Thomas Coville and his crew didn't have to wait long. After second place in the Transat Café L'Or, the return to Lorient and a brief overtake of the Ultim trimaran, the French team had just gone into standby mode for a record attempt in the battle for the Jules Verne Trophy when a promising weather window opened up, which the crew immediately took advantage of.
Kick-off on 15 December
Now the team of Thomas Coville, Frédéric Denis, Pierre Leboucher, Léonard Legrand, Guillaume Pirouelle (Class40 winner in the Transat Café L'or), Benjamin Schwartz and Nicolas Troussel is already underway. The average age of the crew is 42 - most of them loaded with extensive offshore experience. The team had already left the pontoon in Lorient on Monday morning. They crossed the starting line in Ouessant at 21:01 on 15 December.
The record to beat? 40 days, 23 hours and 30 minutes. For almost nine years, the record has been the incentive and goal of the successors. Francis Joyon and his crew on "Idec Sport" finished their fabulous run in January 2017 with a time that has been beaten by all record chasers ever since. This could also apply to the eight women from The Famous Project CIC. They have had to cope with a blocked mainsail since 12 Decemberbut still want to continue. Or are they now steering Cape Town, as the tracker suggests?
For the crew on the "Sodebo Ultim 3", which was launched in 2019, the adventure has only just begun. With the first favourable weather conditions, Thomas Coville and his six crew members want to cross the Atlantic in record time. The skipper said: "We had announced that we wanted to be ready on 12 December, and we set off on 15 December. That's almost the perfect plan. It's a very nice window in the North Atlantic, the likes of which we haven't seen for a long time."
The Jules Verne Trophy as a job and a passion
Thomas Coville also explained what the promising weather window means for the hunt for the Jules Verne Trophy: "It allows us to leave a nice trail. The decision to start a circumnavigation is the hardest thing for me every time I try. This time it's particularly difficult as we've had very little time since the end of the Transat Café L'Or and the start of the readiness phase. But once we've started, it's our job, our passion, what we can do."
The last attempt by the "Sodebo Ultim 3" to win the Jules Verne Trophy was around a year ago. Thomas Coville explained: "We are the same seven as last year. From a human point of view, it's important to start with a crew that knows the boat well, is experienced, knows each other well and knows each other even better than last year. We sailed the Route du Café with Benjamin. This second place was very useful for us. Today, the seven of us are going to experience something incredible. I know that and I can feel it. To try it again: That was what we all wanted last year when we stopped before Australia."
We have done everything we can to start again together." Thomas Coville
The weather window that is currently electrifying the challengers in the race for the Jules Verne Trophy is extremely promising. Thomas Coville said shortly before the start on Monday evening: "It promises excellent times, less than five days to the equator. Almost all the routings agree on that."
The Jules Verne Trophy requires opportunism
On the other hand, the 57-year-old is experienced enough to know that everything can change quickly in major record attempts such as the pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy. Coville said: "I remain cautious about the future as conditions in the South Atlantic can change quickly. But at the moment we have forecasts of between 10 and 12 days to the Cape of Good Hope."
Not utilising this window of opportunity would mean missing an excellent opportunity. Let's take a chance!" Thomas Coville
Coville's crew have a similar view. Benjamin Schwartz, who won the Ocean Race in 2017/2018 with "Gitana 18"-Skipper Charles Caudrelier confirmed: "This is a really great time slot. The whole crew is very motivated, and that's the most important thing. We are pretty confident. The first 48 hours to southern Portugal will be quite challenging, with a lot of wind, but above all a lot of swell. Nevertheless, these are conditions that will take us quickly into the South Atlantic - with excellent forecasts."
Benjamin Schwartz underpinned his hopes with the results of the calculations. The Frenchman said: "Today the times at the equator and at the Cape of Good Hope are very good. We are opportunistic. You have to be opportunistic for records like this and we all know the boat. We're going to familiarise ourselves very quickly!" Click here for the tracker for "Sodebo Ultim 3". The current record chaser in yellow is always shown here in comparison to the "Idec Sport" record ride almost nine years ago.
