Setting out from New York 5 days earlier, the French sailor Thomas Coville, the skipper of the trimaran Sodeb'O, beat the legendary solo North Atlantic record under sail on Tuesday 15th July at 07 hours, 17 minutes and 20 seconds; a record held since 2005 by Francis Joyon.
Francis Joyon's time on Idec in 2005: 6 days 4 hours, 1 minute and 37 secondsThomas Coville's time on Sodeb'O: 5 days, 19 hours, 29 minutes and 20 seconds (to be approved by the WSSRC)
Already the holder of the 24 hour distance record since January 2008, with 619.3 miles at an average of 25.8 knots, this latest victory of Coville is clearly not down to chance. At age of 40, this multihull specialist is a sailor with one of the largest number of miles single-handed under his belt, thanks to his racing background in the 60 foot class with a second place in The Transat 2004 and a fabulous podium finish in the Route du Rhum in 2006. Since 2005, the young sailor from La Trinité, father of two children, has been committed to his loyal sponsor Sodeb’O in a single-handed record programme, which enabled him to become successively the fastest man around the British Isles, between Spain and the Bahamas and between Miami and New York.
This single-handed North Atlantic crossing on a 32 metre multihull is an amazing achievement, particularly given that Thomas didn’t benefit from exceptional conditions as was the case for Play Station. The latter completed the crossing in crewed configuration in 2001 in a time of 4 days 17 hours along the direct route without ever performing a single change of tack. Favourable for the first three days, manageable and without surprises between the currents, fog and dense shipping, the weather conditions over the last 48 hours proved to be particularly testing and tactical for Thomas. In order to get the boat making as much headway as possible, the skipper spent hour after hour at the helm, constantly trimming the sails, without sleep!
Designed by Nigel Irens and Benoît Cabaret, also the architects of Francis Joyon’s IDEC, the maxi-Sodeb’O has already traversed a fair amount of the world’s oceans. Built and launched in Australia in June 2007, this 32 m long three hulled machine (105 feet) and 16.55 m wide (55 feet) craft is equipped with a 35 m mast and can carry up to 650 square metres of sail area.
Francis Joyon's time on Idec in 2005: 6 days 4 hours, 1 minute and 37 secondsThomas Coville's time on Sodeb'O: 5 days, 19 hours, 29 minutes and 20 seconds (to be approved by the WSSRC)
Already the holder of the 24 hour distance record since January 2008, with 619.3 miles at an average of 25.8 knots, this latest victory of Coville is clearly not down to chance. At age of 40, this multihull specialist is a sailor with one of the largest number of miles single-handed under his belt, thanks to his racing background in the 60 foot class with a second place in The Transat 2004 and a fabulous podium finish in the Route du Rhum in 2006. Since 2005, the young sailor from La Trinité, father of two children, has been committed to his loyal sponsor Sodeb’O in a single-handed record programme, which enabled him to become successively the fastest man around the British Isles, between Spain and the Bahamas and between Miami and New York.
This single-handed North Atlantic crossing on a 32 metre multihull is an amazing achievement, particularly given that Thomas didn’t benefit from exceptional conditions as was the case for Play Station. The latter completed the crossing in crewed configuration in 2001 in a time of 4 days 17 hours along the direct route without ever performing a single change of tack. Favourable for the first three days, manageable and without surprises between the currents, fog and dense shipping, the weather conditions over the last 48 hours proved to be particularly testing and tactical for Thomas. In order to get the boat making as much headway as possible, the skipper spent hour after hour at the helm, constantly trimming the sails, without sleep!
Designed by Nigel Irens and Benoît Cabaret, also the architects of Francis Joyon’s IDEC, the maxi-Sodeb’O has already traversed a fair amount of the world’s oceans. Built and launched in Australia in June 2007, this 32 m long three hulled machine (105 feet) and 16.55 m wide (55 feet) craft is equipped with a 35 m mast and can carry up to 650 square metres of sail area.
