Arriving at speed, perfectly timed in the middle of a Carribean Sunday afternoon, veteran French skipper Thomas Coville took second place on the 13th edition of the Route du Rhum Destination Guadeloupe, bringing his giant Ultim Sodebo UItim 3 across the finish line off Pointe-à-Pitre at 12:42.05 hrs local time (16:42.05hrs hrs UTC). His elapsed time for the 3542 miles solo Transatlantic sprint which started last Sunday off Saint Malo is 7d 4h 40m 5 sec and he finishes 15hrs 12min 25sec after race winner Tom Laperche (SVR Lazartigue) who secured an impressive victory last night. Compromised by the loss of his big gennaker Coville revealed that both of his foils were damaged one after the other.
Once again Thomas Coville has underlined his incredible resilience and massive experience. At 58 years old this is his eighth consecutive Route du Rhum and his sixth podium and it comes only months after setting a new Trophée Jules Verne fully crewed round the world record at 40 days and 10 hours.
!*Subject to any jury review.
Thomas Coville’s race in numbers: Finish time (in Pointe-à-Pitre): 12:42.05 hrs local time Finish time 16:42.05hrs hrs UTCRace duration: 7d 4h 40m 5 secGap behind the winner: 15hrs
*Avant jury.
*Avant jury.
A profile: Thomas Coville, the quiet forceOnce more Thomas Coville has claimed a podium spot in the Route du Rhum! This transatlantic race again highlights the remarkable longevity of the Sodebo Ultim 3 skipper at the highest level of the sport: this marks his eighth consecutive entry and his sixth podium finish! With this result, Thomas Coville caps off a dream year that began last January with a solo round-the-world record (the Jules Verne Trophy, completed in 40 days and 10 hours). He managed to breathe new life into this team by bringing in "new faces and new profiles to provide a challenge," as he explained before the start. The success of Léonard Legrand—who is delivering a top-tier performance in the Ocean Fifty class—is a perfect illustration of this. Coville is witnessing the emergence of a new generation, epitomized by race winner Tom Laperche, whom he has known since he was very young. In fact, at the age of eight, the current Route du Rhum winner once sailed aboard Thomas Coville’s ORMA trimaran. In the near future Coville aims to fully support the transition to Benjamin Schwartz as he prepares for 2028’s Arkéa Ultim Challenge-Brest, the second edition of the solo round the world race for Ultims. As for the indefatigable Coville himself—so used to the rigors of the open sea—he is leaving all his options open. As he noted before the start: "I don’t set any limits for myself; I never have."
Coville’s Race Finishing second behind an untouchable Tom Laperche and ahead of a strong debut performance by Louis Burton, Thomas Coville leveraged his vast experience to secure his sixth podium finish in the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. It was a second-place result earned through a hard-fought battle against his rivals, achieved despite several serious technical issues…
On paper, as the fleet departed Saint-Malo, he was the underdog—despite being the most experienced multihull sailor in the entire fleet and the current record-holder for the crewed Jules Verne Trophy. At 58, his appetite for competition remains undiminished. He was sailing a boat known to be less high-performing than the top-tier craft, yet one whose versatility and robustness proved to be significant assets during a winter transatlantic crossing.
From the very start, Thomas observed that "the lighter boats, which get up on their foils earlier," took the lead—a weather scenario that was far from ideal for him. The route toward Ireland and then the Azores appeared straightforward, but the pace set by the leaders was relentless. The withdrawals of Actual Ultim 4 and Gitana 18 helped clarify the standings. Holding a solid third place, Sodebo Ultim trailed Tom Laperche by 100 miles as they entered a trough, all the while having to keep a close eye on Louis Burton—who was clearly not there just to make up the numbers. Should he follow the optimal route taken by the leaders, even if it meant falling further behind in terms of raw speed? Or should he risk what he already held in pursuit of something else—thereby opening the door for Louis Burton to snatch that third spot on the podium?
Risking what one has for the sake of something else? Taking his destiny into his own hands,
Thomas Coville bypassed a high-pressure ridge and, on Tuesday, plunged into a narrow corridor of north-westerly winds—compelled to take the chance, even though the weather models offered no clear path to victory. At that stage in the race, it was not yet known that he had already broken one of his foils, leaving him at a distinct disadvantage. He executed a series of gybes, lost his large gennaker (J0) in the struggle, and, 24 hours later, found himself trailing Tom Laperche—who had become the sole leader following Armel Le Cléac’h’s capsize. That capsize also deeply affected Coville; by Thursday’s scheduled check-in, his nerves were frayed, and he was exhausted by a weather pattern in which "nothing is standard—everything is wild." To make matters worse, the skipper of Sodebo Ultim was handed a 45-minute penalty for a broken seal on his propeller shaft dating back to the start.
He took advantage of a lull in the conditions to carry out repairs with minimal time lost, as his focus shifted to securing a solid second-place finish—adding to his previous podiums (2006 and 2010) and his surprise 1998 victory in the monohull class of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe.
Over the final thousand miles of the course, Coville relied on his experience to manage his lead over Louis Burton, navigated through a tropical depression, and carefully approached Guadeloupe—a place that held a painful memory from four years earlier, when Sodebo Ultim 3 became ensnared in fishing gear, forcing the skipper into an unplanned swim. History, it seems, has a way of repeating itself: on Friday (the 13th of November, no less!), he broke his second foil. There was a surprise in store at the finish: Sodebo Ultim 3 was no longer "flying"—and for good reason as her reported damage to not one but both foils.
Having secured an impressive second-place finish despite facing significant adversity, Thomas Coville can now reflect on the trials and damage sustained during the race. He also pays tribute to young Tom Laperche—whose burgeoning talent he witnessed firsthand (see profile)—and welcomes a newcomer to the Ultim family: Louis Burton, who has made the leap from the IMOCA class, proving that this category of giant trimarans is not as exclusive as it might seem.