Route du Rhum: With a smaller boat, Coville second in Pointe-à-Pitre

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Pointe-à-Pitre (AFP) – Despite two broken foils during the race, French sailor Thomas Coville, at the helm of the Sodebo Ultim trimaran, took second place in the Route du Rhum on Sunday in Pointe-à-Pitre, won the day before by Tom Laperche in record time.

Published on: 08/11/2026 - 19:33

Coville, 58, crossed the finish line at 12 hours 42 minutes and 5 seconds local, or 5:42 p.m. in Paris, after having battled for days with his competitor Louis Burton (Armand Thiery), expected in a few hours in Guadeloupe.

Coville's race time is 7 days 4 hours and 40 minutes, announced the organization of the Route du Rhum, or 15 hours 12 minutes and 25 seconds more than the winner Tom Laperche (SVR Lazartigue).

The race was particularly difficult for the veteran, with a lot of maneuvers to be carried out due to the absence of trade winds on the route, the loss of a headsail and, above all, two serious damages shortly after the start.

“The second day, I lost the first foil and a few days later, I lost the second, each time in very heavy seas. But that is part of the hazards of this legendary race, I have no bitterness,” revealed Coville, his face liberated on the pontoons.

“The perfect race on this Route du Rhum was Tom who achieved it. And I am still proud of what I produced sportingly, mentally, physically with what I had,” he added.

A specialist in major ocean records, Coville has held the non-stop crewed round-the-world record, the Jules Verne Trophy (40 days 10 hours 45 minutes 50 seconds), since the start of the year. In 1998, he had already won the Route du Rhum in monohulls.

In eight participations, he scored six podiums. While he announced that he was handing over to his co-skipper Benjamin Schwartz for the Ultim Challenge at the start of 2028, he still did not seem satisfied with the queen of the deckchairs.

“I have always done the Routes du Rhum as if it were the last. I would like one day to fly completely and fight across the Atlantic with a machine like this at its full potential,” he responded to a journalist who asked if this was his last crossing.

Shortly after his arrival, Tom Laperche came with his family to congratulate him. The two men shared a long hug before discussing the mid-race capsize of their competitor Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire), who has since been rescued.

Coville was very touched by the mishap of his friend and competitor. “We have all our senses alert, we are on edge, we try to feel everything... And when external news like that comes, it’s so brutal,” he confided.

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