Charlie Dalin forced to cancel his 2025 season, Sam Goodchild and Loïs Berrehar to take the helm

by Presse Imoca MACIF Santé Prévoyance 24 Jun 18:48 BST

Due to health reasons, Charlie Dalin has been forced to cancel his 2025 season. However, in close consultation with his team, the skipper of the IMOCA MACIF Santé Prévoyance and Macif have decided to maintain the ambitious racing schedule.

Sam Goodchild, who is already replacing him for the Course des Caps, will therefore take the helm of MACIF Santé Prévoyance until the end of the 2025 season. Alongside him, Loïs Berrehar, who graduated from the Macif Skipper program for the 2022-2024 seasons, will join him as co-skipper for a series of major races: the Course des Caps, the Défi Azimut, and the Transat Café L'OR.

Despite his absence on the water this year, Charlie Dalin remains closely involved in the management of his project. "It's a difficult decision to make, but health is a priority. I'm obviously disappointed not to be able to sail this season, but I have complete confidence in Sam and Loïs to fly the MACIF Santé Prévoyance flag high. The team remains fully committed, and I will follow their progress with great pride and support," says Charlie.

Sam Goodchild is therefore preparing to take on this new challenge with determination: "My thoughts are of course with Charlie, and I offer him my full support. It's an honour for me to take the helm of the IMOCA MACIF Santé Prévoyance because I fully appreciate the responsibility they have entrusted to me with MACIF. Loïs and I will therefore devote all our energy to living up to the collective ambition of this project."

Continuity assured aboard the IMOCA MACIF Santé Prévoyance

While Charlie Dalin's absence marks a temporary turning point, the MACIF Santé Prévoyance project remains driven by a united team, mobilised to ensure continuity on the sporting, technical, and human levels. This handover is part of a thoughtful and anticipated approach, with the active support of all partners.

The Macif Management, Elected Officials, and employees reiterate their full support to Charlie during this difficult time and wish Sam Goodchild, Loïs Berrehar, and the entire crew of the IMOCA MACIF Santé Prévoyance every success in the upcoming races.

In accordance with the wishes of Charlie and Macif, no further statements will be made on this matter.

Three highlights on the agenda!

The season's sporting program remains unchanged, with three races on the MACIF Santé Prévoyance schedule:

• The Course des Caps - Boulogne-sur-Mer - Banque Populaire du Nord - A new event on the IMOCA circuit, starting and finishing in Boulogne-sur-Mer, will set sail this Sunday, June 29, 2025, with a mixed crew and a media driver on board. Aboard MACIF Santé Prévoyance, Sam Goodchild, Loïs Berrehar, Charlotte Yven, Guillaume Combescure, and Guillaume Gatefait (media driver) will then set off on a course of nearly 2,000 miles around the British Isles.

  During the summer break, Sam and Loïs will take advantage of the MACIF Santé Prévoyance refit to participate in The Ocean Race Europe. In August, they will embark on Biotherm and Malizia respectively, before returning to MACIF Santé Prévoyance at the start of the school year for the end of the season, which will take place with a reduced crew.

• The Azimut Challenge - Lorient Agglomeration from September 16 to 21 in Lorient.

• The Transat Café L'OR - Le Havre Normandy, on October 26.

For now, technical sailing and training sessions have been ongoing for the past three weeks aboard MACIF Santé Prévoyance, with the continued goal of maintaining performance momentum while consolidating the technical and human resources achievements of the project, in preparation for the major upcoming milestones.

Sam Goodchild and Loïs Berrehar in tandem for 2025

Sam Goodchild, 2023 IMOCA Globe Series Champion with extensive IMOCA experience, will form a complementary duo this year with Loïs Berrehar, co-skipper for all upcoming races.

At 31, Loïs Berrehar is establishing himself as one of the most promising talents in French ocean racing. After ten years of high-level sport catamaran racing, the Carnac native has distinguished himself on the Figaro circuit for six seasons, winning the Transat Paprec in 2023 (with Charlotte Yven), the Solo Guy Cotten in 2024 and finishing second in the Solitaire du Figaro the same year, with two stage victories to his name. Drawing on this experience within the Skipper Macif network, he has completed two Transats Jacques Vabre in IMOCA (2021 and 2023), before being chosen as Charlie Dalin's replacement skipper on MACIF Santé Prévoyance for the 2024 Vendée Globe, a strong mark of confidence, a testament to his seriousness and seamanship. Selected by Banque Populaire to lead its Vendée Globe 2028 project, Loïs continues to capitalize on his experience, driven by an undiminished passion for ocean racing. In addition to his talent, he impresses with his humility, his outspokenness, his commitment, his rigour, and his constant smile. It is therefore only natural that he will be co-skipper of the IMOCA MACIF Santé Prévoyance until the end of 2025.

"I'm thinking of Charlie today, and I'm sending him lots of support. When he called me to join this project, I took it as a huge vote of confidence! It's incredibly stimulating from a sporting perspective! I knew Sam as a competitor but not personally, so I can't wait to sail alongside him. We're going to do everything we can to aim for victory on MACIF Santé Prévoyance!" says Loïs.