Thomas Coville slashed eight days off the record when he ended an astonishing solo nonstop circumnavigation of the World on his 31m maxi trimaran.
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, 7 mins and 38 secs.
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.
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Having set off from Brest on the Brittany coast November 6 Coville needed to make it back by January 3 to establish a new record.
Coville crossed the open seas finish line off the French Atlantic coast at 16:57 GMT, December 25, and was due to head back to Brest.
The previous record of 57 days 13 hrs 34 mins and 6 sec was established by another Frenchman Francis Joyon under almost identical conditions in 2008.
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Even Joyon’s record back then was a huge shock as it broke MacArthur’s noteworthy, flare blazing mark of 71 d, 14 hrs and 18 min on her 23 m trimaran in February 2005.
MacArthur’s Australian constructed trimaran had been specifically designed to accomodate her diminutive 5-foot 2 inch (1.57 m) height.
(With PTI inputs)