Tuesday 13th January 2009
Thomas Coville won’t make Brest in time and yet what an exploit!
To date, solely Ellen MacArthur and Francis Joyon have succeeded in
circumnavigating the globe single-handed in a multihull without stopovers.
Will Thomas be the third?
1,600 miles from the goal, nearly level with the Azores, the skipper of the
Maxi Trimaran Sodeb'O is preparing for his arrival in Brest. However, he is
having to face facts and cannot hide his disappointment as a competitor: he
won’t beat Francis Joyon’s record time this year, the latter taking 57 days
and 13 hours to sail single-handed around the planet during the same period
last year.
Thomas is expected in Brest on the evening or the night of Friday 16th
January UT. He’s likely to take around two days more than Francis Joyon. The
skipper of Sodeb'O, already a solo 24 hour record holder, will achieve the
fourth fastest outright time, following on from IDEC in solo configuration
and the crewed performances of Orange II and Cheyenne. 20 years ago, in the
20th century, Olivier de Kersauson received a hero’s welcome in Brest after
single-handedly sailing around the globe in 125 days, with two stopovers;
that is double the time taken by sailors at the start of the 21st century.
Since exiting the Doldrums, where there was still a slim chance of beating
the record, the sequence of weather has not been favourable to speed. The
weather over the past two days has ended up crushing any hope of victory.
The Azores High has stretched itself out, pinning the Maxi Trimaran’s hulls
to the sea in erratic winds. The story is in no way over though. There is
one last hand-to-hand fight awaiting Thomas from today. Sodeb'O will have to
tackle one of the most violent lows since his departure. Six metre waves are
forecast, accompanied by a SW’ly wind, veering round to the NW and filling
in to over 30 knots. “The NW’ly rotation will be very quick which won’t do
me any favours. To make northing, I’m going to have to sail as close to the
wind as possible in conditions which will be testing for both the boat and
myself.”
Whether or not you are an expert or a sailor, it is impossible to remain
impassive about the global blockbuster that such a voyage represents. From
the outset, Thomas has often said: “To sleep isn’t compatible with speed.”
The stress of sailing a multihull prevents you from recuperating and
transforms sailors into machines racking up the miles “virtually animal-like
at the service of the boat”. This morning he had more to say about
single-handed and multihull sailing: “You imagine you’re setting out with
limits and yet the only limits are those you set yourself. Those that I set
myself have been smashed to pieces. For eight weeks I maintained the pace
that I’d set myself in the North Atlantic record, which lasted less than six
days. On a round the world, you can no longer be conservative. I think you
can go even faster. Performance will come from speed”. In order to go around
the world at these speeds you need a massive amount of experience and the
skipper of Sodeb'O acknowledges how much progress he’s made. “I couldn’t
have conceived this boat 10 years ago. The progress I’ve made and the
knowledge I have amassed about the multihull have enabled me to achieve
something I hadn’t envisaged. It’s fulfilling and very exhilarating. This 32
metre trimaran is the fruit of experience”.
The solo sailors in the Vendée Globe have also noticed what a rotten year
it’s been for circumnavigating the globe!
The trains of depressions in the Indian Ocean have picked up chaotic, cross
seas, day after day, without a fraction of fluidity in the transitions
between systems. This has brought the boat to a standstill at times, as has
been the case over the last few days, under the influence of the Azores
High. There was also ice drifting a long way north in the Pacific, forcing
the sailors in this zone to climb beyond 47 or 48 degrees South, whilst
Francis was last year able to drop below 53 degrees. A few days before Cape
Horn and without wishing to take risks or extend his course, Thomas spent 48
hours slaloming his way through a field of icebergs, in monstrous seas, with
frozen hands and fear at the pit of his stomach. And as the skipper says:
“it’s not you that controls the gates when they’re closed!”
In this particular project, Thomas and Sodeb'O had several objectives, of
which the first was to set out with the best boat there is. Thomas
highlights “the pleasure from beginning to end of designing, building,
ensuring reliability and fine tuning this three-hulled prototype”. The
second objective is to finish. “If I finish then I’d have fulfilled the
first two aims I set myself”. However, he went on to say this morning:
“Though I’ll have the satisfaction of finishing and, most of all, of having
built a reliable boat, I won’t have the outright solo record. I set out to
hunt down performance. I do a job where I’m exposed, where I’m constantly
putting myself in danger. On a competitive level, you need a little success.
I’m like someone who works outdoors, a farmer or a wine grower, with some
years which are more prosperous than others. There are years with better
vintages than others. I feel like I’ve had a bad harvest” he concludes.
Sodeb'O has today covered 679 miles more than IDEC a year ago. Yet he was
faster – 19.6 knots for Thomas compared with 19.1 for Francis, which is half
a knot better. It’s a remarkable average which has required a superhuman
effort and an exceptional boat, and the duo will spend the last four days
tackling some rough to very rough weather.
CREWED MULTIHULL RECORDS
2005 March - 50 days 16h 20m 04s - Bruno Peyron - Orange II - Catamaran - 14
crew members
2004 April - 58 days 09h 32m 45s - Steve Fossett - Cheyenne - Catamaran - 12
crew members
2002 May - 64 days 08h 37m 24s - Bruno Peyron - Orange - Catamaran - 13 crew
members
1997 March - 71 days 14h 18m 08s - Olivier de Kersauson - Sport-Elec -
Trimaran - 7 crew members
1994 January - 74 days 22h 17m 22s - Blake/Johnston - Enza - Catamaran - 6
crew members
1993 January - 79 days 06h 15m 56s - Bruno Peyron - Commodore Explorer -
Catamaran - 5 crew members
SOLO MULTIHULLL RECORDS
2008 - 57 days 13h 34m 06s - Francis Joyon - IDEC - Trimaran – Arrival on
19/01 at 23h39m58s UTC - without stopovers
2005 - 71 days 14h 18m 33s - Ellen MacArthur - B&Q/Castorama - Trimaran –
Arrival on 08/02 - Without stopovers
2004 - 72 days 22h 54m 22s - Francis Joyon - IDEC - Trimaran - Without
stopovers
1989 - 125 days - Olivier de Kersauson - Un autre regard - Trimaran - Two
stopovers
1988 - 129 days 19h 17m - Philippe Monnet - Kriter - Trimaran - Two
stopovers
1973 - 169 days - Alain Colas - Manureva - Trimaran - One stopover
AUDIO, VIDEO, IMAGES AND CARTOGRAPHY ACCESSIBLE FROM THE press zone on the
site www.sodebo-voile.com
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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