When Vendée Globe winner Charlie Dalin, runner-up Yoann Richomme and Boris Herrmann were 23 years old, they were still honing their skills. At the end of the first decade of the 2000s, Dalin and Richomme fought tough battles in the Figaro class and learnt a lot for their later successful offshore careers.
The star of the Vendée Globe
Boris Herrmann had already competed in his Mini-Transat and the Artemis Transat race on his own Class40 at the age of 23. Herrmann started his first Vendée Globe at the age of 39. Like Dalin and Rochomme, Violette Dorange also learnt in the Figaro class and, like Herrmann, contested the Mini-Transat. But in comparison to the greats of sea sailing, her rise was at a fast pace. Click here for the YACHT portrait of Violette Dorange, in which we had already introduced the skipper before her Vendée Globe start.
The Frenchwoman is now the youngest Vendée Globe starter to cross the finish line in the history of the race. This record was previously held by Alan Roura from Switzerland. But Violette Dorange, multiple medallist at the 420 Youth World Championships, is eight weeks younger than Roura at his premiere and will only celebrate her 24th birthday on 17 April.
The exceptional achievement of the competitor and adventurer is complete some 24 years after the legendary British sailor Ellen MacArthur finished second. MacArthur was 24 years old when she brilliantly completed her Vendée Globe after 94 days, 4 hours and 25 minutes.
The Vendée Globe Darling: around the world in 90 days
The down-to-earth young Violette Dorange returned to the start and finish harbour of Les Sables-d'Olonne today after 90 adventurous days, 22 hours and 37 minutes at sea. With 25th place, she achieved a strong result on a non-foiler from 2006, placing her among experienced warhorses more than twice her age.
Violette Dorange has inspired more than 580,000 followers with her first Vendée Globe, taking them out to sea and enchanting them with her natural joy of sailing in all areas of the world. This Sunday, tens of thousands in Les Sables-d'Olonne were thrilled to witness the return of their new darling.
During the canal trip and the reception in the Port Olona marina, one goosebump moment followed the next. "She is the biggest star of this edition, France loves her," said Boris Herrmann, describing the phenomenon that is Violette Dorange, who competed in her first mini-transat as an 18-year-old before going on to enjoy three years of success on the Figaro Circuit, where she even made it into the top ten in 2022.
A Vendée Globe discovery by Jean Le Cam
Violette Dorange went through the classic training classes of a budding Imoca sailor at breakneck speed. She completed two transatlantic races in pairs and sailed to eighth place in the 2022 Transat Paprec with Basile Bourgnon. It was the French old master "King Jean" Le Cam who recognised her talent and exceptional tenacity. He took her under his wing.
On his well-prepared and proven Farr-Imoca from 2006, which has already sailed five times around the world and once won the Vendée Globe 2008/2009 as Michel Desjoyeaux's "Foncia", Violette Dorange managed her first rousing solo around the world.
The skipper from La Rochelle has inspired regatta fans of all ages with her very personal, but not dramatised, reporting from on board and has taken them out to sea with her in her mind. Off the coast of Namibia, she enthused that she had "never travelled so far in her life". Her strengths also included this: She took her foot off the gas when she felt the safety of her boat or herself was jeopardised.
Vendée Globe philosophy: reason before risk
On two occasions, off the Cape of Good Hope and especially off Cape Horn, the "DeVenir" skipper decided to "brake". According to Dorange, this was "a difficult decision, but I prefer to take it easy on my boat and not ruin everything, because above all I want to finish this race".
However, she did not shy away from a spirited battle with her competitors. Veteran Arnaud Boissières had respectfully accepted her into his "South Sea gang". She was also technically on her toes, successfully repairing her grinder system and engine at sea. In the Indian Ocean, she dismantled and reassembled the grinder column in seven hours. The repair was successful.
Violette Dorange never had any problems talking openly about her fears and hard times during her solo. She experienced such moments on 19 January, when she had to lower the mast for the second time south of Brazil in 20 knots of wind and two metres of swell! Her response: "To be honest, it was a nightmare. I thought I was going to hurt myself. I'll never do it again in my life in a situation like that because I was too scared."
Cheers to the simple pleasures of the sea
Throughout, Violette Dorange also managed to preserve and convey her simple happiness of being at sea. A favourite with the public, she has continued to improve over the course of her race. After this premiere, half of France and many fans in Germany are convinced that this was just the start of a long and exciting career for Violette Dorange.
REPLAY! Violette Dorange crosses the finish line around an hour after "DMG Mori Global One" skipper Kojiro Shiraihi. She has sailed her way into the hearts of the French and many more fans:
