Armel Le Cléac’h and the Maxi Trimaran Solo Banque Populaire VII before at the start of the TransMed record attempt which they just set in 18h 58min & 13sec, beating Thomas Coville’s time onboard Sodebo in the first solo multihull record time of the so called TransMed route between Marseille (France) and Carthage (Tunisia) of 25 hours 36 minutes and 36 seconds.
Photo assignment for Banque Populaire.
The Maxi Trimaran Solo Banque Populaire VII (FRA), the 103 feet trimaran skippered by Armel Le Cléac’h in front of the MuCEM (Museum for Europe and the Mediterranean) designed by Rudy Ricciotti.
Onboard the IMOCA Open 60 MACIF with François Gabart and Michel Desjoyeaux preparing for the Transat Jacques Vabre in the English Channel on delivery from Plymouth to Port-la-Forêt after she won her class in the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Photo assignment for MACIF.
Attempt to break the absolute sailing record of the Corsica (Known as the Beauty Island) Island Tour currently owned by the “TP 52 Spirit of Malouen VI”, a 52-feet-boat, in 30 hours 15 minutes & 18 seconds, on a Nacra F20 Carbon, a 20-feet-beach catamaran.
Photo assignment for Atlantis Television.
Onboard the MOD70 Race for Water, during a training session before the Marseille City Race, part of the MOD 70 European Tour, skipper Steve Ravussin.
“Ground Control To Major Tom …”
With barely enough time for the average astronaut to recover from the impressive round-the-world victory onboard Groupama70 in the Volvo Ocean Race, capitaine Thomas Coville is recharged and at it again onboard his faithful red Sodeb’o maxi-trimaran. The weeks ahead will see the Sodeb’o seacraft slicing through the ocean at full kip chasing new reference times to add to her impressive stable. First on the agenda, Thomas and his machine are attempting the singlehanded multihull TransMed record which is currently held by Pascal Bidegorry at the helm of Banque Populaire V. This attempt will be followed directly by the solo multihull Cadiz-San Salvador passage, a speed record quite familiar in the Sodeb’o universe seeing as Thomas has held the best time from 2005-2008. He would like nothing more than to reclaim this record from Francis Joyon before the close of 2012. We wish Thomas and the team only the best wind and waves for this ambitious program.
As is evident in this latest gallery of training and stress-tests, Thomas and the Sodeb’o spacecraft are well dialed in and up for the challenge… no matter what the atmosphere.
Blast Off sequence commencing in 10…9….8……
Words: Fred Eagle
Transmed Records:
Multihull Record fully-crewed : 14 hours 20 minutes and 34 seconds (May 2010)
Multihull Record holder: Pascal Bidégorry (France) sailing Banque Populaire V
Monohull Record singlehanded: 1 day 21 hours 20 minutes and 29 seconds (June 2009)
Monohull Record Holder: Kito de Pavant (France) sailing Groupe Bel
Published in Yachting World March issue.
Banque Populaire V New Jules Verne Trophy record 45 Days 13 hours 42 minutes and 53 secondes.
BRAVO Banque Populaire Sailing Team!!!!
