Charlie Dalin knocking on the door of a famous Vendée Globe victory
by Vendée Globe media 14 Jan 08:10 NZDT
13 January 2025
Charlie Dalin (FRA), skipper MACIF Santé Prévoyance, © Olivier Blanchet / Alea
Charlie Dalin, who has led the Vendée Globe since December 30th is on the cusp of victory, counting down the final 150 miles to the Les Sables d'Olonne finish line which he is forecast to cross between 0430hrs and 0830hrs UTC Tuesday morning.
For Dalin it will be a long awaited, very hard earned victory, coming almost four years after he crossed the finish line of the 2020-21 race first, but lost out to Yannick Bestaven who had a time compensation for time lost helping in the search for Kevin Escoffier.
As they will be for his nearest rival Yoann Richomme (PAPREC-ARKÉA), who is 180 miles behind, Dalin's final miles, take him down the Brittany coast, through what are very much home waters for both. He will sail through the area where he trained in the Figaro class some ten years ago, where he cut his teeth on his own first IMOCA sails in 2019, where his boats have been built and indeed less than 50 miles offshore of his family home in Concarneau.
Dalin's last audio before finishing came this morning, sharing his vision "There will be some upwind to finish in some very cold temperatures, maybe the coldest night of the entire race, and it is going to be a flat sea. So that is my final picture, the boat skimming nicely upwind, sometimes foiling, close to the coast, that is how I picture it. We are sailing so close to my training waters, where I have been so many times with the boat, and I will sail probably close to the home base which for me is a nice symbol, to be sailing close to Finistère where the boat is based and the boat was built, it is pretty nice."
He recalls:
"Last time I arrived in Les Sables d'Olonne my last full night at sea was off Cape Finisterre and it was pretty hectic, pretty intense, making seven gybes in succession and that was my 80th night and day of racing. It was intense. So this time my last full night was like a bit more straightforward, reaching. So no manoeuvring, just straight line a bit of trimming, so much easier to deal with. And when you are far away from Europe but now because we are close there are many more GRIB files to follow, there are five or six of them and so each takes time to study and find the best route. Even though I am really close to the finish I feel like I am spending more time on the routings." - Charlie Dalin, MACIF Santé Prévoyance.
And so his final miles see Dalin in a state of high alert but doing all he can to enjoy his last hours sailing down through familiar waters. Time, which seemed to pass so quickly during the first weeks of the race, suddenly becomes almost halte "When you are close to the finish time passes so much more slowly," commented Dalin, encapsulating the strange paradox of the final hours of such a major ordeal. Having battled storms, endured tough, primitive living conditions and constant stress the last final ordeal is feeling the miles, the hours, the minutes click down towards destiny.
"But really life goes on the same, do the job, stay focused, rest, eat well and trim the boat well. I'm still in my race, completely," added Dalin who grew up in Le Havre. "It's always the last miles that feel the longest."
But soon enough, the familiar, iconic silhouette of Les Sables d'Olonne and its lights will loom on his horizon, the first RIBs will arrive to accompany him, a massive moment heralding the start of the whole crazy cavalcade that is any and every skipper's Vendée Globe finish. No longer is he or she solo and alone. In time he should pick up the flash of the legendary Nouch Sud mark and in minutes the job will be done. And this time there should be one and not two winners.
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