On the initiative of Upswing Prod with the Ocean Fifty class, a new nautical event has emerged: the Pro Sailing Tour. It takes place over 4 months, from May to August, with 4-day racing periods in 5 stage cities (Brest, La Rochelle, Las Palmas, Marseille and Toulon), alternating a 24-hour off-shore and races in roadstead. The goal is to make these very spectacular 15-meter trimarans better known to the general public.
Thomas Coville is on board as a teammate as a trimmer on the Leyton trimaran with the English sailor Sam Goodchild, who is his teammate on the maxi trimaran Sodebo 4. He gives us his first impressions of the Pro Sailing Tour, after returning from the last regatta , which he just won with Sam Goodchild.
After the Jules Verne Trophy, have you embarked on a new adventure on this Pro SailingTour?
Thomas Coville: “I am selected by Sam Goodchild, I will know at the end of the day, in debriefing, if I am kept by the team but I hope to be in La Rochelle next week. It’s a job with a whole part of the team who know each other well. With Sam and François (Morvan), my two teammates on Sodebo, we’ve been sailing together for a few years and it’s always nice to have new experiences and to continue to deepen, to have a common culture and experiences. “
What do you think of this new racing format, which is reminiscent of the Orma Grands Prix of the 1990s / 2000s?
TC : “It’s a very good overall format, the organizer has found the right compromise between the offshore and the regattas in the harbor for the public. Everything is in the right measure, in relation to the public and the guests that we can have on board during regattas. The Ocean Fifty is an interesting class, because it has mastered the technique so that these boats are not too technological. They remain healthy boats, seaworthy and offering a point of view financial a real opening. The program is also attractive, Brest, La Rochelle, The Canaries, Toulon, Marseille … We also see new faces arriving and it makes a very good springboard for young runners. The level is very uniform sporting, there are all the ingredients to make it work. “
At the same time, you are preparing a new round-the-world campaign, can you compare these two worlds?
TC : “We are releasing our maxi trimaran Sodebo 4 next week.
But that has nothing to do with this, here in Brest we are really in the fleet regatta with very successful boats, technically very simple, however with a lot of development because sailing remains a technical sport. We, on the contrary in the Jules Verne Trophy, are evolving in a much more pioneering register, around architecture (our boats are twice as large as 32 meters, an Océan Fifty is fifty feet so 15 meters 25). We are pioneers because we sail around the planet and we have entered this era of flight in the atmosphere with a boat. It’s a different register. But, precisely, there is room for everyone. In my Sodebo team we have Olympism with Quentin Delapierre, from Figaro, with Corentin Horeau from the ultimate, from the Ocean Fifty. Our sport, sailing, is a very eclectic breeding ground and we all feed off each other.“
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