Friday 5th December 2008
AND THEN COMES THE INDIAN
One is entitled to wonder how far it will go when you look at the average
speeds of these multi-hulled craft which naturally devour the North and
South Atlantic in a single breath.
We honour the ladies with Dame Ellen leading the way in 2004 with a time of
19 days and 9 hours. She was to be beaten in 2005 and 2007 by Orange II and
Groupama III, among others, who made the descent from Brest to the Cape of
Good Hope in around two weeks*. However, we should remember that these two
giants of the seas each had a crew of strapping fellows aboard to
successfully control their steeds.
And then came a major exploit when Francis Joyon, all alone on his trimaran
Idec, swallowed up the Atlantic like a metronome last year; the entire feat
along an unashamed route, which was to take just 15 days, 7 hours and 16
minutes at an average speed across the water of 20.24 knots. It was a first
in the history of solo sailing. The skipper set the bar sky high. And Thomas
Coville set about tackling it at a fiercely relentless pace this year, and
completed the first stage in this circumnavigation of the globe just 29
hours from the summit. It has to be said that Saint Helena was particularly
unkind, forcing Sodeb’O to go right around the outside of her, whilst a year
earlier, Joyon was allowed to merrily cut the corner. And yet the skipper of
Sodeb’O has nonetheless been able to link together two weeks of 500 mile
days, or more, despite miserable weather and seas which weren’t always
gracious, often lying across his path.
Paradoxically, even though he’s taken 16 days, 12 hours and 23 minutes,
Thomas has been the fastest of the two, with an average speed of 20.51 knots
VMG compared with 20.24 knots for Francis. The only thing is that the
skipper of Sodeb’O, as we mentioned before, was forced by Dame Weather to
take the route not far off Brazil, which is a damned awful diversion. Whilst
the cheeky skipper of Idec made his descent of the Atlantic in just 7,492
miles, Sodeb’O’s log had this morning clocked up 8,153 miles at the Cape of
Good Hope, which is 661 additional miles.
Fortunately there is still a long way to go. Thomas has just completed a
third of the course of what amounts to precisely 24,275 miles along the
great circle route. Since this morning, Thomas has been sailing in the
Indian Ocean with its seas battered by a succession of lows, whose principal
aim seems to be to spin around the Antarctic and give sailors a shake-up.
Today’s weather analysis by Richard Silvani from Météo France: “The still
steady NW’ly wind of over 30 knots is shifting to the W and then the SW, as
the trimaran’s course bends southwards. She will have to continue to move
quickly in very messy seas with big waves, as a zone of high pressure is
approaching from the west! The trimaran has a rendez-vous with a new low
this weekend!”
* Respectively 14 days, 05 hours and 21 minutes for Orange II and 13 days,
06 hours and 01 minutes for Groupama III.
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Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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