Thomas Coville is a machine! Setting out on 6th November 2016 from Les Sables-d'Olonne, he's now preparing to complete the loop as he makes his way up the Atlantic. He has just passed the last of the 3 capes along his route and at the same time shattered a record! This Thursday 8th December at 2h20 am (French time), she passed the latitude of Cape Horn, 4 days 59 minutes ahead of the time of Francis Joyon, holder of the solo round the world record since 2007.
So he'll have put 31 days 11 h 30 min 8 s to round the last of the three great capes of the round the world under sail after the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin to the south of Australia.
With an average speed of 25.33 knots, he has covered 19,142 miles since the start, or 35,450 km! In a straight line, she still has 7,000 miles to Ushant. To beat Francis Joyon's record, he must be back in Brest before 3rd January 2017 at 4 h 23 min 57 s.
Credit Jean-Marie Liot / DPPI / Sodebo
However, this is not the only record that the skipper of Sodebo Ultim' has achieved, as he has become the fastest solo sailor to cross the Pacific. He set this speed record in 8 days 18 h 28 min 30 s (subject to approval and ratification by the WSSRC - World Sailing Speed Record Council) to cover the 5,429 miles - or 10,064 km - of this ocean at an average speed of 25.8 knots.
To get from the southern tip of Tasmania to Cape Horn, the skipper of Sodebo Ultim' will have taken just 10 minutes longer than Orange II, Bruno Peyron's nearly 40 metre catamaran, which in 2005 took 8 days and 18 hours with 14 men aboard. And 39 minutes less than Groupama 3 in 2010 with 10 men aboard including Thomas Coville.
