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This month Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast tells the dramatic story of French offshore sailor and Vendee Globe winner, Charlie Dalin.  On January fourteenth 2025 Charlie Dalin sailed across the finish line of the non stop solo round the world marathon in first place. For Charlie Dalin the offshore sailor, the win in 2025 put him at the pinnacle of a very elite group.  But for Charlie Dalin the man, it was the start of a whole new challenge. 

Robertson sat down to talk with Charlie Dalin almost a year after that Vendee win.  It's been a year since winning the biggest title in offshore sailing, but for Charlie, it's been a complicated time, because a year before crossing the Vendee start line, Charlie Dalin was diagnosed with cancer.  He chose to keep it a secret.  He raced under the remote supervision of a cancer specialist, and he won.  The toughest solo offshore challenge in sailing.  And in doing so he set a new monohull solo circumnavigation record that took a stunning ten days of the existing record.

IN this, Part 2 of their chat, Robertson and Dalin do discuss the cancer diagnosis, but this is not the defining part of Dalin's story.  In Part 1, they discussed his early life, one as a young boy, then man, obsessed with the sport of sailing, his first Vendee Globe, and in this, Part 2, they discuss preparations for his second Vendee campaign, and ultimately, hi disgnosis with the cancer that, didnt manage to slow him down around the planet.

It's a touching and somewhat sad tale, of a man used to balancing risk and reward being faced with something he has little control over.  But control it he did, as he set a blistering pace around the world.  He beat the race record by almost ten days, setting that new sixty four day solo monohull circumnavigation record...:

"The last part from Brazil to France was exceptional.  I didn't do a single gybe or tack from Brazil to Brittany, so it was just crazy, you know.  Just one single tack for days and days and days, not a tack or gybe in the doldrums, nothing.  You know, just one tack from Brazil to Brittany, just crazy you know!"

The duo discuss Charlie's win at length, but also then revert to the big secret Charlie carried around the world with him.  Only his medic and closest family knew his situation.  His team, and the hundreds of thousands of Vendee Globe fans watching his remarkable progress, were oblivious to his struggle. So when he finished the race, he was very quickly in surgery.  He revealed his diagnosis and then released a book detailing his story - "La Force Du Destin" (The Force of Destiny).  It's an emotional tale, with the highs and lows you'd expect from a career leading up to a Vendee win, but punctuated, rather sadly, by a an ending that is still yet to fully play out.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected].

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