There has been considerable loss over the past 48 hours! Franck Cammas and his crew had to wait until 0200 UTC this Sunday before the warm front from Brazil began to provide a light N'ly air flow. The upshot of this is that Groupama 3 now has a lead of just eighteen hours or so over the Jules Verne Trophy record time...

The leak has finally been plugged! At around daybreak (UTC), Groupama 3 had finally picked up speeds more in keeping with her status: around fifteen knots along the direct course towards the Cape of Good Hope... However, her lead over Orange 2 is set to further diminish as Bruno Peyron had a very good day at this point back in 2005 covering over 600 miles, a total the giant trimaran will be unable to match today. Indeed the warm front was still moving slowly this morning, though it is set to accelerate in order to traverse the Southern Atlantic: Franck Cammas and his nine crew will be sailing in excess of twenty knots at midday, but the promised speeds of over twenty-five knots won't be attained until the afternoon.

The explanation for this is that the giant trimaran has had to `scale' a barometric col this weekend and though the crew of Groupama 3 (who had taken part in an intensive training session in the mountains before setting off) were certainly prepared for this `climb', they didn't have time to rope themselves together early enough to face up to the storm... of calms! The result is far from brilliant and psychologically these past few hours spent in this lack of air hasn't enthralled the crew. However, although the disappointment of having lost over a day's lead in relation to the Jules Verne reference time is understandable, it has done nothing to dampen the determination of Franck Cammas and his crew: the route towards the Roaring Forties is finally opening now and the gradual acceleration will really cheer them up... As the weekend draws to a close, Groupama 3 will once again be able to make up ground on the round the world record holder as this Brazilian depression system is set to continue its course as far as the Kerguelen islands!

Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression

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Last Updated ( Sunday, 15 November 2009 )