Geronimo to leave Brest tomorrow.
24 February 17:15
The Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran will leave the Brest arsenal tomorrow to arrive at the Jules Verne Trophy start line at around midday. She will cross the line as quickly as possible, the actual time depending on the latest weather forecasts.
After her earlier touch-and-go departure in less than perfect weather and her express return for modifications to her new foresails, Geronimo and her crew are now ready to leave once more in pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy. With a much more predictable weather pattern, this new opportunity looks more promising than the first. Nevertheless, attacking this record is always fraught with risk: a challenge against the elements, technology and powerful competitors...
23.02.2003
Geronimo ready to go.
Now moored in the Brest arsenal, the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran is ready to restart her attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy.
Her sails have been repaired and modified, so she is 100% ready for a new attempt on the record. Some twenty technicians worked flat-out all weekend at the sail loft to return Geronimo’s suit of sails to racing condition.
The boat herself has been fully checked, with detailed inspections of the rigging, structure and hulls. All of which have revealed no significant problem and the entire trimaran has now been declared fit for immediate racing service.
A promising weather window is now forecast for the middle of this week. The sustained northerly airstream should reinstate the trade winds which have been completely absent to the south of the Canaries. The skipper and his weather team have been following this developing picture very closely and it seems that it could signal the possible imminent departure of Geronimo in pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy.
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