Celebrating world-class offshore sailing amidst January's cold and icy depths
by David Schmidt 27 Jan 16:00 GMT
January 27, 2026
Thomas Colville and crew on Sodebo Ultim 3 off Ouessant, win the Jules Verne Trophy, a non-stop crewed round-the-world race, in Brest on Sunday 25th 2026 © Vincent Curutchet / Sodebo
January's cold may be icing-up sailing aspirations in much of North America right now, but the international sailing news cycle has been lit-up of late with tales of adventure, record-breaking circumnavigations, and proud racing efforts on the high seas. Couple the winter's frigid weather with the USA's horrific current-events, and these glad tidings from the offshore world couldn't come at a better time for anyone seeking something to feel good about right now.
Enter skipper Thomas Coville and his crew of Benjamin Schwartz, Frédéric Denis, Pierre Leboucher, Léonard Legrand, Guillaume Pirouelle, and Nicolas Troussel aboard the Ultim trimaran Sodebo Ultim 3, who just set a new Jules Verne Trophy Record for the fastest circumnavigation.
Forget Jules Verne's notions of going Around the World in Eighty Days; Coville and company just ticked this achievement in just 40 days, 10 hours, 45 minutes, and 50 seconds.
This new benchmark represents an improvement of 12 hours and 44 minutes over the previous record (40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes, and 30 seconds), which was set in 2017 by skipper Francis Joyon and his crew aboard the Ultim trimaran IDEC Sport.
Coville and company's new record (which is still subject to ratification by the World Sailing Speed Record Council) represents the culmination of three Jules Verne Trophy attempts by this team, and, impressively, also includes the fastest passage times from Ushant, France, to the equator, and the fastest time across the Pacific Ocean.
Additionally, the team also posted new benchmark arrival times at the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin, and Cape Horn.
"It's an intense joy, a mix of relief and excitement," said Patricia Brochard, who is the co-chair of Sodebo, the team's sponsor, in an official team communication. "We're surrounded by family, friends, partners, and many Sodebo employees. We're very happy and very proud to share this moment with them, just as our sailors have done throughout their journey.
"It's the culmination of the wonderful story we've been writing together for 27 years with Thomas [Coville]," continued Brochard. "What we love is seeing men and women united around a common project, with unwavering determination. They're demonstrating here what's important to us every day in our company. They've moved forward together, they've grown together, just like our employees, who are highly motivated and committed to growing Sodebo."
Sail-World sends a huge congratulations to Coville and the Sodebo Ultim 3 for their new outright circumnavigation time, and also for establishing new benchmark times en route to popping the (tariff-free) champagne corks.
Meanwhile, the Sodebo Ultim 3 team wasn't the only talent-riven Ultim plying the world's oceans.
Skipper Alexia Barrier and her crew of The Famous Project—Dee Caffari, Annemieke Bes, Rebecca Gmür Hornell, Deborah Blair, Molly LaPointe, Támara Echegoyen, and Stacey Jackson—finished their own Jules Verne Trophy attempt in the early morning hours (local time) on Monday (January 26) aboard the Ultim trimaran IDEC Sport
While the team's elapsed time of 57 days, 21 hours, and 20 minutes wasn't quick enough to best either Joyon or Coville's time around the planet, Barrier's star-studded team completed the first all-female circumnavigation aboard an Ultim trimaran.
En route, the team faced challenges ranging from a torn (and eventually tattered) mainsail, to a time-sucking tangle with fishing gear near Australia's Cape Leeuwin that damaged their foil-control system (and forced the team to complete their journey without their crucial starboard foil), to fifty-plus-knot winds and waves exceeding 26 feet, to a final winter storm as they approached the finishing line.
We at Sail-World tip our glasses to Barrier and company, remembering, of course, as Dee Caffari quipped when the team first tore their mainsail "if it were easy, everyone would do it". We would love to see this highly capable team return to the Jules Verne Trophy racetrack, and we would love it even more if the team breaks Coville's new record.
Also in offshore news, Jason Carroll's American-flagged MOD70 Argo took multihull line honors in the RORC's Transatlantic Race last week, and set a new multihull course record (Lanzarote to Antigua) of just four days, 23 hours, 51 minutes, and 15 seconds.
Impressively, Erik Maris' Frech-flagged MOD70 Zoulou crossed the finishing line just two hours and 32 minutes astern of the Americans.
"We knew it was going to be a close match race with our friends on Zoulou, and it was every bit of that," said Argo's skipper, Chad Corning, in an official race report. "We managed to get a small lead early on and just very slowly built it. They were hanging very tough the whole way and pushing incredibly hard behind us. It made for a frenetic pace from start to finish."
While the team had to deal with unexpected issues related to their port rudder (as the sun was setting), the predicable dangers came when the sun slide below the western horizon each day.
"By Day Two, we were doing 30 to 32 knots in big seas," said Corning. "The nights were long; 13 hours, very dark, very little moon. It felt like skiing a black diamond run with a blindfold on."
Argo might be the fastest multihull to cross this vast stretch of brine, but it was Olivier Magre's scow-bowed Mach 50 Palanad 4, which was skippered by his son, Antoine Magre, that took the race's top prize for IRC corrected time.
The team dispatched the (ballpark) 3,000 nautical mile course in eight days, five hours, 55 minutes, and 50 seconds.
(Editor's note: the fastest monohull across the Pond in this year's RORC Transatlantic Race was Raven, the foil-assisted Baltic 111, which took monohull line honors, won the IMA's Transatlantic Trophy, and set a new monohull course record of six days, 22 hours, 27 minutes, and 47 seconds.)
"This race is a very strong first proof of concept," said Antoine Magre in an official event communication, referring to the team's Sam Manuard-designed monohull (N.B., Manuard was also a crewmember). "We believed in the potential of the scow bow in IRC, but it had to be proven in real offshore conditions. Winning overall here really sets the bar for what comes next."
Sail-World sends our congratulations to the Argo team for setting a new multihull record, to the Raven team for setting a new monohull record, and to the Palanad 4 for pushing an unconventional offshore design to the top of the podium.
Finally, news recently broke that the 38th America's Cup will be contested on the waters off of Naples, Italy, from July 10 to (on or about) July 18, 2027, depending on wind conditions.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor