Coville bid to break his own record

Thomas Coville is standing-by for an attempt to break his own solo North Atlantic record (New York – Lizard Point). Objective: to cover the 2,980 miles which separate the Ambrose Light and Lizard Point (South-West tip of England) in less than 5 days 19 hours 29 minutes and 20 seconds.

On Friday 26th June, Thomas Coville and his Maxi-Trimaran Sodeb’O arrived in New York after a ten day delivery trip in crewed configuration.

The very next day, the Sodeboys took over the 32 metre Maxi Trimaran to get her into record configuration. The shore crew have lightened the boat by 30 kg and removed the propeller shaft. At the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic, routers Christian Dumard and Richard Silvani (Meteo France) are on the look-out for the slightest hint of a depression system, which would provide a favourable weather window to beat the record. “The North Atlantic in less than six days isn’t superhuman. You can even perform the crossing in under five days single-handed with a good weather forecast; for that you have to hook onto a system and not let go” explains Thomas. “It’s a playing field that I’m very familiar with. It’s also the most amusing and the most impressive record” recalls the skipper of Sodeb’O with a smile.

On 15th July 2008 Thomas Coville became the new Solo Transatlantic Record holder. Setting out from New York on 9th July 2008 the skipper covered 2,925 miles at the average speed of 20.97 knots.