Atlantic flyer

Coville's 'praying mantis' smashes record by eight hours

The record for sailing solo across the Atlantic was taken from one Frenchman by another yesterday, writes Stuart Alexander. The 40- year-old Thomas Coville set a time of 5 days 19hr 29min 20sec, sweeping out of the fog and into the record books off the coast of his native Brittany. His 105ft praying mantis of a trimaran, Sodeb'O, burst through the six-day barrier, beating Francis Joyon's three-year-old record of 6 days 4hr 1min 37sec set in his trimaran Idec, which, due to Joyon's exhaustion, then ran on to rocks and was wrecked. The single-handed record has come down steadily since Laurent Bourgnon covered the distance in 7 days 2hr 34min 42sec in 1994. Still holder of the women's record is Britain's Ellen MacArthur with a time of 7 days 3hr 49min 57sec, set in her 75-foot trimaran B&Q in 2004 MARCEL MOCHET/AFP/Getty Images

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