After two months at sea, he was finally able to hug his family. This Tuesday, Charlie Dalin, the winner of the 2024 Vendée Globe, reunited with his son Oscar, aged 6 and a half, as well as his wife Perrine.
The image is striking. This Tuesday, Charlie Dalin popped the champagne, greeted like a king by a crowd gathered on the Quai des Sables-d'Olonne, 65 days after his departure for the Vendée Globe. Winner of this 10th edition, the French skipper has just made history. “I have it, I have the Vendée Globe! We got him!”, we heard him shout, ecstatic with joy; this same “we” encompassing his team, but also his wife, Perrine Le Pape, as well as their son, a little boy of 6 and a half years old named Oscar. For her part, the mother burst into tears, jumping aboard the “Macif”, the navigator’s boat.
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Perrine Le Pape owes her last name to Christian Le Pape, her father, former director and co-founder of the national training center Finistère Course au Large: a center whose mission is “the training, training and monitoring of sportspeople of high level in the field of ocean racing”, having counted among its ranks great sailors, including Clarisse Crémer. It was thanks to him that she met Charlie Dalin. In 2007, after completing a university course in marine architecture and obtaining his engineering diploma, he obtained a position at the Finistère center in Port-la-Forêt. There he met Christian Le Pape, who quickly became his mentor, then his father-in-law. Born in Le Havre, the skipper fell in love with his daughter, but also with Brittany, settling permanently in Concarneau with his wife and their son.
Committed to the well-being of women
Thus, Perrine Le Pape knows well the profession of those who share her life, having been introduced to sailing and water sports from a very young age. “With my wife, we are a team,” declared Charlie Dalin in the columns of Paris Match at the end of October, a few days before his departure for the Vendée Globe. While confiding: “It’s not easy for her. Now, she is a little less stressed by the Vendée Globe than the first time, even if I continue to go into quite dangerous areas. She is well supported by those around her. When I'm not there, she's the one who has to do everything at home, obviously. Maybe that’s why we only have one child (he laughs). She also has a professional career and ambitions. The Vendée Globe for family life is not necessarily easy, but it is not the worst job for that.”
-Very little information has, however, leaked about the life of the wife and mother: neither her precise age, nor her profession. On X (formerly Twitter), we nevertheless discover a woman in her forties, with almost polar blonde hair. Her smile contrasts with the images of her, very emotional this Tuesday. On the Internet, we also find several articles mentioning her: Perrine Le Pape, with training as a lawyer in business and corporate law, is the co-founder of The Canopy a house created in 2022 in Quimper, a multidisciplinary reception center dedicated to women. “It’s a house designed by women for women, couples, family and parenthood,” she explained in an interview with Telegram .
Committed to the health and well-being of women, which she therefore develops within her collective, she also strives to preserve the balance of her family. On social networks, the majority of her publications relay press articles retracing her husband's exploits.
Despite Charlie Dalin's growing notoriety, Perrine Le Pape thus pursues her personal ambitions and remains a discreet and essential figure. Perhaps the keystone of her husband's career which, thanks to his support, allows her to continue to brave all oceans.
