Women Sailors

French female sailor shatters glass ceiling

February 17, 2025

By David Pendered

Feb. 15 – Violette Dorange crashed through the glass ceiling of the male-dominated world of blue-water sailboat racing when she became the youngest skipper ever to complete the Vendee Globe solo circumnavigation.

The feat has pushed Dorange, 23, into the realm of rock stars in her home country, France, and around the world. She has more than 1.4 million followers on social media: Instagram reports 647,000 followers; TikTok, 221,800 followers and Facebook 534,000.,

Violette Dorange is the youngest female to complete the Vendee Globe solo circumnavigation sailboat race. Here she celebrates her finish. (Credit: imoca.org)

And her following isn’t just on social. Tens of thousands of well-wishers showed up Feb. 9 to celebrate her return to Les Sables d’Olonne, according to an AP report that quoted her as saying, “I’m am still in shock, stunned by the size of the crowd when I arrived.”

A few of Dorange’s quotes show why she’s gained so many fans. As posted in the story about her finish on the website of the sailing association that governs the class of boats used in the race:

“I’ve always wanted to highlight youth and show that we can achieve amazing things.
“There’s always a real battle. I never once thought I could take an extra nap. I was fully in my race until the very end and right up to the finish, it was a fight…I couldn’t let up at all.
“What’s tough about the Vendée Globe is that even when the fear is there, you have to keep moving forward.”

Dorange wasn’t the fastest skipper in the race. She finished about 26 days behind first place finisher Charlie Dalin, of France. Dorange placed 25^th out of 40 boats that started the race, in November 2024. Seven boats were forced to drop out and five are still on the race course. Dorange finished in 90 days, 22 hours and 37 minutes, according to Vendee Globe. She traveled 28,057.22 nautical miles at an average speed of 12.85 knots.

Dorange’s gender, age and backstory have made her a global sensation.

Dorange’s accomplishments include sailing solo across the English Channel and Straits of Gibralter in an Optimist, a dinghy that’s less than 8 feet long and 4 feet wide.

Now, she’s fulfilling a lifelong dream by joining her idol as co-skipper in the Initiative-Coeur. Dorange is a fan since her childhood of British female sailor Sam Davies, 49, a pioneering female sailor who placed fourth in the 2008-09 Vendee Globe.