Thomas Coville, a French skipper on the 31-metre Sodebo Utim, sailed around the world in 49 days, 3 hours, 7 minutes and 38 seconds. Coville had thus beaten the previous single-world record, set by Francis Joyon on the 29.8-meter IDEC trimaran in January 2008, by more than eight days.
Thomas Covill's average speed over the 28400-mile voyage was 24.09 knots. During the circumnavigation, the sailor hardly ever slept for more than 30 minutes at a time and was constantly on the lookout for changing weather conditions.
Thomas Coville set off on a solo circumnavigation from Brest on November 6. His goal was to break the record for a solo circumnavigation of the globe set in 2008 by Francis Joyon: the Frenchman circumnavigated the Earth in 57 days, 13 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds. His finishing line was between Wessan Island and Lizard Point in the south of England. Coville needed to cross the finish line no later than January 3 to set a new record.
This is Thomas Covill's third attempt to set the record for solo sailing around the world since 2009. In all, the 48-year-old Frenchman has circumnavigated the world eight times in his career.
