Sea, Sail & Surf newsSolo round the world record
Thomas Coville leaves Brest to beat Joyon’s record
Maxi trimaran Sodeb’O has to come back to Brittany before Januar 15th
Tuesday 18 November 2008 –
All the versions of this article: [English] [français]
“It’s a moment for which we’ve all been waiting for several weeks. The freedom in the choice of departure time is an important and decisive decision for the next stage. We decided to set out today because this morning the situation between the Canaries and the Cape Verde islands has become clearer, without being completely transparent!” explained the skipper of Sodeb’O late this morning. “The routing we did at 0900 hours this morning with the grib files fulfilled the ‘theoretical’ objective of making the equator in 7 days.”
Thomas continued, explaining that “after observing the situation over the past few days, it looks really good now with a fairly easy sea state at the start in a 20-25 knot NW’ly, which will be followed by a N/NE’ly wind rotation, providing the multihull with a better angle on the wind”. In other words a fine downwind descent pushed by the breeze is in view, “conditions in which the boat shouldn’t suffer too much and where I can make good speed Speed #speedsailing without being overly physical.”
The skipper concluded his last radio session on shore with a few more personal thoughts: “I admit that I love this moment when inertia turns to action; it’s a moment we all prepare for. I certainly feel a twinge of sorrow at leaving land. I am a landlubber like you all but I’m heading into a hostile ocean”.
To beat Francis Joyon’s record Record #sailingrecord , Thomas Coville will have to pass the Petit Minou lighthouse at the entrance to Brest Brest #brest harbour by 15th January 2009 at 03 hours, 27 minutes and 20 seconds GMT at the latest.
Info presse Team Sodeb’O / www.sodebo-voile.com
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
photo A.Courcoux / www.Stichelbaut.com
Also in this section
Solo North Atlantic record : Coville crosses the Atlantic in 5 days 19 hours
Antarctica Cup : Fedor Konyukhov rounds Antartica in 102 days
Trophée Alain Colas : Joyon 14 days faster than MacArthur around the World
Solo records : Fedor Konyukhov around Antarctica
