Charlie Dalin should be the big winner of the 2024 Vendée Globe, here is the portrait of the skipper.
After a long battle, Charlie Dalin should cross the finish line first in Les Sables d’Olonne. A consecration for the sailor who was immersed in sailing from a very young age. It was when he was six years old, during a vacation in Brittany, that he fell in love with this sport. “For me, it all started during a family vacation in Crozon (Finistère), he confided to the site Actu.frin 2019. My mother signed me up for Optimist classes so I wouldn’t get bored. It was the beginning of my passion.”
Architect by training
Charlie Dalin chose a university course in marine architecture and trained in Southampton, England, where he obtained his engineering degree in 2006. It is thanks to his skills that he was able to perfect his boat. and use its full potential.
A family in music
For Libération, the skipper returned to his attachment to music. His family is very involved in the industry. “All my childhood I was immersed in music: my parents hosted a free radio station in Le Havre, my father worked as a tour manager for many years, my uncle was a singer in the group City Kids, my uncle by marriage is a drummer in the FFF group I was able to attend many concerts and therefore regularly collected CDs but I think that was my first purchase. the Tribe of Dana from Manau” he explains
Sailing in the blood
It was in 2007 that he truly entered the world of professional skippers, landing a job at the Finistère center in Port-la-Forêt, one of the most prestigious training centers in the field of racing. offshore, while continuing to “race” in his free time. Covered by Amel Le Cléac’h, resident of the pole (and winner of the Vendée Globe in 2013), the young man manages to convince Christian Le Pape, founding director of the training center, to give him a chance as an apprentice skipper. Dalin began his career in offshore racing in Figaro Bénéteau, one-design class. In his second year, he won the Transat AG2R La Mondiale alongside Gildas Morvan. The following years were full of podiums and victories, including the coveted title of French Elite Solo Offshore Racing Champion, which he won twice (2014 and 2016). Between 2014 and 2018, he finished five times in a row on the podium of the Solitaire du Figaro (a record), but without ever managing to win it. In 2019 he won the Transat Jacques Vabre and finished 2nd in the Route du Rhum in 2022. During the previous edition of the Vendée Globe, he crossed the finish line in first position but was beaten by Yannick Bestaven, the latter benefiting from ‘a bonus of 10:15 following the rescue of Kevin Escoffier.