All summer long, the Azimut teams have been hard at work to do justice to this fine lineup and give this 16th edition an even stronger resonance within the IMOCA community and the Sailing Valley.

On the menu for this edition: a new suite of digital tools to follow the races from the inside, new faces, a partners' club to energize the event... In short, the Défi Azimut is pulling out all the stops! A quick look behind the scenes, 10 days before the starting gun, Tuesday, September 15 at Lorient La Base.

People at the heart of the Défi, naturally.

Sam Goodchild, skipper of Macif Santé Prévoyance, who never lines up just to make up the numbers, calls the Défi Azimut "the race of sharing." It's a fitting description, because this year, even more than in the previous fifteen editions, it will be about sport, but also about meeting people and exchanging ideas, from September 15 to 20.

"With five days of racing, the Défi is a short format on the IMOCA calendar, but paradoxically, we know how to make the most of the time," adds Jean-Marie Corteville. "This year we've leaned even further into a program built around meetings and shared experience," summarizes the president of the IT solutions company Azimut.

On the agenda, Friday will be devoted to four conferences organized by Bretagne Next, Audélor, and Université Bretagne Sud. As in 2025, Pierre-Yves Lautrou will host, with themes centered on naval architecture and innovation in hulls, appendages, and sails alike, including a closer look at the Ferrari and K-Challenges boats.

These topics, and many others, can also be explored during the two Afterworks held at the end of the day on Thursday and Friday. These informal exchanges will be open first and foremost to the Partners' Club, created this year to bring together all the private players joining forces with the Défi Azimut Lorient Agglomération, "companies whose local roots make sense and help us grow,"says Jean-Marie Corteville.

© Photo credit : JL Carli / Défi Azimut 2025

A challenge just as fierce this year

Who will succeed Macif Santé Prévoyance, the 2025 winner? Charal, benefiting from a new hull, could be its toughest rival, and Jérémie Beyou can legitimately dream of adding a fifth Défi Azimut win to his record. The threat will also necessarily come from MACSF (Corentin Horeau), Allagrande Mapei (Ambrogio Beccaria), and Association Petits Princes Queguiner (Elodie Bonafous). Also worth watching is the progress of P'tits Doudous, Armel Tripon's VPLP design, fresh out of the mold last year and now well tuned. Three rookies are making their debut on the solo IMOCA scene: Pierre Louis Atwell (RESILIENT), Davy Beaudart (Bureau Vallée), and Japan's Masa Suzuki (Milai Furuno), who will get the chance to measure themselves against the class's established names.

The verdict begins Wednesday, September 15 at 2:30 pm, when the sporting start of the Défi Azimut will be given with the Runs event in the Groix channels. This year, the speed of the boats, crewed with guests aboard for this first event, will be available in real time on the website thanks to a high frequency chip built into the Yellow Brick positioning beacons.

Immersion in the IMOCA world will also be on the menu during the 48 Hours (starting Thursday, September 17 at 3:30 pm), with an interactive, downloadable map enriched with content from the On Board Reporters, present aboard alongside the solo sailors. These media men and women are now overseen by Yann Riou (Polaryse), who did much to help this profession emerge and remains one of its top specialists.

Alongside Francis Le Goff and Pierre Haÿs, who once again handle Race Direction this year, Christian Dumard will be the Défi's weather consultant, particularly for this offshore leg of over 500 miles, the last sporting test before the Route du Rhum Destination Guadeloupe.

All of the Runs and the start of the 48 Hours will be broadcast live, available on YouTube and relayed by france.tv/sport.

IN MEMORY OF CHARLIE, OF COURSE

Before Wednesday's Runs, the IMOCAs will already have sailed together, since the day before, most of them will make a round trip to Concarneau to pay a final tribute to Charlie Dalin. Many other boats, including Ultims, Figaros, and dinghies, are expected at the home port of the last Vendée Globe winner for a big parade. A parade expected to be lively and musical, just as the skipper, who passed away on June 10, had wished, a wish his wife Perrine was determined to honor.

The IMOCAs returning to Lorient La Base before 8 am on Wednesday will bring back to the Défi Azimut a piece of Charlie's memory, a skipper who will forever remain, for us, modest, elegant, approachable, and brimming with talent. He took part in the Défi five times as a skipper, and won it brilliantly in 2021, 2022, and 2024.

© Photo credit : JL Carli / Défi Azimut 2025
The Défi Azimut in numbers, over 16 years


Competitors of the 16th Défi Azimut:

Fabrice Amedeo - FDJ United - Ocean Calling (IMOCA à dérives)
Pierre‑Louis Attwell - Résilient (IMOCA à dérives)
Ambrogio Beccaria - Allagrande MAPEI
Davy Beaudart - Bureau Vallée 
Jérémie Beyou - Charal 
Élodie Bonafous - Association Petits Princes - Quéguiner
Manuel Cousin - Coup de Pouce 
Violette Dorange - Initiatives‑Cœur 
Nicolas d’Estais - Café Joyeux (IMOCA à dérives)
Sam Goodchild - MACIF Santé Prévoyance
Corentin Horeau - MACSF 
Sébastien Marsset - FOUSSIER (IMOCA à dérives) 
Masa Suzuki - Milai - Furuno (IMOCA à dérives)
Armel Tripon - Les P’tits Doudous 

The program