Thomas Coville sets out to Conquer the World on Sodeb'O

Sodeb'O has been sailing at an average speed of 23 knots over the last 24 hours. Thomas Coville has now sailed Sodeb’O over 1,400 miles since setting out from Brest last Tuesday and is sailing along the latitude of the Canaries islands. 

Thomas Coville of Sodeb’O reports from sea: "It’s gone very quickly! It took me some time to get into a rhythm after the start. The first nights were difficult in the Bay of Biscay. I couldn’t get it into my head that 'that’s it, we’re off on the round the world'. It was a strange feeling. I was preoccupied with the shipping and the sea state, with the added concern of damaging the boat. I have no technical issues though and everything’s going to plan perfectly. When you’re going so fast and everything’s going so well, you tackle things very calmly”.

“We’re going fast and the conditions are very demanding. The slightest error would be fatal and my vigilance must be flawless. I haven’t had any scares and I’m remaining totally in phase with both the boat and the weather”

Message recieved from Thomas Coville sailing Sodeb'O:

The wind has kicked in again but we’re sailing against the SE’ly swell and it’s really not comfortable!

As the day broke this morning, I looked behind me and saw an enormous mass of cloud forming, which went right up into the sky. I was on the other side, I’d passed it. Or rather, it had let me past! It took up a lot of energy and time I know, but deep within me I felt quietly happy to have negotiated and got through something difficult. I’m here for that and nothing else this morning.

See you soon, Tom.

Message recieved from the Sodeb’O team:

Seven days and 28 minutes to make the descent of the North Atlantic is quick, even though it may well be an increasingly common feat in the future! Seven days and 28 minutes, means the solo skipper sailed an average speed of 16.3 knots over the water, day and night, with just minutes of sleep snatched here and there. Last year in the same period, Francis Joyon took a few hours less – 6 days and 17 hours, that is 7 and a half fewer hours than Thomas – benefiting from conditions recognised as being exceptional by all the specialists who scan the world’s seas on a permanent basis. These same seas are in the process of becoming the new playing field of sailors, if we are to believe the number of racing yachts which have passed this way over recent weeks. As Thomas pointed out yesterday, he really had to battle for the last 48 hours with a very, very special semblance of a Doldrums, which was very high north and paradoxically not very active. All this seems due to an enormous cloud mass as worrying as it was unforeseen, which settled to the south of the Cape Verde islands and lined itself right across his path. This zone of cloud really upset the generally well-established NE’ly tradewind in this area, thus hampering the express descent led by the maxi-trimaran Sodeb’O from Brest.

“Yesterday I was fighting like a wildcat, it was exhausting! Constantly battling through squalls with the wind doing exactly what it wanted. It was really full on at times and it was hard to know if I should dump all the sail or chance everything and go head down into it without knowing what was behind the black curtain! You no longer know which is the way out and it just goes on and on. The mainsail halyard was poised to drop. I had nearly 600 m² of sail above me to deal with if it all went pear-shaped. A real game of calling its bluff!”

Once past this cloud mass, Thomas battled for seemingly endless hours through the chop and light winds of the so called convergence zone itself. Since mid-morning the situation has become more organised with increasingly steady SE’ly winds of around 15 knots, familiar to the classic tradewind scenario of the southern hemisphere.

Doubtless a 2,500 to 3,000 mile run now lies in store with headwinds and a relatively steep chop. Thomas will just have to make do with it prior to hanging a left into the Indian Ocean. For the time being, the wind seems stable across the whole of the South Atlantic, with Sodeb’O likely to need around nine days to make the upwind descent with slightly eased sheets before making the turn. Aside from the heeling, the sailing conditions on multihulls are pretty much the same as on the particularly wide modern monohulls like those in the Vendée Globe. “Thanks to the appendages and hull shapes, today’s multihulls are able to make a course. A lot of them have canting masts to enable them to sail to windward better” explains Thierry Briend, in charge of coordinating the shore crew. He goes on to add that although the multihull makes twice as much headway as a monohull in these sailing conditions, it also takes off more on each wave. It’s certainly sporty!

Message received from the Sodeb’O team this morning:

Contacted by telephone this morning by his team, the skipper of Sodeb'O recounts the complicated weather scenario as he approaches the Saint Helena High. Like the competitors in the Vendée Globe, which he is picking off one after the other (Arnaud Boissières and Dee Caffari today), Thomas Coville is waiting for the right moment to finally hang a left and gain ground to the east, bound for the Cape of Good Hope.

Sailing close-hauled for the past five days in a 15 to 20 knot SE’ly tradewind, the maxi trimaran is making some great average speeds of around 20 knots and is covering between 450 and 490 miles a day. Unlike the solo sailors in the Vendée Globle who are racing in a fleet, Thomas is battling against the clock and the trajectory of Francis Joyon who, last year, forked off to the east very early on, level with 20 degrees south.

During his first attempt in the winter of 2007-2008, the skipper of Sodeb’O was forced to drop below 45 degrees south, which put him at a disadvantage on rounding the Cape of Good Hope. This time around the sailor from La Trinité sur Mer in Brittany has glimpsed a way out in around two days, thanks largely to a welcome unsettled patch at around 35 degrees south. In the meantime Thomas will have to work the boat as hard as he can and the skipper is currently spending all his time on deck, trimming the sails and watching the still numerous squalls surrounding Sodeb’O.

