The secrets and techniques of Charlie Dalin’s unimaginable Vendée Globe file | EUROtoday
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CThis time, victory is not going to escape him. After a final minute defeat in 2020, Charlie Dalin gained the 2024 Vendée Globe on Tuesday January 14, accomplished in 64 days. He thus shatters the earlier file held by Armel Le Cléac’h (74 days in 2016).
The 40-year-old from Le Havre had put all the probabilities on his facet to finish the “Everest of sailing” by main an excellent a part of the race. But the naval architect knew that he must stay robust till the tip: two years in the past, on the Route du rhum, he was overtaken on the end by Charles Caudrelier.
Perfectly comfy in his Imoca (Macif santé prévoyance) and nicely helped by the climate, Charlie Dalin fought a fierce battle with Yoann Richomme till the tip of the race. The skipper of Paprec-Arkéa took the lead within the race on the finish of December, earlier than being overtaken by Charlie Dalin. On arrival, solely 140 nautical miles separate the primary two.
Charlie Dalin’s risk-taking pays off
“I’m very happy that it’s him who wins,” reacts skipper Maxime Sorel (V and B – Monbana – Mayenne), pressured to retire after breaking his ankle. He was the one who took essentially the most dangers by staying forward of depressions, even those who had been somewhat complicated, when Yohann typically pulled again. »
Because it was on the Kerguelen Islands, within the tumultuous waves of the Indian Ocean, that the leaders made the distinction by crusing additional south than their opponents: “Charlie chose to stay south on the enormous depression , where the others favored safety in the north and therefore traveled much further. It was daring, even if it was revised in training. There should not have been a problem with the keel or rudder, and it went well for them,” summarizes Hubert Lemonnier, the race director.
“Normally, in the Atlantic, we go from east to west, and the depressions move towards us, so this is the area where the wind and the sea change enormously,” explains Maxime Sorel. By getting forward of the depressions, Charlie Dalin and Sébastien Simon (Dubreuil group) subsequently took benefit of optimum situations, even when the second then suffered from a broken foil: “Behind the low pressure front, the sea has already been blown and remains choppy, whereas if we stay ahead, we benefit from a flat sea with wind which we take at an optimum angle. »
These 18 meter ships, equipped with foils (the appendages placed on the sides of the hull to make the ship fly at a certain speed), still needed to be familiarized with. On this point, Charlie Dalin was a step ahead, having already completed a Vendée Globe on the Apivia Imoca.
He was therefore able to draw on his experience to work with the Mer concept team, the team of François Gabart, himself winner of the Vendée Globe in 2012. “He had very precise feedback. It is a lighter boat, with a narrower hull than the previous Imoca, in order to have better passage at sea,” explains Véronique Soulé, one of many architects who labored on the venture. The dwelling area has additionally been moved from the entrance to the rear of the central cockpit, in order to guard the skipper as a lot as potential from the influence of the waves.
Thanks to the foils, a velocity “multiplied by 4”
However, there was no dialogue on the choice of foils. Since the 2016 Vendée Globe, the place they made their look, their design and solidity have continued to enhance. “In forty years, competitive sailing boats have quadrupled their speed. This is the only area where there has been such progress. No Formula 1, no plane goes four times faster today than 40 years ago,” asserts Loïck Peyron, second within the first version of the Vendée Globe and president of strategic consulting at CDK Group.
“In the last edition, the boats did not have enough wind volume and took on water because the hulls were too low. This time, the foils have been sized consistently. We have reached a certain level of maturity,” provides Guillaume Combescure, technical director of Macif.
Jean Le Cam nonetheless with out foils
Despite just a few previous sea canines, like Jean Le Cam who continues to favor straight daggerboards, nearly all of Vendée Globe skippers (25 out of 40) have transformed to foiling. Better, of the present high 20 opponents, 18 are geared up with these appendages: “Last time, Jean Le Cam had a great Vendée without the foils, but the speed gain with them becomes prohibitive. There is still a difference of 3 to 5 knots in downwind sailing,” notes Luc Talbournet, president of Avel Robotics, whose firm produced the carbon appendages for half of the Imocas within the Vendée Globe.
Still, we needed to be taught to sail on these new flying boats: “It changes a lot of things in the approach,” says Maxime Sorel. When the boat rises above the water, it accelerates very laborious, however when the ocean is imperfect, the boat jumps and falls once more. It’s a bit like having eight tons coming down two flooring without delay. »
François Gabart, who skilled the period of Imocas with out foils, can solely verify: “Boat management is very different, before we loaded the boats more to have stability and power. While now we can afford to have slightly lighter boats, they are not the same keel and sail settings. »
“The future of foiling is passenger transport”
Long contested for his or her lack of solidity, foils have established themselves in regattas, as evidenced by the America’s Cup racing vehicles on which they turned well-liked in 2013. If foils have made Imoca boats quicker (as much as 30 knots roughly), additionally they elevated the budgets: as much as 500,000 euros per pair of appendages for six to 12 months of development. A value to take into consideration for groups who should combine the danger of breakage. Second within the Vendée Globe for a very long time, Sébastien Simon paid the worth in December.
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But it isn’t nearly racing. Today, the shipyards of Brittany Sailing Valley think about the Vendée Globe as a laboratory of improvements for yachting or service provider delivery, as a result of decreasing drag means decreasing gasoline consumption: “The future of foiling , it’s passenger transport, it will come back using the technologies that we are developing on our sailing boats,” assures Loïck Peyron.
The architect Véronique Soulé can also be engaged on a venture for a 100-ton ship geared up with foils for Norway. While ready for this revolution to materialize, the foil has not completed making the world of ocean racing dream. “My dream would be to take a ride with Charlie Dalin on his foiling boat,” Jean Le Cam says.
https://www.lepoint.fr/sport/les-secrets-de-l-incroyable-record-de-charlie-dalin-sur-le-vendee-globe-14-01-2025-2579905_26.php