--- title: "Sodebo: from a 40-day lap of the planet to a solo Rhum" description: "A Jules Verne record in 40 days in January, two multihulls on the Route du Rhum line in November: Thomas Coville and Léonard Legrand go solo for Sodebo." url: "https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/blog/sodebo-coville-legrand-jules-verne-route-du-rhum" lang: "en" --- # Sodebo: from a 40-day lap of the planet to a solo Rhum Published October 27, 2026 by [Antoine Labbe](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/about) ![Sodebo Ultim 3 celebrated in Brest after Thomas Coville's 2026 Jules Verne Trophy record](https://www.offshoreraces.app/photos/race-trophee-jules-verne.jpg) *Photo: Claude PERON, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Record_Coville_2026_Brest_206.jpg)* On 25 January 2026 at 7:45 am, Sodebo Ultim 3 crossed the line off Ushant with seven sailors on board and a new round-the-world record. Ten months later, the team is heading back out for the Route du Rhum with two boats, and two of those sailors alone on board. ## 40 days 10 hours around the world ![Sodebo Ultim 3 in Brest on 25 January 2026, after the Jules Verne Trophy record](https://www.offshoreraces.app/photos/boats-sodebo-ultim-3.jpg) *Photo: Madamedekeravel, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sodebo_ultim_3.jpg)* Setting off on 15 December 2025, **Thomas Coville** and his crew completed the Jules Verne Trophy in **40 days 10 hours 45 minutes 50 seconds**, averaging 27.17 knots over 28,315 miles sailed. They beat the record set by Francis Joyon and IDEC Sport in January 2017 by about 12 hours 45 minutes. The seven men: Thomas Coville, Benjamin Schwartz, Frédéric Denis, **Léonard Legrand**, Pierre Leboucher, Guillaume Pirouelle and Nicolas Troussel ([ICI](https://www.ici.fr/bretagne/finistere-29/brest/trophee-jules-verne-thomas-coville-et-son-equipage-sodebo-etablissent-un-nouveau-record-du-tour-du-monde-a-la-voile-2942784)). For Coville, it was a third Jules Verne record, after those of 1997 with Olivier de Kersauson and 2010 with Franck Cammas, and after several failed attempts, including two in the winter of 2024-2025. The 2010 boat, Groupama 3, is the one Alexia Barrier sails in this Rhum as IDEC Sport - CIC. ## Thomas Coville, eighth Route du Rhum ![Thomas Coville](https://www.offshoreraces.app/skippers/thomas-coville.jpg) *Photo: Gwen4435, [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Coville.JPG)* Coville starts his **eighth Route du Rhum**. He won the 60-foot monohull class in 1998, and finished third in Ultim in 2022 in 7 days 6 hours 37 minutes. He has sailed for Sodebo since 1999 and calls the Rhum "the race of my life" ([Figaro Nautisme](https://figaronautisme.meteoconsult.fr/actus-nautisme-flash/2026-03-30/87009-un-programme-2026-de-haut-vol-pour-sodebo-voile)). After the record, Sodebo Ultim 3 went into the yard in Lorient for new foils, new rudders and a new centreboard. "We are going to step up another notch with new foils," Coville said in the spring. Benjamin Schwartz, one of the Jules Verne crew, leads the performance work and the routing cell. ## Léonard Legrand, from crew to solo **Léonard Legrand** joined Sodebo ten years ago as an electronics apprentice. Coville's technical preparer for the 2018 and 2022 Route du Rhum, then a member of the record crew, he is now switching sides: Sodebo has given him **Sodebo Fifty**, a 15-metre Ocean Fifty bought in October 2025 and relaunched in Lorient at the end of March 2026 after five months in the yard. His season was built to bring him to solo racing: two crewed Ocean Fifty Grands Prix in the spring, with Coville on board, then a solo programme, with the Drheam Cup in July and the 24H Ultim in September, before the Rhum. "An incredible opportunity that Sodebo is giving me," he says ([Figaro Nautisme](https://figaronautisme.meteoconsult.fr/actus-nautisme-flash/2026-03-30/87009-un-programme-2026-de-haut-vol-pour-sodebo-voile)). The organisers count him among the many outsiders in an Ocean Fifty class that has lost its defending champion ([Route du Rhum](https://www.routedurhum.com/en/post/an-exceptional-lineup-for-the-most-challenging-edition-in-history)). The round-the-world record is told in [Jules Verne Trophy: the story of the record](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/blog/jules-verne-trophy-record). Coville's rivals are in [the Ultims and their skippers](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/blog/route-du-rhum-2026-ultim-skippers), Legrand's in [the Ocean Fifties and their skippers](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/blog/route-du-rhum-2026-ocean-fifty-skippers), and Alexia Barrier's story in [first woman to race an Ultim in the Route du Rhum](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/blog/alexia-barrier-first-woman-ultim-route-du-rhum). ## Races in this article - **[Route du Rhum](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/route-du-rhum)** The solo transatlantic race from Saint-Malo to Guadeloupe. Start: Saint-Malo · Finish: Pointe-à-Pitre · 3,542 nm · Racing since November 1, 2026 [Ultim](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/classes/ultim) [IMOCA](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/classes/imoca) [Ocean Fifty](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/classes/ocean-fifty) [Class40](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/classes/class40) - **[Trophée Jules Verne](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/trophee-jules-verne)** The non-stop, fully crewed sailing record around the world. Start: Ushant - Lizard Point line · Finish: Ushant - Lizard Point line [Ultim](https://www.offshoreraces.app/en/classes/ultim)