Jules Verne Trophy

A little calm before the great south.

Having started a week ago, Sodebo Ultim 3, which has already covered 3,700 miles (6,860 kilometers), continues its descent from the South Atlantic down the Brazilian coast, with good averages again (28 knots in the last 24 hours).

This allowed the team led by Thomas Coville to increase their lead on the Idec Sport scoreboard (155 miles at 6 a.m. Wednesday).

Since Tuesday morning, Sodebo Ultim 3 has been along the coast of Brazil in a rather pleasant southeastern trade wind regime, as Sam Goodchild, one of the eight members of the Ultim team, explains:

“It is quite calm, the sea is quite flat, the wind is not too strong, not even enough from time to time, but we still managed to maintain speeds between 20 and 30 knots. It is a good time to rest because there are not too many changes of sails and conditions, it is also the opportunity to “check” that the ship had to go to the South Seas, where it will be colder and where there will be more wind and sea “.

Aboard the Sodebo Ultim 3, the rooms are connected for the seven crew members (Thomas Coville is out of surveillance):

“Each of us waits for an hour, two hours on deck, then another hour of waiting, before going to bed for two hours,” continues Sam Goodchild. There is never a complete shift change, one person changes every hour. This allows you to always have someone on deck who has been following what has happened for an hour, but also to meet everyone at least once during the day, it is nice. ”

“The transition between the trade winds and the south seas can be a bit tricky, but it looks like it could go well. In any case, we will do everything we can to negotiate this transition efficiently and quickly before we find ourselves in the southern seas where the conditions will be harsher and where we will have to be more careful, because we will be away from everything. “