Charlie Dalin was the first to cross the finish line. And how! After just 1 day, 18 hours and 14 minutes, the "Macif Santé Prévoyance" skipper finished the 48-hour race in the Imoca classic Le Défi Azimut in dominant fashion. In real terms, the Frenchman completed 596.77 nautical miles at an average speed of 14.13 knots. Following victories in 2021 and 2022, this is the 40-year-old's third success in the Imoca classic to and from Lorient. He won the Défi Azimut Lorient-Agglomération as a soloist for the second time.
"Fantastic ride" by Charlie Dalin
The fact that Charlie Dalin managed a strong downwind performance, a "fantastic ride" in flat seas, as he said himself, hardly surprised anyone. But he was also in the right group right from the start. Not even a small positioning error when approaching the first waypoint at night could stop him. Thanks to the impressive speed of his Verdier design, Dalin was then able to quickly catch up with the rest of the pack before pulling away as the race progressed.
"Charlie's dominance was breathtaking," Boris Herrmann sincerely attested to the upcoming Vendée Globe competitor, "it's like a different league, really super clean, perfect, impressive, chapeau. I can't keep up with that. It's cool to see that we have people of this calibre."
Although Boris Herrmann's tribute to Dalin's performance was primarily focussed on his performance in the current short 48-hour race, the Hamburg native also looked ahead to the long Vendée Globe: "It doesn't depend on the duration, but on the conditions. If we have such conditions in the Atlantic up to Cape Town, then he can be dramatically far ahead. However, if we have difficult conditions with a lot of swell, then it's a different story."
Boris Herrmann with fun and learning
Boris Herrmann knows this from the successfully contested Transat races: "In the Atlantic race, I had the feeling that I could compete with him on an equal footing. I wouldn't conclude that from a race like this here with fairly flat seas and mixed conditions. But you have to wait and see. And first of all, hats off to him. That was a crazy performance from him and his team here, if you can do that on such a short course against all the other good guys..."
Charlie Dalin was followed almost two hours later by this year's speed king of the last small regatta summit before the big Vendée Globe: Sam Goodchild sailed "Vulnerable" to the podium, as did Jérémie Beyou on "Charal" less than a quarter of an hour after him. "Malizia - Seaexplorer" skipper Boris Herrmann crossed the finish line in tenth place, having fought his way back into the top ten shortly before the end of the race.
3 hours and 38 minutes after Charlie Dalin, the Hamburg native crossed the line off Lorient. His initial spontaneous assessment was positive: "It was fun, I learnt something and had good company." On closer inspection, Boris Herrmann was able to identify several areas that cost him a better position.
Valuable insights into the sailing wardrobe
Firstly, there was the choice of sailing gear. "I used a slightly smaller sail on the stronger downwind at the beginning and was surprised that the others were travelling quite fast with their larger sails. That was an interesting learning experience and wasn't entirely clear beforehand."
Boris Herrmann explained in detail: "I had the J0 on it and the others had the large gennaker or masthead zero. It looks funny because it flutters a lot when they accelerate. Then you think it doesn't look so elegant, but they were travelling quite fast and could go the same speed as me, but a bit lower. I think that was only possible yesterday. With two knots more wind or a bit more wave, it doesn't work so well anymore." Up to around 22 knots, the large gennaker seemed to be the better choice in flat water.
When it worked for the others, "it was gusty and choppy, a bit more of a wave," Boris Herrmann noted. At speeds of "occasionally 34, 35 knots", he felt he was "travelling quite well". "But the angle was a bit too high," he realised. The learning: "I have to pay attention when conditions like this prevail. When the wind has little holes every now and then and the sea is just really flat. That can happen in the trade winds. You lose quite a lot if you sail a few degrees higher in the long term."
Where nuances make the difference
Boris Herrmann chose the smaller sail based on his training experience. "I specifically set this smaller sail on Friday. Because we always make very fast progress in training with the smaller sails. But then you really have to measure it against the others to see how well it really works. And I would say that I've learnt a little something. Above all, that you have to look at it in a more nuanced way."
He also "sailed a bit with the spinnaker for fun and out of spite". But that was "not the kind of sail you would take to the Vendée Globe". However, he wanted to bring it up again and make a final decision, because in certain weather conditions you could also have advantages with the spinnaker. However, it would remain "a somewhat more difficult and very specialised sail to handle".
With up to 24 knots in this 48-hour race, Boris Herrmann reached top speeds of around 36 knots with "Malizia - Seaexplorer". In between, he also experienced flat fields and only two knots of wind with "Watch Keeper" Cole Brauer and onboard reporter Antoine Auriol. "I made a few mistakes there, I got caught a little too much downwind in the calm," said Boris Herrmann. Like him, all 19 soloists in this 48-hour race in Le Défi Azimut had another sailor with them for safety manoeuvres as well as an onboard reporter.
The boat is ready for the Vendée Globe. I feel ready." Boris Herrmann
"I'm hoping a little bit that we can win Cole Brauer for the team," Boris Herrmann revealed. Cole Brauer came second in the Global Solo Challenge and was the first American woman to complete a non-stop single-handed race around the world. In the process, the New Yorker had built up a fan base of almost half a million followers on social media. What sets her apart in Boris Herrmann's eyes: "I think she's a really, really good sailor. And also a cool sock."
