Solo round-the-world record attempt – Thomas Coville rounds Cape Horn

by Sodebo on 8 Dec 2016 On Thursday 8 December 2016 at 01:20 GMT this morning, Thomas Coville, skipper of the trimaran Sodebo Ultim’, rounded Cape Horn with a lead of 4 days 59 minutes over the time set by Francis Joyon, solo round the world record holder since 2008.

Ushant - Cape Horn at high speed: new reference time
Setting sail on Sunday 6 November from Ushant, Thomas Coville has taken 31 days 11 hours 30 min 8 sec to round the last of the three great capes of the round the world under sail following on from that of the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin in south-west Australia.

With an average speed over the ground of 25.33 knots, the skipper of Sodebo Ultim’ sets a new solo reference time between Ushant and Cape Horn. He’s covered some 19,142 miles since the start – which equates to 35,450km. On a straight line course, he still has 7,000 miles to go to reach Ushant. To beat Francis Joyon’s record, he must be back in Brest before 3 January 2017 at 03h23min57s GMT.

Solo Pacific Crossing Record
It’s also the first time that a singlehanded sailor has crossed the Pacific Ocean so quickly. This morning, Thomas Coville secured a new speed record, that of the Solo Pacific Crossing in a time of 8 days 18 hours 28 min 30s (subject to approval and ratification by the WSSRC - World Sailing Speed Record Council).

At an average speed of 25.8 knots, he covered the 5,429 miles (10,064km) of this ocean.

To cover the distance between the southern tip of Tasmania and Cape Horn, the skipper of Sodebo Ultim’ took just 10 mins more than Orange II, the catamaran skippered by Bruno Peyron and measuring nearly 40 metres which, in 2005, took 8 days and 18 hours with a crew of 14 men. Equally, Sodebo Ultim’ took 39 minutes less than Groupama 3 in 2010 with 10 men aboard, including a certain Thomas Coville.

Performance summary:
Passage time: 01h 20 min GMT on 8 December 2016
Pacific Ocean record* (Tasmania/Cape Horn): 8d 18h 28m 30s or 1 day 19h 58min better than the previous record set by Francis Joyon in 2007 (10d 14h 26min)
Average speed: 25.33 knots for 5,429 miles
Time from Ushant / Cape Horn: 31d 11h 30m 8s
Which equates to a lead of 4 days and 59 mins over Francis Joyon’s record.