Discovering Charles Caudrelier: the 50-year-old who flies the Ocean
THE PERFECT GIFT!
Give or treat yourself to a subscription to the print + digital Journal of Sailing and for only 69 euros a year you get the magazine at home plus read it on your PC, smartphone and tablet. With a sea of advantages.
There is no doubt that Charles Caudrelier, with his victory in the Arkea Ultim Challenge, has scored one of the sailing feats of this excitement-filled 2024, between ocean sailing, the Olympics and the America’s Cup. Even without records, leading a 32-meter trimaran like the Ultim, for 50 days, at over 23 knots average, is certainly not something all sailors can do, but only a few.
Photo Vincent Curutchet / Gitana Team
Charles Caudrelier is in that ocean sailing Olympus where one enters after racing in Figaro, Class 40, Imoca 60, and maybe even winning a round-the-world race: when you have already done all these things, only then do you get to the Ultimates, the final step of ocean sailing boats, the most extreme ones. How did Charles Caudrelier, the winner of the Arkea Ultim Challenge, make it this far?
Charles Caudrelier – A Flying 50-Year-Old.
Charles Caudrelier was born in 1974 in Paris, and has just turned 50. In the world of ocean sailing he made his mark after the age of 20, first by joining the Port la Foret training center, the Pôle Finistère Course au Large, then with his first participation in the Solitaire du Figaro. In the toughest offshore monotype there is Caudrelier debuts with a ninth place overall and victory among rookies. In 2001 he improved, finishing fifth overall again in the Solitaire.
Winning this legendary regatta is only a matter of time, and indeed it comes in 2004, and at 30 years old Caudrelier is now ready to take flight. He jumps into the Imoca 60 class where he becomes the co-skipper of Marc Guillemot, with whom he won the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2009.
The turning point in Charles’s career, however, came with Franck Cammas: first he served as his routier at the 2010 Route du Rhum, which Cammas won, then he became part of Groupama 4’s crew at the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race, with Franck skippered, and the result did not change: yet another win.
Charles Caudrelier – Volvo Ocean Race Victory.
The time is now ripe for him to become skipper himself, and this happens in the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, when Caudrelier leads Dongfeng, a French-Chinese team. They are the outsiders of the 2014 edition and finish third by winning two stages. They tried again in 2017 and, on the last stage with a heart-stopping finish, Dongfeng won the crewed round-the-world race. For Caudrelier this is the definitive inconoration.
From that point he began to enter the orbit of the Ultim class, where he made his debut in 2019 with Edmond de Rotschild entrusting him with a new trimaran. The ed debut is with victory at the Brest Atlantique, but then also come successes at the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2021, paired with Franck Cammas, and solo in 2022 at the Route du Rhum, at the end of an exciting duel with François Gabart.
M.G.
Share:
Check out the latest issue
Are you already a subscriber?
Ultimi annunci
Our social
Sign up for our Newsletter
We give you a gift
Sailing, its stories, all boats, accessories. Sign up now for our free newsletter and receive the best news selected by the Sailing Newspaper editorial staff each week. Plus we give you one month of GdV digitally on PC, Tablet, Smartphone. Enter your email below, agree to the Privacy Policy and click the “sign me up” button. You will receive a code to activate your month of GdV for free!
You may also be interested in.
How well Zorzi and Gamenara did at the Mini Transat! And meanwhile, the Class 40s at the Transat Café l’Or…
After Francesca Clapcich’s splendid second place at the Transat Café l’Or, with Ambrogio Beccaria’s fourth, there is still plenty of Italy to talk about in the Ocean. From the Mini Transat, with the arrivals in Guadeloupe, to the still-open fight
Tigullio Race 50 Event: what a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Tigullio Winter Championship! videos and rankings
On Saturday, November 8, the Gulf of Tigullio welcomed the Tigullio Race 50 Event, a regatta open to all sailing boats, regardless of size or age. A true celebration of sailing. Tigullio Race 50 Event In fact, the event is
Transat Café l’Or: Francesca Clapcich strike, overtaking Macif and second place in Martinique!
We are in the final throes of the Transat Café l’Or for the Imoca 60 class, with Jeremie Beyou and Morgan Lagraviere’s Charal taking a well-deserved victory after leading the race for almost the entire Atlantic. Beware, however, because in
Transat Café l’Or: SVR Lazartigue first Ultim, Imoca 60’s turn begins
Day 12 of racing for the Transat Café l’Or and the arrivals in Martinique have begun with the Ultim class trimarans. First across the finish line was Tom Laperche’s SVR Lazartigue, followed just four hours later by Thomas Coville’s Sodebo.
