Yachting: Frenchman pulverises solo round the world record

Thomas Coville slashed eight days off the record when he ended an astonishing solo non-stop circumnavigation of the World on his 31m maxi trimaran today.

The record was once famously owned by British sailor Ellen MacArthur, but the 48-year-old Frenchman's jaw dropping new mark is just 49 days, 3 hours, 7 mins and 38 secs.

In that time the Colville will rarely have slept for more than 30 minutes at a time and will have been on constant alert to dangers and changing conditions.

Having set off from Brest on the Brittany coast November 6 Coville needed to make it back by January 3 to establish a new record.
 

Coville crossed the open seas finish line off the French Atlantic coast at 16:57 GMT, December 25, and was due to head back to Brest.

The previous record of 57 days 13 hrs 34 mins and 6 sec was established by another Frenchman Francis Joyon under almost identical conditions in 2008.

Even Joyon's record back then was a huge shock as it broke MacArthur's noteworthy, flare blazing mark of 71 d, 14 hrs and 18 min on her 23 m trimaran in February 2005.

MacArthur's Australian constructed trimaran had been specifically designed to accomodate her diminutive 5-foot 2 inch (1.57 m) height.