French maxi trimaran Sodebo Ultim 3 is said to be “closing in” on its attempt to beat the Jules Verne round world speed record.
However, conditions in the north Atlantic are said to be challenging, with the strongest winds and roughest seas of the trimaran’s entire circumnavigation, according to Sail-World.
Also competing in the trophy is the all-female crew on the Famous Project CIC trimaran which is in the North Atlantic, and which faced a number of issues en route.
Sodebo Ultim 3, which was photographed off the Irish south-west coast by Cork photographer Dennis Horgan during the Fastnet 2025 yacht race, has been almost 40 days at sea.
Skipper Thomas Coville aims to be the time set by Francis Joyon on IDEC Sport in 2016/17 – as in 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds.
This means Sodebo Ultim 3 has to finish line between Ouessant ( Ushant )and the Lizard Point before 20:31:35 (French time) this Sunday, January 25th
The crew’s single objective is to complete the non‑stop circumnavigation in less than 40 days, 23 hours and 30 minutes.
Coville is joined by Frédéric Denis, Pierre Leboucher, Léonard Legrand, Guillaume Pirouelle, Benjamin Schwartz and Nicolas Troussel.
The Jules Verne Trophy honours the fastest crewed sailing circumnavigation of the globe, starting and finishing off the French coast.
Horgan’s images captured Sodebo Ultim 3 sailing off the west Cork coast, and after it had just rounded the Fastnet Rock and was heading for the Fastnet finish line.
His Fastnet 2025 images appear in The Coast of Cork: A View from Above - the latest in a series of books capturing lighthouses and various parts of the coastline from north to south.
Horgan was interviewed for Wavelengths last year here
Track The Famous Project here
