But he's still 330 miles behind record
Thomas Coville has less than 2,000 miles to go in his bid to become the fastest, non-stop, solo, circumnavigator. But there is a deficit of 330 miles on Francis Joyon’s time and therefore Coville knows that the coming days will be very demanding and leave little respite.
Weather forecasts suggest a brutal conclusion which will be far from comfortable for the skipper of the Maxi Trimaran, who set out from Brest some 54 days ago.
Contacted by telephone this morning during his fantastic climb northwards with both a remarkable trajectory and a perfect heading/ speed compromise, Thomas described the immediate context and explained what he is expecting of the last days at sea: ‘I’m currently sailing in winds of between 18 and 25 knots, which are very shifty due to the influence of squalls.
‘A zone of high pressure and hence lighter winds which will require me to make a number of manouvres with only little time to recuperate. We’re going to get a severe hammering from 35 to 40 knot winds, with big seas and around 6 metre waves. I going to have to grin and bear it and dip into my physical resources.’