Coville Continues to Crush Record Pace

(December 4, 2016; Day 27, 21:53 UTC) – Thomas Coville (FRA) and his 31m maxi trimaran SODEBO ULTIM continues to gain miles in his attempt to break the solo round the world record. Coville’s latest 24 hour run of 597.7 nm increases his margin to 1333.19 nm (+78 nm) ahead of the current record of 57d 13h 34m 6s set by Francis Joyon (FRA) on the 29.8m trimaran IDEC in January 2008.

With a good half of the Pacific Ocean behind him, Coville now travels at a very high speed towards Cape Horn, which he should cross in the middle of the week – that is to say on Wednesday night (Dec. 7) – about two days quicker than the record time.

Constrained to descend below the latitude of Cape Horn, the skipper of Sodebo Ultim will regain the icy cold coming straight from the Antarctic ice pack. The averages recorded are impressive, practically always more than 600 miles per day and an average of 27 knots per 24 hours. Not long ago, these distances were 24-hour records.

In 28 days, Thomas Coville traveled two-thirds of the route of this solo round-the-world tour between Ouessant and Ouessant. The speeds are so stressful that sleeping on board is a feat. The lone skipper manages to obtain a few rare and short slices of sleep per 24 hours. Never more than two hours in a row.

“There is a depression that has developed in Fiji and I do not want to get caught up. She must not be passed over. I look forward to the Horn with the hope that I can relax a bit as I get tired.”

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