Thomas Coville and co-skipper Benjamin Schwartz brought Sodebo Ultim 3 across the line at 02:40 local time on Thursday morning, claiming second place in the Ultim division of the 17th Transat Café L'Or Le Havre Normandie. Their elapsed time of 10 days, 17 hours, 30 minutes and 09 seconds left them just four hours and 26 minutes adrift of the winning crew, Tom Laperche and Franck Cammas aboard SVR-Lazartigue. That a contest stretching more than a week across the Atlantic could be settled by such a slender margin says much about how closely the leading boats were matched throughout.
At 57, Coville stands among the most decorated names in French offshore sailing, with solo and crewed round-the-world records underpinning his reputation. Pairing him with Schwartz, who was lining up in the Ultim class for the first time, fused long-held instinct with fresh energy, and the combination kept Sodebo Ultim 3 in contention against newer, lighter designs across the full length of the crossing.
The race's decisive moment came after the southernmost turning mark, where SVR-Lazartigue's latest-generation foils gave her a telling advantage, allowing her to ease clear and consolidate the lead she would hold to the finish. Sodebo Ultim 3 held firm in second, crossing ahead of Actual Ultim 3, skippered by Yves Le Blevec and Anthony Marchand.
The result adds another chapter to Coville's long association with the Transat Café L'Or. He first won the race in 1998, sailing a 60-foot monohull with Hervé Yann, before returning to the top of the podium in 2017 on Sodebo 2 alongside Jean-Luc Nélias. A third podium finish, arrived at nearly three decades after the first, reflects both his staying power in the sport and his willingness to adapt as ocean racing has shifted from traditional multihulls to the flying trimarans that define the Ultim class today.
Speaking dockside after the finish, Coville observed that victory is not measured in silverware alone but in the determination to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible at sea. On that measure, Sodebo Ultim 3's run across the Atlantic represented a triumph all its own.
