Shirley Robertson talks to 2024 Vendee Globe Winner Charlie Dalin
by Shirley Robertson 10 Dec 2025 21:04 GMT
11 December 2025
Charlie Dalin (FRA) is photographed after winning the Vendée Globe 2024, on January 14, in Les Sables d'Olonne, France © Vincent Curutchet
This month Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast tells the dramatic story of French offshore sailor and Vendee Globe winner, Charlie Dalin.
On January 14, 2025 Charlie Dalin sailed across the finish line of the non stop solo round the world marathon in first place. It was a feat he'd already achieved, but in 2021, having crossed the line first, redress saw him finish as runner up. For Charlie Dalin the offshore sailor, the win in 2025 put him at the pinnacle of a very elite group. But for Charlie Dalin the man, it was the start of a whole new challenge.
Robertson sat down to talk with Charlie Dalin almost a year after that Vendee win. It's been a year since winning the biggest title in offshore sailing, but for Charlie, it's been a complicated time, because a year before crossing the Vendee start line, Charlie Dalin was diagnosed with cancer. He chose to keep it a secret. He raced under the remote supervision of a cancer specialist, and he won. The toughest solo offshore challenge in sailing. And in doing so he set a new monohull solo circumnavigation record that took a stunning ten days of the existing record.
Robertson and Dalin do discuss the cancer diagnosis, but this is not the defining part of Dalin's story. His early life is one of a young boy, then man, obsessed with the sport of sailing. His stories of chasing the dream are enchanting, from dusting the snow off the boats in the dinghy park, to a mis-communication with a complete stranger in the Yacht Haven in Cowes....
"So I thought I was going to go for another twilight sail, so I met him late afternoon....and he started showing me all this safety gear. and I knew British people were into their safety but I thought that was a bit much for a Friday night event. At the end of the safety tour of the boat he picks up a sailing map, deploys it and says 'so we're here going there!' and that's when I realised I was going to sail double handed with him to Brixham! I thought I was going to be back in my tent two hours later but no!!..... I thought I'd be back on Firday night and I was back on Sunday in Cowes!"
The duo discuss Charlie's route into the IMOCA world, via the Figaro Solitaire circuit, and eventually discuss his two Vendee Globe campaigns. For the sailor interested in offshore sailing, this is a must listen chat. Charlie has sailed two back to back Vendees and crossed the finish line first in both of them. From repairs to setting record breaking pace around the world, Charlie Dalin's Vendee stories are compelling. Of his repair in the Southern Ocean he compares the fix to that of Apollo 13's, as his team gathered around the available spares of his boat at the team base back in France to figure out a fix...:
"Everyone here in Mer Concept, they gathered, It was a bit like the Apollo 13 mission you know, they had a list of everything I had on board, and they said 'right, he's got this on board, what can we do', and they sent me this repair programme with so many steps to make this replacement bearing for the foil!"
Charlie's first Vendee Globe was then heavily effected by redress time given to other competitors involved in the dramatic rescue of PRB's Kevin Escoffier. It meant Charlie took the runner's up spot by a matter of hours, despite crossing the finish line first. It's a result he's not at all bitter about, and readily admits focusing on how he could have regained those lost hours, rather than the negative thoughts of a lost win.
And so, in Part Two, the duo move on to Charlie's illness, his diagnosis for cancer, and how he managed to still sail in, and win the 2024 Vendee Globe. It's a touching and somewhat sad tale, of a man used to balancing risk and reward being faced with something he has little control over. But control it he did, as he set a blistering pace around the world. He beat the race record by almost ten days, setting that new sixty four day solo monohull circumnavigation record...:
"The last part from Brazil to France was exceptional. I didn't do a single gybe or tack from Brazil to Brittany, so it was just crazy, you know. Just one single tack for days and days and days, not a tack or gybe in the doldrums, nothing. You know, just one tack from Brazil to Brittany, just crazy you know!"
The duo discuss Charlie's win at length, but also then revert to the big secret Charlie carried around the world with him. Only his medic and closest family knew his situation. His team, and the hundreds of thousands of Vendee Globe fans watching his remarkable progress, were oblivious to his struggle. So when he finished the race, he was very quickly in surgery. He revealed his diagnosis and then released a book detailing his story - "La Force Du Destin" (The Force of Destiny). It's an emotional tale, with the highs and lows you'd expect from a career leading up to a Vendee win, but punctuated, rather sadly, by a an ending that is still yet to fully play out.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.buzzsprout.com/364820 or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.