Sunday 21st March – Press release
JULES VERNE TROPHY
(CREWED ROUND THE WORLD VIA THE THREE CAPES)
Time to beat: 50 days 16 hours 20 minutes and 4 seconds
Groupama
Round the words
Franck Cammas and his men on Groupama 3 drew alongside under blue skies in
the Port du Château this Sunday morning to the applause of an enthusiast
local crowd. After having beaten the Jules Verne round the world record in a
time of 48d 07h 44’ 52’’, the crew prepared themselves for the barrage of
questions in front of the public, the media and their families… Extracts
from an emotional and memorable day, coloured by good humour, a true sense
of team spirit and mutual respect.
Franck Cammas:
“I think we could do a lot better but I’ll let someone else
beat our record first as I don’t really see the appeal of battling against
myself! It was a great relief to cross the finish line. We ended up with a
great time, certainly better than we could have expected after crossing the
equator with a day’s deficit. 48 days was an objective we set ourselves
before the start and this proved to be the case even though we didn’t often
have conditions that were favourable. In the northern hemisphere we had the
right conditions in which to play catch up and end up with a very
respectable time. I feel that I’ve put a great deal of energy and time into
this project and getting to the end is fantastic. It’s down to the
relentless work of a team and a partner who never gave up. It’s superb that
it’s culminated in this way. The key to this project has been that when
there are failures you have to make use of them and turn them into positive
aspects which you can learn from. They all add to the experience, the
awareness and reliability of the boat. We’ve proven that today. It was a lot
more intense than I’d imagined, but that’s what we like and obviously we’ve
had nearly 50 days of extremely strong emotions. We trusted in our boat and
in the concept of the trimaran. It was a dream-team with a whole wealth of
experiences and talents. Sometimes I had to put my feelings to one side and
take onboard the ideas of everyone else. I learnt a vast amount, it was
superb. The image which stays with us is the rounding of Cape Horn. We were
like kids.”
Stan Honey:
“It’s an incredible honour as an American to have been invited to be part of
this experience because French multihull sailing is the very pinnacle of
world sailing. Added to that French sailing is a closed world in general so
to share that has made it a terrific trip. The whole ‘Bar des Sports’
concept of getting together once or twice a week was an interesting and
intriguing tradition. I’ve sailed a lot on kiwi boats and they’ve never had
that. The French have everything sorted inside the boat too with special
places to stow everything and it’s all nice and dry down below too. They
sure know how to cook too! Unfortunately my work involved a great deal of
course selection so I can’t say that my French has improved, though I’m sure
that the onshore weather router, Sylvain Mondon and Franck have been able to
improve their English with me! We had a great working relationship with
Sylvain there every step of the way supporting us and helping us with the
decision making. It took a while to get used to how high performance
Groupama is because she’s about two generations behind Playstation. I feel
lucky to have been part of the dream team. The welcome we had today is
something you just don’t see in the US with sailing. Last night was the
perfect way to conclude our round the world voyage, on a beam reach making
good headway and then the chance to have some quality time together to look
back on our trip. As regards the French participation in the Volvo, it’s an
interesting innovation to sailing. It will be fun to see what they’re
capable of doing and I’m very much looking forward to it as I have a lot of
respect for them.
Thomas Coville:
“When the boat broke and we stopped off in Cape Town, we
could tell that we were a very strong group, capable of getting through any
issue in conditions which weren’t necessary evident or easy. There was a
real sense of boldness and a real desire to do battle. Stève Ravussin and I
really pushed the boat hard during a particularly good session of reaching.
We were euphoric… the boat was literally flying and the guys came up on deck
to ask us if we were on another planet! Steve was grinning from ear to ear…
and I was elsewhere… It was fabulous!”
Fred Le Peutrec:
“This Trophy is a whole mixture of things, a kind of fade in-fade out
between what I wanted to experience when I was a boy and the reality! I
still have the feeling that it’s the others that did it, the sensation of
being disembodied, the sense that it wasn’t me that was there… It’s an
overwhelming emotion, a moment beyond time. I’ve dreamt of it when I’ve seen
the other crews set off and return. It’s something concrete and yet elusive.
Groupama 3’s course over the past three years has nevertheless been full of
pitfalls. Experiencing the Trophy in this way, on a knife edge over the past
few days at sea, when we nearly didn’t set off at all…. Is pretty special!”
Lionel Lemonchois:
“Arriving back in Brest is always great! We did the best we could and it
went superbly well. We had some very varied conditions and not always
favourable ones. Added to that whoever manages to link on nicely from one
weather system to another would just fly… though I don’t know if it would be
possible. What you need is to be consistent, constantly sail well and have a
good boat. This was true of Groupama 3. The crew was superb and that makes
things easy: everyone was in their allotted position as was the case with
Bruno Peyron. What is essential and motivating is to put together a fine
team and Franck Cammas had a perfect cast! 48 days at sea, with ten men in a
confined space, is not a trivial matter. It’s not only the technology it the
human relations above all which dictate whether a trip is successful. The
boat was really easy: it’s a small 32 metre yacht! With three of us on deck
we could do almost anything. We had some unforgettable moments such as when
we had to pick our way along towards Cape Horn at over 40 knots, under
stormy skies and eight metre waves… 48 extraordinary hours.”
