After entering the Pacific, Thomas Coville and his crew continued to lead a hellish pace under New Zealand in difficult conditions.
Having left Ouessant twenty days ago, Thomas Coville and his teammates aboard Sodebo are not giving up in their attempt to circumnavigate the world by sail. This Monday, the maxi-trimaran was located halfway through the course and was sailing virtually neck and neck with Francis Joyon’s Idec Sport boat, holder of the Jules Verne Trophy since 2017, with a small lead of 142.6 miles on this reference time.
Another small advance on the record
But in the seas of the Great South, the advantage of Coville and his men continues to decline after a start to the attempt carried out at a breakneck pace. At the start of the Pacific, near New Zealand, the seven men are battling in difficult conditions and sometimes raging seas with a horizon blocked by fog.
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A video shot using a drone posted online on Sunday allows us to understand the challenge and the environment. Exceptional images shot while wind gusts reach 45 knots with seas up to five meters.
The boat was sailing this Monday morning at an average of nearly 33 knots towards Cape Horn. A single objective, to arrive in Brest in less than 40 days 23 hours 30 minutes and 30 seconds to break the record.
