Maxi trimaran Sodebo, Thomas Coville prepares to leave on his round the world solo record attempt:

From the following entry (in French) on the Sodebo website:

http://www.sodebo.fr/voile/actualites/article/sodebo-prepare-appareiller

16/01/2014

Sodebo prepares to sail

It already well blows in Brest! The maxi-trimaran Sodebo team prepares to leave the Port du Château tonight from 8 pm. In muscular conditions (currently 30 knots of wind in the marina), Thomas Coville will head to the start line of the lap record of the world located in the Phare de Créac ' h on the island of Ouessant should cross in middle of night.
The starting conditions are difficult with southwest of 25 to 30 knots wind accompanied by squalls and heavy swells to Ushant. It is for the skipper soar before a (area of low wind) thalweg announced on Brest tomorrow morning.
 
"These are not frankly rêvées conditions. Starting from night to the close in sea is quickly complicated solo on a 30-metre boat. But it must soar with the wind to avoid ending up stuck tomorrow morning at Brest where it was announced less than 7 knots of wind. The situation is different for Lionel (Lemonchois, skipper of the Prince de Bretagne Maxi80 who must tackle tomorrow to record Port-Louis, France - Port Louis, Mauritius). Starting from Lorient (80 miles - 150 km to the South), it should escape through this mou and will still 15 to 20 knots of wind tomorrow at noon. The window is tempting. I would have 12 to 14 hours closely in wind strong before crossing the front and recover the West-North-West bearing wind. Then, it will be a sporting descent in the wind and the sea. In Portugal, it passes under the anticyclone of the Azores which is still installed with established trade winds which can allow us to place up to Cape Verde. »

The tracker is now active for this attempt:

http://sodebo-tdm.addviso.org/fr/