Radio session with Thomas Coville on this 10th day at sea:

What are the sailing conditions like?: “It’s been five days since Cape Verde and I’ve been surrounded by squalls the whole time. It’s everything you hate about solo configuration in a multihull. Under pilot, whilst your boat is positioned on a constant heading and the wind switches direction dramatically, you can capsize. You gradually become immune to it though; you adapt and you get a better sense of whether the squall will be really nasty or not.”

Your opinion about your performance?: “I have to deal with the situation I have as best I can and I reckon we’re racking up an acceptable mileage with a fairly good course.”

What’s the weather situation?: “We were within a couple of days of having the perfect weather sequence with this low across Uruguay which, in the end, is shifting across too slowly. As a result I’m going to do a tour of the parish (around the Saint Helena High) like the competitors in the Vendée Globe. In this same place, Francis Joyon was devilishly lucky and was able to cut through the middle of the anticyclone, thanks to weather system which had taken root across his course. He covered 600 fewer miles.”

What strategy are you following?: “The faster the boat goes, the more interest you have in using this speed to get round what is hassling you, as is the case here with Saint Helena. As a result I’ve still got two more rather laborious days of battling against the wind and the sea before I can finally head east.”

What do you think about your boat?: “Sodeb’O is going faster than last year. It is very pleasant striking a balance with her. The work on the sails has borne fruit. I’m getting more out of her too. I’m pushing her a lot more and you can see that in the speeds, which are higher than those of last year.”

And you, how are you?: “I managed to sleep for three hour-long sessions last night and I’m managing to eat well, even though there’s not really a rhythm. Each squall is like someone climbing aboard so you have to be prepared.”

What’s your view on what the Vendée Globe fleet are experiencing?: “I’m closing on the head of the fleet, where those who’ve opted to traverse the zone of high pressure are partially ensnared. There is a general bunching and then some sailors, like Mich (Desjoyeaux) and Marc (Guillemot), have opted to follow their own course. Jojo (Josse) followed them initially and then changed his mind. Between those who are attempting to pass through the centre and, at worst will get going again with the low shifting over from Uruguay, and those who skirt round the outside, there may not be much of a deficit on the other side. It’s very different from the course which I’ve chosen and I’m assuming on my own. In fleet racing you are reassured or worried by what the others are doing.”

Message received from the Sodeb’O team this morning:

Thomas Coville, the skipper of Sodeb'O, made the switch to the east this morning, crossing the longitude of zero degrees at daybreak. He also passed Sébastien Josse, the leader in the Vendée Globe fleet. He is now alone in opening the way to the desert of the deep south. The sailor is negotiating a W’ly swell, which is an indicator of a low set to hit tomorrow. The wind will then shift round to the NW as it fills to around 30/35 knots. Suffice to say that this will be the first ‘squall’ of the roaring forties for Thomas, who is set to round the Cape of Good Hope on Friday.

Sodeb’O Team Conference with Thomas Coville:

Thomas, what’s the atmosphere like in the roaring forties?

“It’s magical! In fact I have two albatrosses behind me. It’s the start of the real nitty gritty now. It’s going to be aggressive! I’m sailing with a 3-4 metre swell on the beam, the boat surfing down the waves. Conditions are a bit rock’n roll, with squalls hitting us and quite a few gusts in excess of 30 knots. It’s very exhilarating. It’s the kind of conditions you seldom come across. I play with the waves, even though you have to remain vigilant as a wave has just one thing in mind, to try to make me capsize.”

What awaits you as you approach South Africa?

“During the course of tomorrow and for a few days afterwards, I’m going to be pushed along by a fairly big low, which will take me beyond the Cape of Good Hope and, I hope, as far as the Kerguelen plateau. In contrast to the sailors in the Vendée Globe, I have no ice gates across my course. I love this freedom of choice.”

How’s the sailor?

“I’m well! The hardest thing is managing sleep. To sleep, you have to slow down a little, and for the time being I haven’t slowed down much. I feel good aboard though, I feel good on my boat. I’m going fast. I’m having a ball! The speed in a multihull is difficult to handle as the slightest error would be fatal, but for the most part I go by feeling. I’m managing to strike a balance with the speed of my boat. Since last year, I’ve become a lot calmer. Speed makes you permanently tense, which is wearing, and that never stops. I’m sailing on a knife edge the whole time.”

How do you feel about your deficit on Francis Joyon (570 miles this evening, or a day behind)?

“I avoid looking at the summit of the mountain, otherwise it gives you the blues. I live from day to day. I’m moving my pawns forward telling myself that it’ll come good in the long run. Michel Dejoyeaux is making me feel good... I’m telling myself that if he can make it back into a race where the weather conditions are the same for everyone, then there’s no reason why, with different conditions, I can’t make a comeback too.”

How do you perceive the Vendée Globe?:

“I’m paying attention to the race as they are useful to me for observing their speed according to the wind and sea conditions they encounter before me. The start of the course is thrilling as the psychology of the different skippers is revealed. I’ve spoken to some of the competitors on the phone, such as Dominique Wavre and Yann Eliès. These conversations are always very nice as we really understand what the other is experiencing.”