Reactions on the pontoons:
“Bravo to the whole Groupama team for this exemplary performance around the
world. I know the amount of skills, effort and commitment necessary to
achieve such a result: the design team, the shore crew, the weather team,
the crew and the sponsor. We must salute their determination and their
ability to trust in their team, even in the hard times. Everyone deserves
this success which was built on method. In this way, together they are
writing a fine new page in the history of the Jules Verne Trophy. I’m proud
to have been beaten by the best oceanic multihull team of her age and I’m
eager to put together a team to ‘reconquer’ the Trophy. I hope they will
become the best monohull team in the VOR and I hope that they will come and
join us on the start line of The Race II. In any case, it’s a challenge that
I’m putting up, no longer just against the clock but side by side!” Bruno
Peyron, previous Jules Verne Trophy holder (2005)
“Bravo for this extraordinary performance... Bravo for never having given
up! Bravo for stepping up to the plate and writing your own fantastic story
in the spirit of the finest and most daring events in the world. Welcome to
Franck Cammas and his exceptional crew to the Jules Verne Trophy winners”.
Olivier de Kersauson, former Jules Verne Trophy record holder (2004)
Groupama 3’s finish
Saturday 20th March 2010 at 21 hours 40 minutes 45 seconds UTC
In a time of 48 days 7 hours 44 minutes 52 seconds
Improvement on the record*: 2 days 8 hours 35 minutes 12 seconds
*Subject to approval by the WSSRC
(Orange II – Bruno Peyron - in 50 days 16 hours 20 minutes and 4 seconds in
2005
Groupama 3’s log (departure on 31st January at 13h 55’ 53’’ UTC)
(Number of miles covered in relation to the optimum course for the Jules
Verne Trophy)
Day 1 (1st February 1400 UTC): 500 miles (deficit = 94 miles)
Day 2 (2nd February 1400 UTC): 560 miles (lead = 3.5 miles)
Day 3 (3rd February 1400 UTC): 535 miles (lead = 170 miles)
Day 4 (4th February 1400 UTC): 565 miles (lead = 245 miles)
Day 5 (5th February 1400 UTC): 656 miles (lead = 562 miles)
Day 6 (6th February 1400 UTC): 456 miles (lead = 620 miles)
Day 7 (7th February 1400 UTC): 430 miles (lead = 539 miles)
Day 8 (8th February 1400 UTC): 305 miles (lead = 456 miles)
Day 9 (9th February 1400 UTC): 436 miles (lead = 393 miles)
Day 10 (10th February 1400 UTC): 355 miles (lead = 272 miles)
Day 11 (11th February 1400 UTC): 267 miles (deficit = 30 miles)
Day 12 (12th February 1400 UTC): 274 miles (deficit = 385 miles)
Day 13 (13th February 1400 UTC): 719 miles (deficit = 347 miles)
Day 14 (14th February 1400 UTC): 680 miles (deficit = 288 miles)
Day 15 (15th February 1400 UTC): 651 miles (deficit = 203 miles)
Day 16 (16th February 1400 UTC): 322 miles (deficit = 375 miles)
Day 17 (17th February 1400 UTC): 425 miles (deficit = 338 miles)
Day 18 (18th February 1400 UTC): 362 miles (deficit = 433 miles)
Day 19 (19th February 1400 UTC): 726 miles (deficit = 234 miles)
Day 20 (20th February 1400 UTC): 672 miles (deficit = 211 miles)
Day 21 (21st February 1400 UTC): 584 miles (deficit = 124 miles)
Day 22 (22nd February 1400 UTC): 607 miles (deficit = 137 miles)
Day 23 (23rd February 1400 UTC): 702 miles (lead = 52 miles)
Day 24 (24th February 1400 UTC): 638 miles (lead = 208 miles)
Day 25 (25th February 1400 UTC): 713 miles (lead = 370 miles)
Day 26 (26th February 1400 UTC): 687 miles (lead = 430 miles)
Day 27 (27th February 1400 UTC): 797 miles (lead = 560 miles)
Day 28 (28th February 1400 UTC): 560 miles (lead = 517 miles)
Day 29 (1st March 1400 UTC): 434 miles (lead = 268 miles)
Day 30 (2nd March 1400 UTC): 575 miles (lead = 184 miles)
Day 31 (3rd March 1400 UTC): 617 miles (lead = 291 miles)
Day 32 (4th March 1400 UTC): 492 miles (lead = 248 miles)
Day 33 (5th March 1400 UTC): 445 miles (lead = 150 miles)
Day 34 (6th March 1400 UTC): 464 miles (lead = 62 miles)
Day 35 (7th March 1400 UTC): 389 miles (deficit = 91 miles)
Day 36 (8th March 1400 UTC): 317 miles (deficit = 326 miles)
Day 37 (9th March 1400 UTC): 506 miles (deficit = 331 miles)
Day 38 (10th March 1400 UTC): 321 miles (deficit = 384 miles)
Day 39 (11th March 1400 UTC): 255 miles (deficit = 309 miles)
Day 40 (12th March 1400 UTC): 288 miles (deficit = 473 miles)
Day 41 (13th March 1400 UTC): 496 miles (deficit = 492 miles)
Day 42 (14th March 1400 UTC): 445 miles (deficit = 405 miles)
Day 43 (15th March 1400 UTC): 482 miles (deficit = 216 miles)
Day 44 (16th March 1400 UTC): 401 miles (lead = 72 miles)
Day 45 (17th March 1400 UTC): 441 miles (lead = 412 miles)
Day 46 (18th March 1400 UTC): 583 miles (lead = 844 miles)
Day 47 (19th March 1400 UTC): 588 miles (lead = 1,165 miles)
Day 48 (20th March 1400 UTC): 600 miles (lead = 1,412 miles)
Jules Verne Trophy record
Orange 2 (2005): 50d 16h 20'
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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