This And That….

As expected, Thomas Coville set a new solo transatlantic east/west record, with a final push from the outer winds of Hurricane Dennis. Time: 10 days, 11 hours, 50 minutes. Click here to watch Sodebo arriving with reefed main alone. How much do we care? Not that much. He beat Francis Joyon’s old benchmark time by 15 hours and 27 minutes, but this is a young record which solo sailors are only now starting to attack (usually as they make their way to New York to go after the big one: the west/east solo transatlantic record). Still, nice sailing Thomas…

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, Old Man Of The Sea Olivier de Kersauson and his big tri, Geronimo, lapped Australia in a record time of 17 days, 13 hours, 32 minutes. They got hit by a 70-knot microburst in the home stretch and ended up sailing backwards at a high rate of knots. Here’s their report:

“Earlier today the boat sailed into the path of weather cell that had 70 knot breezes along with a mini tornado which picked up the boat and drove them backwards at 20 knots. During this the boat sustained damage to the steering causing the boat to drift towards land at 10 knots. The crew quickly repaired the damage to the steering system after taking the sails down and Geronimo continued on her way to Sydney.”

I bet that was a good moment to learn some French expletives. As for lapping Aussieland: How much do we care? Even less than above. A record is a record, but I imagine this one will get tested, oh, about every ten years (or when the next maxi-multihull happens to break down near Australia and needs something to do…). Note to De Kersauson: unload Geronimo and build a new, massive, modern tri so you can return to doing what you do best, which is endlessly circling the globe in pursuit of the Jules Verne record…

Sodebo Success: “There’s absolutely no one here, but what the hell, I’ll raise my arms in victory anyhow…”