Groupama 3 Making Record Time

On this seventeenth day at sea, Groupama 3 has already covered a third of the course around the globe and is managing to hold onto a small lead over the reference time. These two pieces of good news are added to the fact that a SW'ly wind rotation should kick in over the coming hours, a shift which will be favourable for a long descent towards the furious fifties...

Franck Cammas and his crew have paid their share to the Indian Ocean and can now invest in the long term... As Orange II climbed up and down like the Stock Exchange at around 45° three years ago, Groupama 3 has instead begun a fine parabola towards the foaming summits. In the hours which follow this Saturday lunchtime radio session, the giant trimaran will take off whilst Bruno Peyron's crew were floundering at this time in some variable fluctuations as far as the Kerguelen Islands... Patience is the mother of safety and the sailors will finally be able to jump into action and rack up figures with several zeros on the end... The reasons for this are that Franck Cammas and his nine crew will adopt a more productive route to the benefit of an anticipated speed calculation over 24 hours, which will culminate in nearly 600 mile daily averages throughout the week...

Hanging a right

After having absorbed the impact of some rather big seas on the hip, as well as suffering from a very bumpy ride due to the combination of a very strong S'ly swell and a very variable high pressure breeze, things have now stabilised since the start of the weekend: the breeze is slowly shifting to the right and Groupama 3 can finally slip along quicker, further and lower towards the Kerguelen Islands. Indeed a low will bring along its share of rain, clouds and low temperature, as well as wind, most importantly. This breeze will initially pass to the SW at 20-25 knots, then to the W at 25-30 knots on Sunday morning, before returning to the SW at 35-40 knots at the end of the weekend... Do up your foulies nice and tight, its going to get wet and seriously blustery as the wind swings round!

The course over 40° South that Groupama 3 has been forced to endure since passing the Cape of Good Hope, will therefore curve slowly inwards towards 50° South so as to shorten the distance to sail around the Antarctic. Already though, Franck Cammas and his men have covered the first third of the race against the clock with over 8,000 miles on the speedo, whilst the weather conditions have not been particularly favourable. But how much does three times seventeen days come to... ?

From crew member Sébastien Audigane: "The Indian Ocean has lived up to its reputation: we've been leap-frogging for three days now. For the time being, the seas are very hard and on the nose, so we're finding it difficult to make headway. However, we are managing to doze and rest during the stand-by watches. We're gradually recuperating, but it's certainly difficult to sleep well. If all goes to plan, in around ten hours time, we should hit the W'ly winds. We're trying to slow the boat a little at the helm as she has the tendency to accelerate at the slightest puff of wind and we are trying to prevent ourselves from bouncing on the waves: it's quite difficult and rather like a rodeo! Yves has managed to repair the central bulkhead of the aft beam but there are a few finishing touches to complete and the waves aren't helping much. The sea state is complicating life on board (eating, moving around, resting, staying on watch...) so it's no picnic. We are sticking together despite the hard conditions. It's the second time that I've gone through the Indian Ocean and it's never innocent! We are being confronted by very difficult seas and you have to ease off the pace to preserve the men and the boat. To see an albatross so close like we did yesterday, adds a little enjoyment and emotion to these rather feisty days... It's been a while since I've looked at the position of Orange II: our main concern is to escape this zone with its S'ly swell and to get into some downwind breeze to regain Groupama 3's true potential! The medical analysis is pretty positive with just a few skin irritations... We're having to be careful at the moment though with the sea conditions we have right now."

References: Jules Verne Trophy

Time to beat - 50 days 16 hours 20 minutes and 4 seconds - Average speed: 17.89 knots
Record held by Bruno Peyron, aboard the maxi catamaran Orange II, since March 2005.

The crew on Groupama 3 -
Franck Cammas / Franck Proffit / Stève Ravussin / Frédéric Le Peutrec / Loic Le Mignon / Sébastien Audigane / Ronan Le Goff / Jan Dekker / Jacques Caraës / Yves Parlier
Onshore weather expert: Sylvain Mondon (Météo France)

All about the circumnavigation -
Passage into the Indian Ocean
*Passage at the longitude of Cape Agulhas by Groupama 3: Wednesday 6th February at 1637' UT
*From Ushant to Cape Agulhas: 13 d 08 hr and 47 min (Groupama 3)
*Lead over the reference time established by Orange II in 2005 (14d 08h 18'): 23 hr 30'
*From the equator to Cape Agulhas: 7 d 02 h 22' (Groupama 3)
*Lead over the reference time established by Orange II in 2005 (7d 05h 19'): 2 hr 57'

Today's figures -
Start on 24th January at 0750'17'' UT
Arrival before Saturday 15th March 2008 at 00h09'21'' UT

Day 16 at 0800' UT -
*Distance covered on the water in 24 hours: 524.9 miles
*Distance covered since the start: 8,352 miles
*Distance to the finish: 16,178 miles
*Average on day 16: 21.87 knots
*Average since the start: 21.75 knots
*Lead in relation to Orange II: 175.9 miles

Reference Time -

* Jules Verne Trophy: 50d 16h 20' (Orange II in 2005)
* Ushant to the equator: 6d 6h 24' (Groupama 3 in 2008)
* Equator - Cape Agulhas: 7d 02h 22' (Groupama 3-2008)
* Ushant - Cape Agulhas: 13d 08h 47' (Groupama 3-2008)
* Cape Agulhas - Tasmania: 9d 11h 04' (Orange II in 2005)

Photo: © Yvan Zedda - Groupama 3 - Jules Verne Trophy
(Crewed circumnavigation around the three capes)