Sturmvideo
12.12.2009
JULES VERNE TROPHY
(CREWED ROUND THE WORLD VIA THE THREE CAPES)
Time to beat: 50 days 16 hours 20 minutes and 4 seconds
Saturday 12th December – Press release
Groupama 3 heads back out to sea
It was this Saturday morning at 0600 UTC that the trimaran Groupama 3 cast
off from the port of Cape Town, South Africa, bound for Brest some 6,000
miles (11,000 kms) away, where she will begin her second period of stand-by
for the Jules Verne Trophy.
Skippered by Fred Le Peutrec and sailed by a total crew of 10, Groupama 3
has thus completed her South Africa stopover. In all it has taken no less
than three weeks for the maxi trimaran to be operational once again after
suffering damage in the Southern Atlantic, at a point where the crew were
ahead of the reference time for the Jules Verne Trophy set by Orange in
2005.
Indeed once the float bulkhead was repaired and then reinforced by the
Groupama team’s shore crew, with the assistance of a handful of South
African’s from Team Shosholoza, it was the generator which was to give up
the ghost. Forced to order a new unit from France and have it transported
down to Cape Town by plane, the crew of Groupama 3 had no option but to wait
patiently in Cape Town and attend the live draw for the World Cup football.
“All that is behind us today and all ten of us are delighted to be at sea
again. We had to get free of the coast to find the wind, which has enabled
us to retension the rig. We’ve done that and we’re now sailing under two
reef mainsail and staysail in a 25 to 28 knot SE’ly making the equivalent
boat speed” explains Fred Le Peutrec, who in the absence of Franck Cammas,
has taken on responsibility for Groupama 3.
Of the ten crew who were aboard for the Jules Verne Trophy attempt, three
are onboard for this delivery trip with Ronan Le Goff and Jacques Caraës
accompanying Fred: “At the moment Ludovic Aglaor is at the helm with Ronan
and Clément Surtel alongside. He’s just finding his way around Groupama 3
after a successful Jules Verne back in 2005 on Orange 2. We also have some
new faces aboard including Mayeul Rifflet, who is replacing Lionel
Lemonchois, as well as Nick Legatt and Thierry Duprey du Vorsent. The others
are already familiar with Groupama 3 having been responsible for preparing
her: Eric Lamy and François Salabert, who is in charge of the navigation”
adds Fred.
“We’re going to be sailing in fairly strong downwind conditions for 36
hours. After that, the wind should ease to around fifteen knots, enabling us
to make the equator in nine days. As such we won’t be back in time for the
Christmas festivities, but no matter, we’re here to get Groupama 3 safely
back into port. Today the boat is more solid than ever. We’ll just have to
watch out for whales. On leaving Cape Town this morning we came across seven
or eight, which was fantastic” concludes Fred Le Peutrec.
The watches:
Fred Le Peutrec - Eric Lamy - Nick Legatt
Ronan Le Goff - Clément Surtel - Ludovic Aglaor,
Jacques Caraës - Thierry Duprey du Vordent – Mayeul Rifflet
Off-watch navigator: François Salabert
Find all the latest about the Groupama trimarans on:
www.cammas-groupama.com
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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