Geronimo - Olivier de Kersauson - Superyachting.com www.supersailing.com - Übersicht 12.06.2006 THE PACIFIC BELONGS TO GERONIMO It was at 00h43 GMT that the trimaran flying the colours of Capgemini and Schneider Electric crossed the finishing line for the Pacific record from West to East. After setting out from Yokohama in Japan on 29th May, Olivier de Kersauson and his crew of eight took 13 days 22 hours 38 minutes and 28 secs to carry out the 4482 miles of the voyage. They therefore beat the former record held by Bruno Peyron by 18 hours and 44 minutes. So after smashing Steve Fossett’s record from East to West the Capgemini/Schneider Electric team has just snatched away Bruno Peyron’s from West to East. They set sail with a window of opportunity that Olivier de Kersauson described as acceptable. Once away from the Japanese coast, which is clearly a disastrous area, the Capgemini/Schneider Electric trimaran began a crossing that was quite tough on the nerves. A tricky scenario On 2nd June having clocked up 1600 miles out of the 4450 necessary to cover the complete voyage (by great circle navigation) Olivier de Kersauson could take nothing for granted, as far as the weather all the way to San Francisco was concerned: «The crew are busy carrying out sail changes one after the other, and we’re dragging our feet in a wind that is almost directly aft in misty and thundery weather. The other low-pressure area that is following on behind is finding it difficult to catch us up. It doesn’t seem to be moving fast enough, but it could strengthen the one that we’re currently in, if it wanted to. Geronimo deserves better than these average speeds. We’re on direct course, but that’s about all I can say.» By 6th June, Geronimo had covered two thirds of the voyage and was making quiet headway, pushed along by the same shallow low-pressure area. «We’re sailing on a small front that isn’t very active. Normally, a low moves more quickly than that. Ahead of us lies an area of flat calm. Everything is moving slowly, so that means we are too. » However on 7th June with 1000 miles left to go to reach the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the weather looked like defying the forecasts, offering one more difficulty for the final stretch. A huge high-pressure area had appeared stretching along the North American coast. Olivier de Kersauson talked about 400 miles of calm with 150 being particularly tricky. They had to wait for the night of 10th June to get out of it, after 48 hours of average speeds that they could hardly admit to. They finally picked up some wind and could cross the finishing line. Never again! It was with a huge unstoppable laugh that Olivier de Kersauson finished his radio report just before crossing the line, when he was asked what he would do if someone smashed his record. «I think I’d get sick. They can do it if they want. Not me ever again. I can put up with difficult times, but I never want to go through that again.» This is how the skipper of Geronimo summed up his thirteen days at sea. « You can’t control the conditions. The weather forecasts are given every six hours and in six hours everything can change dramatically in this area. So you have to do what you can with the situation. You can’t plan ahead. That sounds quite nice, getting carried along by things is part of the attraction of our job. However for our nerves, it’s quite stressful, especially when the weather is all over the place. In thirty years of sailing, I think we have a good idea of what it is like out on the water in many regions of the world. I’d say that here we have an idea, but it’s not exactly clear! Of all our campaigns, this has to be the most inauspicious. Carrying out projects in regions where few yachtsmen have been is a project that came from our partners Capgemini and Schneider Electric, who wanted to put in place global campaigns. It’s interesting and up until now all the records have been just great. But the coast of Japan I can do without. You can understand why the country reindexed cut off from the rest of the world for so long. The weather is incomprehensible. On board we kept thinking of the heavy three-masters stuck in this torment. It must have been an unbearable puzzle.» The crew: Olivier de Kersauson Didier Ragot Jean Charles Corre Lucas Zamecnik Xavier Douin Antoine Deru Philippe Laot Mat Bryant Christopher Links Geronimo’s records (2005/2006) May 2006 Yokohama / Hong Kong 1650 Miles 4d 17h 47m 23s April 2006 San Francisco / Yokohama 4482 Miles 14d 22h 40m 41s July 2005 Round Australia 6500 Miles 17d 12h 57m 5s August 2005 Sydney Tahiti (Papeete) 3298 Miles 13d 8h 25m 56s November 2005 Transpacific (Los Angeles / Honolulu) 2215 Miles 4d 19h 31m 37s Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE