Fighting cancer, Winning Vendée Globe

by Helen Fretter, Yachting World
French ocean racer Charlie Dalin has revealed that he was diagnosed with cancer in 2023, and completed – and won – the grueling 2024-25 Vendée Globe while continuing treatment for the illness.

Dalin, skipper of the IMOCA Macif Santé Prévoyance, had withdrawn from the 2023 Transat Jacques Vabre transatlantic race for unspecified medical issues. He confirmed in his autobiography La Force du Destin (‘The Force of Destiny’) that he was in fact diagnosed with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor that autumn.

Despite this, Dalin went on to qualify for the Vendée Globe, completing the Transat CIC and return New York Vendée-Les Sables Race in the summer of 2024. – Full report