Thomas Coville- Sodeb'O - Eastward Bound

by Kate Jennings on 1 Dec 2008 His routers announced some days ago that there was no time to lose if he didn't want to see the door to Saint Helena slam shut in front of him. Fortunately the dutiful skipper of Sodeb'O has obeyed orders and allowed his three-hulled steed to hurtle across the ocean along a circuit which has been more reminiscent of a Paris-Dakar than a formula 1 track.

It is worth pointing out that this type of sailing represents hours and hours of stress, wondering whether it'll be the skipper or the boat which will be the first to explode. You just have to read last night's emails from the racers in the Vendée Globe to understand what all the sailors are going through as they tackle the section of the southern Atlantic situated off Brazil.

Belting along at over 20 knots, Thomas recounted late last night that he couldn't even write: 'Lifted by a fresh, unsettled tradewind, the seas are so short that the boat is constantly taking off… I can't click on the mouse… but I'm preventing myself from slowing up, even beam on to the wind with the seas on the nose… with each minute that passes your mind is on breakage… you think about it the whole time… you're not allowed to have any doubts… it'll take however long it takes'.

In the warm, curled up in an armchair, you have to wonder what has pushed these men and women to systematically pass to the west of Saint Helena for the past twenty years or so, as it clearly greatly increases the distance travelled and doesn't guarantee them downwind conditions as we can see. You have to admit that they don't really have much choice with their competition steeds with one or several hulls which plane so well in downwind conditions that it would be a shame to pass further east and be faced with light winds and a hard beat into the wind.

Of course the route is shorter, over 1,000 miles, but there's a risk that it will be so much slower that is quite simply unthinkable. However, there are some who are luckier than others; those who are in the right place at the right time. Indeed this is what happened to Francis Joyon over the same period last year, when he was able to cut the corner with disconcerting, or even annoying ease, at least for those following in his footsteps. Francis Joyon's express descent is virtually unique in the history of circumnavigations of the globe and was one of the key elements in his 57 day record as was his performance over the first stage of the course.

After 12 days at sea and a physical and stressful descent of the southern Atlantic, the maxi trimaran Sodeb'O has once again proven the extent of its power and speed. After all these days of rodeo riding, the skipper has only a broken batten to lament and since this morning, Thomas Coville has been able to put some easting into his course. He is set to benefit from some increasingly manageable conditions to perform a thorough check of the boat and change this infamous nine metre long batten. At that point he will hit the roaring forties and that is quite another story.

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