This is absolutely stratospheric weather and we wonder who will be able to beat it in the future. This Tuesday morning, at exactly 8:24 a.m., Charlie Dalin arrived as a hero at the port of Sables-d'Olonne, in Vendée, after finishing first in the Vendée Globe 2024-2025, the most prestigious solo round-the-world race in the world. planet. With a time of 64 days, 19 hours and 22 minutes and 49 seconds, the French skipper at the helm of his Imoca Macif Santé Prévoyance, shattered the last record, established by Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire VIII) in 74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 46 seconds.
More than nine days ahead of the previous record for Charlie Dalin, who erases the enormous disappointment that the last edition of the Vendée Globe represented for him. Arriving first in Les Sables-d'Olonne, he was finally demoted to second place after the bonus granted to Yannick Bestaven for the rescue of Kevin Escoffier. “I have never experienced emotions like this. It was madness at this finish line with the daylight starting to break through. I had never experienced that in my life, it was incredible. This is the best finish line of my career, by far”rejoiced the 40-year-old skipper upon his arrival in France, before returning to the disappointment of 4 years ago: “I have been dreaming of this Vendée Globe 2024 since the day after the arrival of the Vendée Globe 2020. (…) We have been living for this for four years, that’s it, we have achieved the objective, it’s great. I am super happy with this result. It’s great.”
Charlie Dalin kisses Perrine and their son Oscar
A real consecration for the skipper from Le Havre (Seine-Maritime) who was also able to reunite with his loved ones on arrival. Father of a little Oscar (6 and a half years old) and married to Perrine, Charlie Dalin had the pleasure of finding them after more than 60 days at sea. In images broadcast by The Teamwe can see the latter hugging his son and his wife, happy to finally find his family.
If the distance was necessarily complicated for the sailor, he told a great anecdote during the previous Vendée Globe. “Before leaving, I took photos of the pages of his evening storybook with my phone. One evening I must have been in the middle of the Pacific, on the other side of the Earth, and I was on the phone. The phone sat next to her bed and my wife turned the pages of the book while I read the pages on my phone. It was really a great moment of sharing”he told Paris Match. He also took with him a precious gift from his wife, a woolen chicken that she gave him ten years ago. “She (Perrine) is supported by those around her also when I am not there”assured Charlie Dalin.
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