49 days, 3 hours, 7 minutes, and 38 seconds. That’s how long it took Frenchman Thomas Coville to sail around the world alone in his 31-meter (101 ft.) trimaran.
Coville sliced 8 days off the previous record for circumnavigating the globe alone, set by fellow Frenchan Francis Joyon.
Coville had tried twice before to break the record, and failed. This time, he took a more ambitious route, and took advantage of the wind at his back. His average speed for the 27,325-mile course was 23 knots (26 miles per hour). Most incredible of all, he never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time, because he had to stay alert for danger. “Physically I could not have gone much further,” he said.
France 24 reports on his trip in the video below. French speakers can check out this video of his arrival in Brest.
