Sodebo Shooting For Route du Discovery Record

[Photoboy]

Leaving Lorient on Saturday to reach the south of Spain, Thomas Coville and his five Sodebo Ultim 3 teammates – Thomas Rouxel, Guillaume Pirouelle, Nicolas Troussel, Fran?ois Duguet and Leonard Legrand – set off this Tuesday at 10:39:12 UTC (i.e. 11h39min and 12 seconds French time) on the attack of the record of the Discovery Route between Cadiz, in Spain and San Salvador, in the Bahamas. The time to beat on this 3,884 nautical mile (6,250 kilometer) transatlantic course is 6 days 14 hours 29 minutes 21 seconds. The pace is intense aboard Sodebo Ultim 3, which is already speeding over 30 knots…








On stand-by since January 7, the crew of Sodebo Ultim 3 and the routing cell, made up of Philippe Legros and Christian Dumard, were watching for a weather window to tackle the Route de la Discovery record, owned since November. 2013 by Spindrift 2 in 6 days, 14 hours, 29 minutes and 21 seconds. An opportunity presented itself for this beginning of the week, Thomas Coville and his five team members left their base in Lorient last Saturday to reach Cadiz, in the extreme south-west of Spain. “We moved quickly into the action with the stakes thanks to an interesting window that can give us a good score. We are opportunists” , explained the skipper when setting sail.

Once there, the Sodebo Ultim 3 crew received confirmation from the routing cell that this weather window had to be entered, hence the decision to set off on Tuesday. As Philippe Legros reminds us, “The window isn't as attractive as when we left Lorient on Saturday, but we have the objective of trying as a crew, then continuing on alone. We are at the end of our first session so we have to go! It is a complex window to achieve with many transitions and weather sequences. We will need a little success but the wind files give interesting times. "







https://sodebo-voile.geovoile.com/routedeladecouverte_equipage/2023/tracker/


The conditions expected on this transatlantic race between Spain and the Bahamas archipelago. The giant trimaran took off downwind in the Bay of Cadiz at over 30 knots. The start of the attempt in a good easterly breeze of around twenty knots which will quickly increase to around 30 knots in the corridor of wind leaving Gibraltar.








During the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, Sodebo Ultim 3 will negotiate a first front and head towards the Canaries, which it will cross on Wednesday at midday. It will then turn west on its way to slip under the Azores High, with no doubt a small transition to manage during the day of Friday February 17th. It will then be time to set sail, in a still uncertain trade wind, towards the Bahamas, where Thomas Coville and his five crew must arrive before February 21 at 01h 8min 33 seconds UTC to seize the record.

Expedition Information:

Discovery Route: Cadiz (Spain) – San Salvador (Bahamas), with the obligation to circumvent Gran Canaria, is 3,884 miles.

Crewed time to beat, owned by Spindrift since 2013: 6 days, 14 hours, 29 minutes and 21 seconds

Sodebo Ultim 3 crew: Thomas Coville, Thomas Rouxel, Guillaume Pirouelle, Nicolas Troussel, Fran?ois Duguet, Leonard Legrand.

[Photoboy]

For more than 24 hours now, Thomas Coville and his 5 crewmen have been chasing the Route De La D?couverte record. A committed start to the course with in particular a complicated front passage this night and numerous maneuvers on board to get out of windless areas.






Nicolas Troussel, navigator aboard Sodebo Ultim 3 looks back on this first day of racing:

“The start was a bit complicated because we had a strong headwind to arrive in the bay of Cadiz, with a lot of manoeuvring, tacking to get to the start line. Just behind it, there was not much water , we had very little space to maneuver. It was therefore necessary to coordinate well and prepare our crossing of the line to take the start. Then, we had to choose sails with fairly strong winds at the start of the course. It went well and it went on very quickly with a lot of maneuvers with the wind coming in."

"We then had a somewhat complicated front passage last night, at the start of the night, because there was a lot of variation in the wind from very strong to weaker. We had 30 knots in the front passage. Then, the objective was to restart after the front, to finally find a cruising speed close to 30-40 knots."

"Since then it has been working fine. The night was cloudy and then it was discovered. At the moment we are in a squally pattern with clouds, rain and sunny spells at other times and the wind is very unstable. The sea is not easy, it is short. We will pass the Canaries in the middle of the day and then we will try to negotiate the vents of the islands well."

"The start of the course doesn't necessarily reflect what we came for with downwind conditions, but we'll make up for it at the end! We should experience beautiful days and nights at sea to cross the Atlantic downwind, which is great on these beautiful boats."







TRACKER: https://sodebo-voile.geovoile.com/ro.../2023/tracker/



Sodebo Ultim 3 is currently sailing at over 30 knots towards the Canary Islands and should round Gran Canaria in the early afternoon . A strategic moment in this race for the record since it will be necessary to thwart the winds of the archipelago .
https://www.sodebo.com/article/jour-...odebo-ultim-3/

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Leaving Cadiz on Tuesday February 14, Sodebo Ultim 3 was trying to break the crewed Discovery Route record and had a good pace to be on time.



In the early morning, the technical team was notified of a problem with the port foil. This major damage forced Thomas Coville and his five crew to put an end to their attempt. The sailors are doing well and their priority is to secure the trimaran. In conjunction with the Team Sodebo base in Lorient, they are currently diagnosing the problem.

The weather conditions were bracing, but the crew pushed the boat reasonably. They were sailing reaching at an average of 30-35 knots in heavy seas.



The decision was made to head for the Canaries, which they should reach this weekend. Members of the technical team will be on site to assess the problem and carry out the repairs before returning to its home port in Lorient.

https://www.sodebo.com/article/fin-d...odebo-ultim-3/