Thomas Coville's team is still competing in the Jules-Verne Cup: "The Pacific, I call it a desert ocean, because it's sand, it's old."

Long before Francis Joyon's record, holder of the Jules-Verne trophy from 2017, Thomas Coville's crew was on the same level in the last two days in the Pacific Ocean.But the conditions should allow him to spread the gap to Rinn an Corn.

The clock is ticking.Ruthless, insensitive to the vagaries of the weather, the state of the sea, the fatigue of the men, the wear and tear of the equipment.This is the peculiarity of the records.Thomas Covell and his six colleagues, Benjamin Schwarz, Frédéric Denis, Pierre Lebouchet, Leonard Legrand, Guillaume Peruille, and Nicolas Troussel, who set out to attack the Jules Verne Cup on December 15 off the coast of Ouissant on the Sodebo Ultime III (32 meters), know something about this The order.After 21 days at sea, yesterday, they were only a few hours ahead of Francis Guyon's team, who hold the overall record around the planet from 2017 in 40 days and 23 hours.

Long masters of the clock and faster than the Idec Sport clock, they saw their advantage lost in the deep south and the tricky Indian Ocean.In the early hours of the new year, they had only a small mattress of 5:41 across Cape Leeuwin in southwest Australia, compared to 1 day and 19 hours on December 26 from the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of South Africa.salty taste, the beginning of a new battle towards Cape Horn, the last leg around January 10th before starting the journey to the Atlantic Ocean.

"It's very grey, the water is at 2°, there are storms passing by and the boat sometimes sinks, there's a lot to do!"

"We've just passed midday (Monday), we're exactly halfway there," says Thomas Cowell."Which means that from now on we are going home. Our start in the Pacific is not the easiest and in the last few hours it has been very rough, with very strong winds, winds of more than 40 knots (75 km/h) and seas of just over 5 meters. We are behind a great depression that has had its share of waves."We are gone.We are currently at 56 degrees south latitude, we are going to go lower to graze, or even below the ice zone, the sailor continues, which is common in these hostile regions.It's very gray, the water is at 2°, chops pass and the boat sinks sometimes, there's a lot of movement!The Pacific Ocean, I call it the sandpaper ocean because it is sand, is ending.

De voir que les compteurs ont quasiment été remis à zéro ne l'émeut, ni ne le surprend plus que ça. Même s'il aurait préféré conserver une avance conséquente. « On est dans le même temps au niveau de l'antiméridien que Joyon, qui avait fait un tout droit dans L'Indien alors que nous, on a dû faire beaucoup de chemin. Même avec 1 jour et 19 heures d'avance à Bonne Espérance, on savait qu'on ne pourrait pas égaler son Indien et qu'on verrait fondre notre avance. Stratégiquement, on est dans notre plan de départ. On a consommé notre matelas mais Sodebo Ultim 3 est toujours à 100 % de son potentiel et l'équipage est en forme, même si forcément, ça tire un peu après un demi-tour du monde à ces vitesses élevées. »

"We foresee 200 (370 km) to 500 miles (920 km) ahead of the Hornet, which we have to pass on Saturday"

The rest is the navigator Benjamin Schwartz who mentions this.Regarding a small cell of guidance on earth, it evokes a very positive forecast of the coming days."We crossed the Antimeridian 4-5 hours after Joyon's crew, but we were almost ahead because we were further south, so we had less distance to the Horn. We were very confused, the conditions were difficult, many alarms were going off, but things will improve gradually. Two gybes later we will move to the east and if everything goes well we will still find ourselves in the Pacific.""We will manage to position ourselves in front of a depression that will take us directly to the part we need to cover. There is a line of high pressure behind us that can slow us down, but we hope that the forecast will change."

The weather may allow them to widen the gap in Cape Horn even more at the end of the week. Schwartz estimated: "We estimate the horn between 200 (370 km) and 500 miles (920 km), which we have to reach on Saturday. Behind Thomas Covill and his men still need to attack the South Atlantic to make the most of it, before approaching the North Atlantic, where Joyon found an amazing time, the path is still long and uncertain. But be brave, stayaim and be united if you want to break the record they must cross the line from Ouessant before January 25 at 8:31:35 p.m.