Vendée Globe sailors Justine Mettraux and Charlie Dalin were named 2025 Rolex World Sailors of the Year at the World Sailing Awards hosted by the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, in early November. Both winners of the 2025 Rolex World Sailor of the Year awards triumphed in the last edition of the Vendée Globe singlehanded race. Dalin, of France, was the winning skipper on board Macif Santé Prévoyance. Switzerland’s Mettraux, the fastest woman to take part in the round the world yacht race, finishing eighth overall onboard Teamwork-Team SNEF. The awards were decided by the combined verdicts of 17,480 public votes and an expert panel of judges.
Dalin, who has since revealed he was battling cancer during the Vendée, completed the race within a time of 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds, smashing the previous record by nine days, eight hours, 12 minutes and 57 seconds. Mettraux set a record for the fastest single-handed, non-stop, monohull circumnavigation by a woman, with a time of 76 days, one hour and 36 minutes.
Young World Sailor
The Kuehne+Nagel Young World Sailor of the Year awards were won by Greece’s Nikolaos Pappas and Marta Cardona of Spain. Pappas, from the small Greek village of Vonitsa, made history on the global sailing stage. At just 13 years of age and competing at his first international event – the 2025 Optimist World Championship in Portoroz, Slovenia – he beat 213 athletes to take the title. Cardona, of Spain, won the 470 Mixed World and European Championships at the first time of sailing in the events. She won the European title after sailing with her partner Jordi Xammar for just 40 days and went on to claim the world title a month later.
Team of the Year and Others
Emirates Team New Zealand, winners of The America’s Cup, won the Team of the Year by the narrowest of margins from amateur team Headcase, the three-time J/24 European Champions drawn from clubs across Ireland. Bernard Bonneau was presented with the Beppe Croce Trophy for his role in the development of the global implementation of the Racing Rules of Sailing and his commitment to setting the highest standards in officiating, and Jevan Tan, founder and director of the Metazone Limited’s Sailing & Sustainability Programme in Singapore won the President’s Development Award.
The President’s Development Award went to Jevan Tan, the founder and director of the Metazone Limited’s Sailing and Sustainability Programme. Jevan has been a pioneer in advancing inclusive sailing across Singapore and the wider Asian region. He played a pivotal role in bringing the first Para Sailing Development Programme to Singapore and went on to launch the country’s — and the region’s — first Inclusive Development Programme, introducing sailing as a platform for accessibility and empowerment.
Impact Award
World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Impact Award went to the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES Project, which ran from 2019-2024, as a landmark collaboration uniting conservation bodies and the recreational boating community to restore and protect fragile seagrass meadows and maerl beds across five Special Areas of Conservation in southern England. Funded by the EU LIFE Programme and led by Natural England with partners including the Royal Yachting Association through its environmental program, the Green Blue, Ocean Conservation Trust, Marine Conservation Society and Plymouth City Council the project bridges the gap between environmental stewardship and sport.
World Sailing Technology Award
RaceSense by Vakaros has transformed water-based event management for all levels, from club races to world championships. Previously, race management relied on manual methods, which were time-consuming and error-prone. RaceSense employs precision timing and positioning, equipping each boat with a Vakaros Atlas instrument and syncing all devices via a proprietary mesh network, independent of cellular service. This system enables instant OCS decisions, eliminates traditional pings, and ensures accurate timing. Organizers get live tracking, safety monitoring, and improved fleet communication, while racers experience fewer recalls and more racing.
