LES SABLES-D’OLONNE: French mariner Charlie Dalin won the round-the-world Vendee Globe race on Tuesday, crossing the finishing line off the coast of Brittany in a record time.
Dalin, who came second in the last edition of the race in 2021, sailed into the port of Sables-d’Olonne at sunrise to a chorus of ships’ klaxons.
His time of 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds beat by more than nine days the record set by Armel Le Cleac’h in 2017. Dalin, 40, led for the majority of the race on his yacht Macif and his closest challenger, Yoann Richomme, was more than half a day behind.
His wife and seven-year-old son joined him on board after he crossed the line and an exhausted Dalin raised his arms to the sky in triumph.
Dalin’s victory was all the sweeter after what transpired four years ago, when he crossed the line first but was demoted to second as runner-up Yannick Bestaven was adjudged the winner after being awarded a time bonus for going to the aid of a stricken rival.
Bestaven, whose defence of his title ended at the end of December due to a series of problems affecting his boat, edged Dalin out by three hours once the bonus was taken into account.
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