26.02.2010
JULES VERNE TROPHY
(CREWED ROUND THE WORLD VIA THE THREE CAPES)
Time to beat: 50 days 16 hours 20 minutes and 4 seconds
Groupama
Peaceful and Pacific
Sixty miles better in 24 hours: Groupama 3 is continuing to extend her lead
in relation to Orange 2’s course in 2005. The weather conditions remain
excellent for making fast and effortless headway towards Cape Horn, around
3,000 miles ahead on the same latitude…
This is beginning to become a habit. Indeed it’s been a week now that
Groupama 3 has been accumulating 650 to 750 mile days! 5,650 miles in eight
days, that is almost twice the distance of an Atlantic crossing… It just
goes to show then that the situation is also favourable for devouring the
Pacific, since Franck Cammas and his crew are now ahead of a front, which is
pursuing them, as was the case in the Indian Ocean. And should the
phenomenon continue as far as the tip of South America, this will give them
an added bonus to the 430 miles that the giant trimaran has already amassed
since Tasmania!
The days follow on…
“It’s dark but there is a beautiful moon. There’s a clear sky and it’s nice
to be able to see the stars… We hope to see the reflection of Antarctica in
the early hours as the moon falls below the horizon. We may even see the
aurora australis! We have between 22 and 25 knots of NW’ly wind and we’re
sailing under one reef mainsail and medium gennaker. It’s not overly cold,
we’re not wet and the water is still at 8°C: all’s well! The weather’s
superb… And we still have a rather pleasant sea state which is easy to
negotiate. We’re not going crazy!” said Ronan Le Goff at the 1130 UTC radio
session with Groupama’s Race HQ in Paris.
This is certainly the case but looking at their progress from land, this
pace seems incredibly fast along what has been an amazingly straight course
over the past eight days! Tracking along at 55° South, Groupama 3 is
ensuring that she’s keeping a long way away from the ice and, at that same
time, is able to reduce the distance to make Cape Horn. After Auckland
Island, which they just skirted on Thursday, there is no more land before
Drake’s Passage…
…in similar fashion
“We saw another island yesterday so we don’t really feel all alone in the
world. In addition, it’s not taking as long as all that! In five days time
we’re going to see land again… As regards icebergs, our navigator Stan Honey
has told us that we’re not going to pass through any zones of ‘ill repute’.
Of course the sky will soon become overcast since the front is catching up
with us, but that will enable us to stay in a stable NW’ly breeze for a good
while… There will be one to three gybes in store, but after that we’ll be on
a straight track towards Cape Horn.”
Life goes on and the ten men on Groupama 3 are punctuating their days with
hours spent on watch, sleeping or on stand-by, eating or talking in the “gas
corner”… Indeed the kitchen is the place to be for all the different
communities onboard who want to exchange thoughts and discuss all manner of
topics that are a far cry from the preoccupations of landlubbers. After 26
days at sea, the separation between those on the water and those on land is
perceptible and the day’s questions are more geared around the composition
of lunch or the recognition of seabirds than paying the electric bill…
“Life onboard is different on Groupama 3 in relation to Orange 2: for sure
there were two habitable hulls and it was more spacious and more comfortable
on Orange. However, despite there being less privacy on the trimaran, it’s
going very well. It really is a fine voyage, but we’ve seen fewer birds like
petrels, cape petrels and albatrosses over the past few days…”
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): 247 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 = 376 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): 751 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 = 60 miles)
Day 24 (24th February 1400 UTC): 638 miles (lead = 208 miles)
Day 25 (25th February 1400 UTC): 712 miles (lead = 371 miles)
Day 26 (26th February 1400 UTC): 687 miles (lead = 430 miles)
WSSRC record for the Pacific Ocean crossing (from the South of Tasmania to
Cape Horn)
Orange 2 (2005): 8d 18h 08'
Find all the latest about the Groupama trimarans on:
www.cammas-groupama.com
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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