He is the big winner of the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe ! At 40 years old, Charlie Dalin crossed the finish line of Everest of the seas off the coast of Les Sables d’Olonne this Tuesday morning after a masterful world tour. Long neck and neck with Yoann Richomme, the sailor completed an almost flawless race, shattering Armel Le Cléac’h’s record by nine days.
A dad who manages tours of music groups including Noir Désir, a singer uncle, Charlie Dalin was born into a family of earthlings in Le Havre. But a seaside vacation in Crozon and the discovery of the Optimist at the age of six gave birth to his passion and his vocation. The child sticks posters of sailors in his room and walks up and down the Paul Vatine basin in Le Havre, before each departure of the Transat Jacques Vabre. “It’s not a job”his parents tell him, encouraging him to study first. Charlie Dalin therefore spends a naval architect diploma in the prestigious British school in Southampton, then completed his training in Australia.
Graduate in naval architecture
On his return, he joined the elite pole of offshore racing in Port La-Forêt and became friends with a certain Yoann Richomme. Ten months separate the two skippers: Dalin the reserved hard worker, Richomme the talkative. Charlie Dalin won the Transat AG2R in 2012 alongside Gildas Morvan and continued five podiums on the Solitaire du Figaro before switching to Imoca and win the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2019 with Yann Eliès.
In 2021, Le Havre, always proud of his origins, even if he lives and trains in Concarneau, first to cross the finish line of the Vendée Globe. But on the podium, he is 2ᵉ, Yannick Bestaven benefiting from compensatory time for providing assistance to the shipwrecked Kevin Escoffier. From then on, Charlie Dalin only had one goal in mind, to go on a world tour again. His partner Macif supports him with the construction of a new, more versatile Imoca.
Father of a six-year-old Oscar, the sailor has chosen the traditional song that will welcome him to the pontoon of Les Sables d’Olonne this Tuesday morning, The earth is round from Orelsan: ” Deep down, I believe the Earth is round For one good reason. After traveling the world, all you want is to be home.”
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