Will leave, will not leave? Or, rather, will leave, will not leave? This Friday morning, the two crews communicated about their attempt: green code for Sodebo Ultim 3, on stand-by since November 9. The seven sailors left Lorient La Base this Friday to head towards the starting line in Ouessant “for an evening departure” we can read on the WhatsApp group of Thomas Coville's team.
A few minutes later, on the Objective: take a window during the weekend.”
See you on the MerConcept pontoons this Friday at 1 p.m. in Concarneau. The two Ultimes therefore left their base at the same time, at 2 p.m., one in Lorient, the other in Concarneau. To find yourself a few hours later in the Iroise Sea.
It remains to be seen whether the two flying maxi-trimarans will set off at the same time or a few hours (minutes) apart from the starting line? A departure which could take place between 10 p.m. this Friday and 4 a.m. this morning.
Upwind departures
The two teams have very efficient routing cells, so they have the same tools and the same weather files but the speed polars are not the same depending on the gaits.
“It's an atypical window because we're heading upwind into a front with 4-5 meters of sea and 30-35 knots of wind,” said Thomas Coville before leaving his Lorient base.
The first 24-36 hours will be spent facing the wind, in rough seas. “A few years ago, this is a window that we would not have even looked at with Archimedean boats. But, today, our flying boats are capable of going very quickly upwind.”
With this high record, held since 2017 by Francis Joyon and the Idec Spot crew in 40 days, 23 h 30' 30'', the routers look not at the passage times at the equator but at the cape of Good Hope: “We are under 12 days at Good Hope and around 5 days at the equator,” says Coville.
Promising passage times therefore.
The crews of the two Ultimates
Sodebo Ultim 3 : Thomas Coville, Frédéric Denis, Pierre Leboucher, Léonard Legrand, Guillaume Pirouelle, Benjamin Schwartz and Nicolas Troussel.
SVR Lazartigue: François Gabart, Tom Laperche, Antoine Gautier, Pascal Bidegorry, Amélie Grassi and Emilien Lavigne.
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