On his arrival in Brest, Coville, his eyes
reddened by exhaustion, was immediately
questioned by the awaiting press, “I gave it
my all; I didn’t let up for a minute,” he said
before being overcome by emotion. “I set
out to get the record and that’s something I
wasn’t able to achieve.”
“I’ve experienced
something very deep
with this boat, a total
osmosis, which is a rare
thing. She reacted and
behaved exceptionally.
It’s unimaginable.
She was incredibly
sound downwind. I
committed her to the
water up to halfway
Sodeb’O/DPPI
up the trampoline and
she came back up. She
2008. Coville crossed the finish line standing on the bow of the central hull, his hands in his
never let me down”.
pockets.
World record holder for another year, Francis Joyon commented,
Right up to the finish line and the entrance

to the Brest channel, the skipper remained
concentrated. “It’s a dangerous and
"Bravo Thomas. Although you weren’t victorious
very complicated place to deal with
the record only just escaped you and, most
singlehanded. The last night was very
special. I was keen to stay under 60 days. I importantly, you managed to overcome all the
didn’t imagine I could stretch myself so far.
On shore, you set yourself limits which don’t
difficulties and all the risks, which form part
exist.”
of the charm of a solo round the world aboard
Alone aboard a demanding 32 metre long
a multihull. That in itself is a real success:
multihull, constantly pushing back the
welcome to the non-stop round the world
limits of extreme fatigue, Coville racked up
the fourth best outright time around the
multihull fanatic club to which there are just
globe, behind the crews of Bruno Peyron
three members for now with Ellen! I followed
in Orange II in 2005 and Steve Fossett in
Playstation in 2004 and the solo sailor your voyage without ever doubting that you
Francis Joyon in IDEC in 2008. Though he
was unable to outdo Joyon’s performance in
could make up your deficit, because the detour
terms of speed, during his circumnavigation
you had to make on the descent of the Atlantic
of the globe, Coville beat his own 24 hour
distance record on 7 December 2008:
would be compensated by the headwinds that
628.5 miles (1,164 km) devoured at an
I encountered on the climb up that stretch of
average speed of 26.2 knots (48.5 km/hr)!
ocean. It’s exciting to see that on such a long
Last year Joyon sailed 26,400 miles at an
voyage, you can compensate for the favourable
average speed of 19.11 knots. Coville’s
course was certainly longer (28,125 miles) moments of weather and things all balance out
but it was also faster at 19.60 knots.
in the end!”
At the harbour entrance in Brest, the three
metre waves of the Iroise left the way clear
Ellen Macarthur added, “Only three people in the world know the brutality and stress of a
for a good swell. Under one reef mainsail
round the world without stopovers aboard a multihull. One of them, a certain Mr Thomas
and solent, downwind in a 15-20 knot
Coville, has just arrived in Brest. For the majority of those who will celebrate his arrival, the
SW’ly, the Maxi Trimaran returned to the
feat will inspire admiration and respect, and I shall doubtless be the most devout of these
point she set out from on 18 November
admirers. I’ve had experience of this event, I’ve lived it… but Thomas did it so much faster
32  MULTIHULL REVIEW : FEBRUARY 2009
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