Alone Around the World

For more than three decades, the world’s most demanding solo sailors have left the French coast to face a challenge of extraordinary simplicity and almost unimaginable difficulty: race alone, non-stop and without ordinary assistance around the planet. Alone Around the World tells the complete story of the competition now known as the Vendée Globe, tracing its origins through the early history of solo ocean voyaging, the Golden Globe Race and the pioneering vision of Philippe Jeantot. It follows every edition from the uncertain departure of 1989 to Charlie Dalin’s record-breaking victory in 2025. Across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, sailors confront violent storms, ice, exhaustion, injury and the constant possibility of structural failure. Their yachts evolve from experimental Open 60s into foil-assisted racing machines capable of covering more than six hundred nautical miles in a day. Yet technology never removes the central truth of the race: when the mast breaks, the keel fails or another sailor sends a distress signal, only one person is aboard to decide what happens next. This independent narrative history examines legendary victories, devastating losses, remarkable rescues, women’s growing place in the fleet and the tension between increasing speed and survival. It is the story not only of those who finished first, but of every sailor who entered the Southern Ocean alone and attempted to return. Disclaimer: This is an independent, unofficial publication and is not authorised, sponsored, endorsed by or affiliated with the Vendée Globe, IMOCA, race organisers, teams, sponsors or trademark owners mentioned in the text. All trademarks, event names and registered marks remain the property of their respective owners and are used solely for historical, descriptive and informational purposes.