Being top woman in the Vendee Globe
Published on January 26th, 2025
Justine Mettraux of Switzerland became the first female entrant, and first skipper from outside France, to complete the 2024-25 Vendée Globe solo round-the-world race, when she crossed the finish line in eighth position.
At the helm of Teamwork-Team SNEF, the former VPLP designed Charal 1 (launched in 2018), Mettraux, aged 38 – who grew up cruising and racing on Lake Geneva and was on The Ocean Race 2022-23 winning crew – sailed a typically consistent and determined race and was always in or around the outer fringes of the top-10.
She completed the course in 76 days, one hour and 36 minutes, after sailing 28,101.6 nautical miles at an average speed of 15.4 knots. Her finishing time was 11 days, six hours and 14 minutes behind race winner Charlie Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance).
“The Vendée Globe is demanding,” she said. “At some point, you don’t really know what you’re doing anymore. But it’s a great satisfaction to have managed to bring the boat back and to have done it with an amazing team.
“When you spend so long at sea, it’s a very rich experience. I feel like I have progressed in mastering the boat, to know it better and have learned many things about strategy. I also had to do a lot of maintenance and repairs, which is not my strong point, so I have progressed in different areas of preparation of the boat during this circumnavigation.
“It’s all interesting and the next time something happens or I meet a weather situation, I will have the answer immediately. This is what makes the richness of this sport and is why Jean Le Cam is still so competitive at the age of 65 – experience is a determining factor. I do this sport because I always feel like I’m progressing and learning things, so I liked it a lot.”
Summing up her race, she said: “I think I really enjoyed it – the descent of the Atlantic and the Southern Ocean was incredible. I was pretty comfortable. The return, the climb up the Atlantic, wasn’t that easy up until the finish line. It was a real battle to get across the line.”
On being the first woman to finish, she saw the significance being more for others. “There is no separate ranking for the Vendee Globe – it just has a media value and a symbolic value. It’s good for my sponsors because it will create more publicity about the project. More important is that for the first time there were six women with competitive projects at the start of this Vendee Globe.”
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Current Results
1. Charlie Dalin (FRA): 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes, 49 seconds
2. Yoann Richomme (FRA): 65 days, 18 hours, 10 minutes, 2 seconds
3. Sébastien Simon (FRA): 67 days, 12 hours, 25 minutes, 37 seconds
4. Jérémie Beyou (FRA): 74 days, 12 hours, 56 minutes, 54 seconds
5. Paul Meilhat (FRA): 74 days, 22 hours, 38 minutes, 15 seconds
6. Nicolas Lunven (FRA): 75 days, 07 hours, 49 minutes, 41 seconds
7. Thomas Ruyant (FRA): 75 days, 16 hours, 47 minutes, 27 seconds
8. Justine Mettraux (SUI): 76 days, 01 hour, 36 minutes, 52 seconds
9. Sam Goodchild (GBR): 76 days, 02 hours, 01 minutes, 45 seconds
10. Benjamin Dutreux (FRA): 77 days, 03 hours, 39 minutes, 24 seconds
Race updates – Tracker – Ranking – Arrival times – Facebook
Attrition:
Nov. 15: Maxime Sorel (FRA), V and B – Monbana – Mayenne, ankle injury, mast damage
Dec. 4: Louis Burton (FRA), Bureau Vallée, rigging failure
Dec. 15: Pip Hare (GBR), Medallia, dismasted
Dec. 16: Szabolcs Weöres (HUN), New Europe, broken D2 shroud
Dec. 30: Yannick Bestaven (FRA), Maître CoQ V, steerage damage
Jan. 12: Éric Bellion (FRA), STAND AS ONE – Altavia, broken J2 forestay pin
The Vendée Globe, raced in the 60-foot IMOCA, is the elite race round the world, solo, non-stop, and without assistance. On November 10, 40 skippers started the 2024-25 edition which begins and ends in Les Sables d’Olonne, France.
Armel Le Cléac’h, winning in 2017, previously held the record for the 24,300 nm course of 74 days 03 hours 35 minutes 46 seconds. Only one sailor has won it twice: Michel Desjoyeaux in 2001 and 2009. This is tenth running of the race.