At 09:14:32, Charlie Dalin was the first to cross the finish line of the 48 Heures Azimut. He completed the 455-mile course in 1 day 18 hours, 14 minutes 32 seconds at an average speed of 10.75 knots. In reality, he covered 596 miles at an average speed of 14.13 knots.
SMOOTH AND AUSPICIOUS
After his two victories in 2021 and 2022, This is Charlie Dalin’s third success in this Défi Azimut Lorient-Agglomeration, which he won for the second time solo. A flawless victory, acquired by the skipper of MACIF Santé Prévoyance in the upwind climb of this very maneuverable 455-mile course, where it was necessary to be fast at all speeds.
In the right group from the start, MACIF Santé Prévoyance had a great downwind run, a “fantastic” ride on flat seas according to its skipper who nevertheless admitted a small positioning error when rounding the first waypoint during the night.
But the speed of his Verdier plan allowed Charlie to catch up with the pack on the reaching edge before clearly imposing himself in the climb towards waypoint 3 which occupied the fleet for a whole part of yesterday.
Only Charal was then keeping up with the pace set by a MACIF Santé Prévoyance clearly above the rest in the medium upwind, perfectly controlling the fleet and gaining a 6-mile lead as they passed the Azimut 3 mark before heading back downwind towards the southwest.
This close-range passage allowed the sailor from Le Havre to extend his lead to 10 miles, a cushion that was more than enough to consider the end of the race with serenity, even if the light airs of the evening required a certain amount of attention to control the fleet downwind. The last tack of the night reaching in less than 10 knots was just a formality to secure a flawless and auspicious victory less than two months before the start of the Vendée Globe.
