French sailor Coville sets world record

PARIS - Thomas Coville slashed eight days off the record when he ended an astonishing solo non-stop circumnavigation of the World on his 31m maxi trimaran Sunday. The record was once famously owned by British sailor Ellen MacArthur, but the 48-year-old Frenchman’s jaw dropping new mark is just 49 days, 3 hours, 7mins and 38secs. In that time the Colville will rarely have slept for more than 30 minutes at a time and will have been on constant alert to dangers and changing conditions. Having set off from Brest on the Brittany coast Nov. 6 Coville needed to make it back by Jan. 3 to establish a new record. Coville crossed the open seas finish line off the French Atlantic coast at 16:57GMT, Dec. 25. The previous record of 57 days 13hrs 34mins and 6sec was established by another Frenchman Francis Joyon in 2008 and who was swift to congratulate the new record holder. “Thomas has set a superb record after a perfectly executed circumnavigation. Well done to him for his performance and perseverance,” Joyon said in a press release. “He’s set a really high standard.” “There’s only three of us to have done it without stopping and on a solo trimaran, me, him and Ellen,” Joyon said. It was Coville’s fifth attempt after two curtailed attempts and two slower than the old record. Even Joyon’s record back in 2008 was a huge shock as it broke MacArthur’s noteworthy, flare blazing mark of 71d, 14hrs and 18min on her 23m trimaran in February 2005. MacArthur’s Australian constructed trimaran had been specifically designed to accommodate her diminutive 5-foot 2 inch (1.57 m) height. Coville was given a hero’s welcome on his return to the French port of Brest Monday. “I am very happy to have achieved this dream,” said a tearful Coville, who had tried and failed on four previous occasions to beat the record. “The biggest dreams don’t come true at the first time of asking,” he added as he was greeted by thousands of fans on a sunny day in the Brittany city.