By crossing the finish line at 1:59 PM this Saturday, in front of Rauba Capeù, Thomas Coville’s crew (Sodebo Ultim’) won the first edition of Nice UltiMed after 3 days, 57 minutes, and 28 seconds at sea, during which they traveled 1,020 miles (1,890 km) in two loops via Corsica and Sardinia.
A very fine victory for Thomas and his teammates Jean-Luc Nélias, Thierry Douillard, Quentin Delapierre, Matthieu Vandame, and Thomas Lebreton.
Less than an hour later, at 2:56 PM, it was the turn of Francis Joyon’s (IDEC SPORT) team to finish this unprecedented and complex course of nearly 1,000 miles along the southern coastline of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, Corsica, and Sardinia.
Last Wednesday, three multihulls started the race but Yves Le Blévec’s boat (Actual-Grand Large Emotion) suffered damage a few hours later, forcing him to abandon.
Thus, the Nice UltiMed was a duel between Coville, aboard the boat with which he broke a solo circumnavigation record on December 25, 2016 (49 days 3 hours), and Francis Joyon on the multihull that allowed him to set a new crewed circumnavigation record on January 26, 2017 (Jules Verne Trophy in 40 days 23 hours).
“We knew we were up against an iconic boat, a very interesting opponent. Initially, this duel might have seemed disappointing, but in the end, it was a real contest, quite gripping. It was very close, and we loved it. We were almost always within sight,” recounted the winner.
To conclude the first edition of Nice UltiMed in style, over 150 vessels of all types are set for a parade starting at 2 PM, which will be visible from the Promenade des Anglais.
