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Their race time is 10 days, 17 hours, 30 minutes, and 09 seconds. They finish 4hrs 26mins 11 secs behind winners Tom Laperche and Franck Cammas
Coville and Schwarz covered the 5400miles of the course between Le Havre and Fort-de-France at a speed of 20.97 knots on the great circle route (direct course). They actually sailed 6591.36 miles at an average speed of 25.6 knots (over the water).
At 57 years old Coville is one of the most famous sailors in France with a long list of round the world records and transatlantic crossings to his name, but nothing has reduced his passion for multihull racing nor his determination to win.
He teamed up with Benjamin Schwartz, the only first timer in the ULTIM class on this TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR Le Havre Normandie. Although now one of the older ULTIMs - SODEBO ULTIM 3 was launched in 2019 – the VPLP design has been regularly updated and the duo pushed hard and smart, competing on equal terms a lot of the time with race winner SVR-Lazartigue.
Having led at Cape Finisterre for a time, Coville and Schwartz sailed a good Doldrums and were in contention for much of the race before being finally outgunned by winners Tom Laperche and Franck Cammas after the southernmost turning mark, taking second today ahead of ACTUAL ULTIM 3.
Thomas Coville returns to the podium of the TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR Le Havre Normandie extending his record on the race after winning in 1998 with Hervé Yann in the 60 foot monohull division and winning again on Sodebo 2 2017 with Jean-Luc Nélias.
After 10 days and 17 hours of frenetic racing, taking second place in the Ultim division on the TRANSAT CAFÉ L’OR, there was a genuine warmth evident between the two co-skippers on Sodebo Ultim 3, Thomas Coville, the 57 year old warrior king of multihull ocean racing and record challenges and ‘ULTIM race rookie’ Benjamin Schwatrz.
As they approached the victory pontoon in the small hours of the Martinique morning where a cluster of media, guests and sponsors waited, Coville stood back and pressed the humble 38 year old forwards before heaping praise on the younger sailor he had carefully selected to the project.
He may be a newcomer to ULTIM racing on the coffee route but powerfully bult Schwartz is an unsung talent who has already won The Ocean Race with the Dongfeng team, raced with Nico Troussel on Corum L’epargne on The Ocean Race Europe, on Holcim PRB on The Ocean Race – taking over as stand in skipper – and had ULTIM Jules Verne experience with Yann and Donna Bertarelli’s Spindrift and Sails of Change.
On the pontoon Thomas Coville said, “I appreciated the way we fought from the start. We had a blast, we went after the best, we had an aggressive course. We’re a team that’s improving, a dangerous team. To achieve this, we needed a change, and that’s why I asked Benjamin to join us. I’m very proud to have brought in someone as brilliant as him; that’s what I’m most proud of.”
“We fought hard to catch Tom and Franck; they were certainly worried by us in the Doldrums. Well done to them: they sailed a perfect race; it’s a privilege to compete with such skippers. I’m thinking of Anthony (Marchand) and Julien (Villion), with whom we were in contact, and Armel (Le Cléac’h) and Sébastien (Josse), who had the absolute class to get back on their feet and resume the race.”“
Benjamin Schwartz: “We’re tired but happy. The joy of the result makes us forget everything else: satisfaction is what matters most. With SVR-Lazartigue, it was a constant back-and-forth. We attacked inside the Canary Islands and just lacked a bit of luck getting through the wind shadow. It’s a shame, because it would have allowed us to really cash in. In Cape Verde, we tried to follow the opening to the east to attack the Doldrums at the same time as the leaders. It came down to a single cloud, because we were at the same latitude before they made their move. We fought to the very end to give it our all, and we finished only four hours behind SVR-Lazartigue. It was a magnificent race!”