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A fast start in a favorable weather window
Thomas Coville and his six crew members (Benjamin Schwartz, Frédéric Denis, Pierre Leboucher, Léonard Legrand, Guillaume Pirouelle and Nicolas Troussel) set off on Monday, December 15 at 9:01 pm, taking advantage of a weather window described as "the best in the world" exceptional "by navigator Benjamin Schwartz. The well-established north-westerly flow behind a front enabled the trimaran to stay close to the great circle in the North Atlantic, with a straight trajectory all the way to the Doldrums.
The start of the attempt was made in rough conditions. Léonard Legrand describes a brutal start off Portugal, with 30-35 knots of wind and waves of up to 5.30 meters. Despite these difficult conditions, the crew quickly found their rhythm and efficiently set off from one milestone to the next: Finisterre on Tuesday, Canaries on Wednesday, Cape Verde on Thursday.
The Doldrums, often synonymous with slowdowns, were no hindrance. Thanks to positioning to the east and coordination with the routing team ashore (Philippe Legros, Simon Fisher, Chris Bedford), the inter-tropical convergence zone was crossed without major incident. The result: a rapid, controlled descent towards the southern hemisphere.
An intermediate record... and a significant lead
The new reference time for Ushantâeuroséquateur improves on the previous time by 15 hours 54 minutes. Sodebo Ultim 3 is also ahead of Jules Verne Trophy holder IDEC Sport by 1 day 14 hours 56 minutes on this first leg, a lead of 400 miles. This lead remains relative, as Benjamin Schwartz reminds us: " The weather at the equator is crazy, but it's not an end in itself. "
For the record, IDEC Sport took 5 days, 18 hours and 59 minutes to reach the equator in its 2017 record.
Heading for the South Atlantic and Good Hope
The rest of the course promises to be strategic. With the St. Helena anticyclone well positioned to the west, the trimaran will have to lengthen its route along the Brazilian coast until it reaches Rio, before turning southeast. The aim is to maintain a maximum lead until rounding the Cape of Good Hope, scheduled for next weekend.
Thomas Coville praises the teamwork on board and at sea. " This 4 days 4 hours was a great success, both in terms of the choice of window and its implementation. We had a good run down the slope, like a fine powder track, but not so easy. "A parallel that sums up the state of mind on board: committed but lucid, focused on the next stage of the race.
