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Engineering

Southampton skipper first over the line in Vendée Globe round-the-world yacht race

Published: 4 February 2021
Charlie Dalin 2021 Vendée Globe

University of Southampton graduate Charlie Dalin sailed around the world in 80 days to claim a dramatic podium finish in the 2021 Vendée Globe.

The Vendée Globe debutant, who graduated from Southampton in 2006 with a Master of Engineering degree in Ship Science (Yacht & Small Craft), was the first to finish the world’s most challenging single-handed, round-the-world yacht race.

Fellow French racer Yannick Bestaven edged Charlie to overall victory thanks to a 10hr 15min time bonus for helping rescue a competitor.

Charlie completed the 28,268 nautical miles of racing last week at the front of the leading pack of five boats in one of the event’s closest and most exciting finishes.

“I am happy to have finished the race in the lead!” Charlie said on his return. “And this is still pretty incredible from nothing to this. It is a magical race. It is so strong, I do not know how it will affect me, but for sure it will.”

Southampton has a strong pedigree for world class engineering education with a passion for high performance sailing, with graduates represented in all of this year’s America’s Cup teams.

The University’s Ship Science/Maritime Engineering offering includes a four-year MEng or three-year BEng in Ship Science, and a one-year MSc in Maritime Engineering Science, including specialist sailing modules on Yacht and High Performance Craft and Sailing Yacht and Powercraft Design.

The expert teaching benefits from close links with the Wolfson Unit for Marine Technology and Industrial Aerodynamics and access to first-rate experimental facilities including a new 138m towing tank, wind tunnels with specific sailing rig test section, and composite manufacturing and testing facilities.

The Vendée Globe takes racers from the west coast of France down the Atlantic Ocean and clockwise around Antarctica before returning north to France.

At one point in the race, Charlie faced the prospect of having to leave the race after experiencing problems off the coast of Tasmania with a failed foil bearing. Since that time in December, he was unable to fully deploy one of his foils, which gives his yacht extra speed.

Dr Joe Banks, Lecturer in Ship Science/Maritime Engineering at Southampton and graduate of the same degree as Dalin, congratulated the yachtsman on his accomplishment.

“The Ship Science academic staff have been following the race avidly and are so proud of Charlie’s achievements,” Joe says. “Our students learn to apply a wide range of technical tools in both research and design projects which is great training for managing the technical challenges of a Vendée Globe campaign.”

Looking back on his degree, Charlie explained how he continues to use the skills he learned at Southampton in his career. "We are really taught to reason, to know the strengths and weaknesses of the scientific tools we use; these are methods that I still apply on a daily basis when I receive, for example, weather models or VPP results,” he says. “I am comfortable with these technologies. I am also able to read a construction drawing, to speak the same language as a naval architect, it is clearly an asset to have taken this course."

Originally from Le Havre, in northern France, Charlie discovered sailing at the age of six and his passion for the sport has continued to the point where he is now one of the leading talents in ocean racing, particularly solo racing.

His yacht, the IMOCA Apivia, was designed by another Southampton graduate, Guillaume Verdier, who completed the MSc in Maritime Engineering Science in 1995.

Charlie Dalin sailed around the world in 80 days
University of Southampton graduate Charlie Dalin sailed around the world in 80 days in the 2021 Vendée Globe
Charlie Dalin completed the 2021 Vendée Globe
Charlie Dalin completed the 28,268 nautical miles of racing at the front of the leading pack of five boats
Charlie Dalin was the first to finish
University of Southampton graduate Charlie Dalin was the first to finish the world’s most challenging single-handed, round-the-world yacht race
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