All Good for Coville in Record Race

(November 27, 2016; Day 20, 20:53 UTC) – Thomas Coville (FRA) and his 31m maxi trimaran SODEBO ULTIM is flying along in the Indian Ocean as he increases his lead on the solo round the world record pace. His latest 24 hour run of 670.7 nm has him 776.86 ahead of the current record of 57d 13h 34m 6s set by Francis Joyon (FRA) on the 29.8m trimaran IDEC in January 2008.

Coville’s good pace has awarded him with a new reference time between Ouessant and Cape Leeuwin – the tip of South West Australia that he reached today at 5:59 pm (French time) in 21 days 3 hours 9 min and 8s at 24.9 nodes of average. This improves the previous mark by 1 day 12 hours 19 min set by Francis Joyon on IDEC in 2007.

Cape Leeuwin is the second of the three major capes of this sailing tour of the world and the last Cape before Cape Horn. Sailing at 54 degrees South and on the longitude of Cape Leeuwin, the conditions are brutal.

“I do not see much, not to say nothing,” Coville reports. “It’s winter atmosphere in a permanent fog. It is very gray, it is raining all the time. It is very cold and I cannot maneuver on deck without gloves. They are often wet, so I alternate between two pairs. It is necessary to protect everything in particular the fingers and the nose so that they do not freeze. In this cold, every maneuver is difficult. Despite these extreme conditions, I’m happy because it does not go too bad and we have a good lead. It was the stretch where Francis had been strong. It’s a good thing to go faster. It also means that we are almost half and we are soon on the return.”

Team Sodebo – Facebook – Tracker

Background: Thomas Coville (FRA) and the 31m maxi trimaran SODEBO ULTIM started the attempt to break the solo round the world record from in Brest (France) on November 6. The current record of 57d 13h 34m 6s, which starts and finishes between the island of Ushant and Lizard Point in southern England, was set by Francis Joyon (FRA) on the 29.8m trimaran IDEC in January 2008.

Source: Team Sodebo