Sailing - Arrival of the Vendee Globe winner - Les Sables-d'Olonne, France - January 14, 2025 Macif Sante Prevoyance's Charlie Dalin celebrates winning the Vendee Globe REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
LES SABLES-D'OLONNE, France (Reuters) -France's Charlie Dalin completed the Vendee Globe around-the-world sailing race in record time on Tuesday when he crossed the finish line in under 65 days but it was a journey four years in the making after he came agonisingly close to victory in 2021.
It marks the second time Dalin has crossed the finish line first. He was denied victory in the 2020-21 edition after losing out to Yannick Bestaven, who received a time compensation for diverting to assist another competitor.
This time, however, Dalin was in a league of his own after the Macif Sante Prevoyance skippered by the Frenchman took the lead on Dec. 30 as they navigated their way north in the Atlantic Ocean.
As the sun rose, Dalin crossed the line at Les Sables-d'Olonne with his arms raised with a time of 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds to smash the record by over nine days.
The previous mark of 74 days, three hours and 35 minutes was set by Armel Le Cleac'h in the 2016-17 edition.
"I'm the happiest man in the world today, for sure. Winning the Vendee Globe, that's my second Vendee Globe," Dalin said in a post-race interview on his boat.
"We've been working with the team for four years on this edition, building this new boat, preparing this boat, upgrading the boat and now it's done.
"When I crossed the finish line, I felt things I never felt before, definitely the best finish line crossing of my career so far. I'm just really happy."
On the home stretch, the 40-year-old Dalin even sailed a few miles offshore of his home town of Concarneau in waters he was well familiar with having trained there for years.
His nearest competitor was fellow Frenchman Yoann Richomme, who had initially broken the 24-hour record in November when he sailed more than 550 nautical miles in a single day - a record since broken by Sebastien Simon (615.33 nautical miles).
Richomme is set to finish second and had just reached the French coast when Dalin crossed the line, more than 120 nautical miles behind.
"Thanks to Yoann Richomme, he is one of the reasons why the record was broken, he pushed really hard and forced me to push hard as well," Dalin added.
"It was a really amazing battle around the world with him. I was really impressed by his performance."
(Reporting Vincent Daheron, Writing by Rohith Nair; Editing by Michael Perry, Peter Rutherford)
