22.03.2004
Geronimo between two carriages
[22 /3 /2004 ] Since yesterday morning, Geronimo has been trying to escape from the low pressure area that has propelled her very fast all the way from Africa and catch up with the next depression, centred over New Zealand. It’s rather as if the 11 Frenchmen on board were trying to jump onto the roof of the next railway carriage, since they are travelling faster than the weather systems. The rate of progress of these depressions over the Southern Ocean seems to be slowing down, so the trimaran has to jump from one system to the next in order to indextain speed. But between depressions, there’s often very little wind. What’s more, the high pressure systems in the region are unusually far south and stationary.
The weather specialists of the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric team see two possible solutions that could prevent the trimaran from losing too much ground. The first is a longer northerly option, whilst the second southerly option carries the usual risk of floating ice and is therefore not very inviting. As she waited, the trimaran covered 349 nautical miles point-to-point yesterday; 10% more than Orange managed on her Day 25, thus increasing Geronimo’s lead to over 1300 nautical miles. The best-ever Ushant to Cape Leeuwin time set on a Jules Verne Trophy attempt was that recorded last year by Geronimo. Its stands at 26 days, 4 hours and it looks as if the same trimaran will get very close to it again this year. At 23:18 last night, the Breton crew were still 65 nautical miles ahead of their previous time, but everything has slowed down since then...
DAY 25
GERONIMO (Cap Gemini / Schneider Electric)
49°41S - 103°3 E
349.25 nautical miles in 24 hours, at an average speed of 14.56 knots
Distance to the longitude of Cape Leeuwin: 448 nautical miles
Position of Orange on Day 25
45°13S - 69°50E
325.08 nautical miles in 24 hours
Distance to the longitude of Cape Leeuwin: 1,826 nautical miles
Press Relations
RIVACOM
Régis Rassouli
Tel : +33 (0) 2 98 43 21 50
regis@rivacom.fr
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