miles. His astonishing time bettered the existing record set by Armel LaCleach by nearly 10 days.
A day behind Dalin, Yoann Richomme finished second and he too set a record destroying time around the world. The rest of the feet, which stared at 40 boats and is now down to 32 still competing stretches all the way back to Cape Horn, literally weeks away from the finish.
The Vendee Globe is known as the Everest of singlehanded sailing, a sport that is incredibly popular in France and the rest of Europe. Sailed in IMOCA 60 sloops, which is a development class, the speeds these sailors achieve are astounding. It is common to see them sailing at 20-plius knots and top speeds of 30 knots are achievable.
During this year’s race, day after day saw skippers setting records for 24-hours runs and the new record stands at 616 miles. It’s hard to wrap you mind around making a 600-mile-day under sail. That’s like sailing from Newport to Bermuda in a day, solo in a 60-fooot boat.
The modern 60s are built with foils mounted on each side and have bulbous scow-shaped bows and flat planing sterns. These designs are created so they can in fact plane all the time, making maximum use of their huge rigs.
About half the fleet are sailing older designs with dagger boards and canting keels that are considerably slower than the foiling boats. That’s why Dalin was able to put so much distance on the back of the fleet. But there is one exception and that in verteran Vendee racer Jean Le Cam, now in his fourth race, who is sailing a dagger-board boat but day by day and week by week he has been clawing his way past the foilers and climbing ever higher in the standings.
Read Dalin’s thoughts on his race here.
Read an excellent explanation of the what makes a foiling IMOCA 60 in Yachting World here.
