On November 6, 2016, Thomas Coville made his fifth attempt against the record set by Francis Joyon in January 2008, in 57 days and 13 hours. And on Sunday 25 December, he crossed the finish line after 49 days 3 hours 7 minutes and 38 seconds, making the reference time 8 days 10 hours 26 minutes and 28 seconds faster. He thus enters the legend of sailors who have already completed a solo round the world voyage in a trimaran, alongside Ellen MacArthur and Francis Joyon.
Thomas Coville is going to spend the night at sea, with his crew who have joined him, two hours after crossing the finish line. He is giving his first impressions.
The arrival
" No one was planning on going under 50 days solo. Arrival is something that rises inside you, something very dense. It's a very heavy feeling that overwhelms you. I had the anguish of the last hours, the anguish of the last days, the anguish of touching something, all that put me under pressure. It's all mixed up with a lot of fatigue. I'm sleep-deprived.
This is a very big day for me as an athlete, as a man. I'm proud of how far I've come to get here. I fell down, I got up and that's what gave me that mental strength. Experience is what you do with your failures. I can say today that I valued them.
That's what I'm proud of.
A colossal job to get there
Having to do so many manoeuvres is what makes us close to crew records. Sometimes I got blood in my mouth when I was carrying sails that weigh 150 kgs and are full of water and you drag 10 cms by 10 cms on the moving trampoline. There have been nights outside, lying in the cockpit in the cold with a sheet in hand ready to drop if the boat goes too high on a hull. It's not a very elegant job, but it works. With the speeds you reach, you're always on the edge of your seat. You have your ups and downs. The South Atlantic was very rough. I've managed to make do with small victories on a daily basis. Physically, that's as far as I can go."
So what now?
"Right now, I have only one desire: to sleep and let my mind rest. I want to fall asleep just thinking, "It's all right!"
