Thomas Coville completed his solo round the world voyage in a multihull on 25th December 2016 aboard his trimaran Sodebo Ultim'. Bought in February 2013 by Sodebo from Olivier de Kersauson - the ancient Geronimo had been inactive for six years - it spends 14 months in the shipyard to be adapted to single-handed sailing . That's how Thomas Coville set off in November 2014 for the Route du Rhum, but unfortunately hit a cargo ship on the day of the start and is now in the middle of the race forced to give up .
It was recently that the boat - and its famous skipper - made a name for themselves in breaking the single-handed round-the-world record and setting many intermediate records!
However, Thomas Coville and Sodebo - partners for 18 years - now have other plans. Notably the round the world race in multihulls (Collectif Ultim') and single-handed, which will start from Brest in autumn 2019. And for this new challenge, the sailor who has always dreamed of being the fastest man solo around the planet needs a new boat. Rather than improving Sodebo Ultim', the sponsor preferred to innovate and therefore build an even more powerful boat, designed for records. The boat will be launched in 2018, Thomas Coville will therefore sail for two more seasons on his current trimaran for crewed races (The Bridge), double-handed (Transat Jacques Vabre) or single-handed (Route du Thum). Sodebo Ultim' will therefore be resold so that another participant can take part in this Ultim' collective, which brings together the sailors and their maxi-trimarans.
For the moment, the project is not completely defined, but this new trimaran will be avant-garde and the ogranisation innovative. We'll have to wait until spring 2017 to discover a little more of this new boat.
Sodebo co-chair Patricia Brochard explains the genesis of the story.
"With this new boat, our ambition is to be at the forefront in front of the players. With the Ultim collective, we are building a fleet capable of bringing emotion and interest. Among our objectives, in addition to safety, we want to offer races with suspense, emulation between the sailors and for each event, a story to be written that will enthral the public.
For the past year, we've been talking to Thomas and his team about the timing, the right moment to get into a new boat. In any phase of innovation, you have to arrive at the right moment. We also know this at Sodebo for our product launches. Sometimes we give up when we feel we are not in the right timing. We've been looking at ways to improve Sodebo Ultim'.
With this platform, we were again starting from a constraint that we could improve but not revolutionize. The final decision was taken, during the round-the-world trip, with the desire to innovate. The lessons learnt from this record-breaking round-the-world trip enriched our thinking and therefore our decision-making. Every time we innovate, we take a risk. Fortunately, experience helps to limit it. And a risk is also an opportunity. At Sodebo, innovation is part of our history, part of our DNA.
Thomas will sail on Sodebo Ultim' for another two seasons and on the new boat in 2019. The trimaran will then be for sale, allowing a new project to participate in this major race which will be the solo round the world race in Ultim' in 2019. We have always resold our boats to feed existing competitions. The ambition of this new project is to continue to reveal the company through this sponsorship and to thrill more and more people through this sport and these sailors who tell great stories"
The vision of Thomas Coville
"For us, this new boat is the concretisation of this idea, which was born in 2007, opening up the playing field for a single-handed round the world multihull race. In spite of the very present weight specification with the arms dating back to the 2000s. Sodebo Ultim' remains an interesting and high-performance boat with great qualities, including its versatility, simplicity and robustness. Everything we have learned and designed with Sodebo Ultim' serves us well today. We are fortunate to have an Ultim' as a laboratory to try, research, explore, full-scale test and design a new boat. Our three single-handed multihull round-the-world voyages form a unique database. In 2007/2008, we had a vision, that of being able to sail around the world single-handed on a multihull.
To continue after the Route du Rhum 2014, I had to surround myself with specialists who feed me. Every Friday, we set up a technology watch during which we debated what our direct rivals were doing or not doing. We spoke with architects who immersed us in this technological evolution of flying boats. We also looked at all the best in current sailing, the America's Cup and even in aeronautics and the automobile industry, asking ourselves the question: if I had to design a new boat, what would help us?
We are working on a project that is not yet final with pioneering preliminary projects and a very innovative organization that we will unveil in the spring. Our boats are now capable of taking part in a complete programme with historic races and new events, including crewed races, which enables us to train sailors to pass on and give room to young talent. This idea of a new boat accompanied me during the record. When it was really hard, this dynamic allowed me to find resource and energy. To motivate myself, I imagined that I was racing and that there was a boat next to me ..
Emulation, competition is at the heart of our system and our evolution. Today, our platform is being built up and we're building with the collective with a view to this solo round the world race starting from Brest in 2019."
