Tuesday, February 23, 2010

From one ocean to another...

Jules Verne Trophy

Still maintaining the high speeds that have coloured the past five days, Franck Cammas and his nine crew should make their entry into the Pacific Ocean tonight. In so doing Groupama 3 is set to pocket the record for the passage from Cape Agulhas to Tasmania in a time of under nine days. Furthermore, with the favourable weather conditions set to last, the coming days are likely to be just as fast.

Groupama 3 is on the point of collecting her first trophy of this Jules Verne! Indeed this round the world sprint has also provided the crew with the opportunity to beat three other records recognised by the WSSRC (World Sailing Speed Record Council), the official body in charge of validating the best times under sail. It is also hoped that the prize haul will include the record passage across the Indian Ocean (Orange 2: 9d 11h 04'), that of the passage across the Pacific Ocean (Orange 2: 8d 18h 08') and that from the equator back to the equator (Orange 2: 33d 16h 06').

"We're monitoring our progress in relation to Orange 2 and even though she's not a direct opponent, we're looking at her virtual wake. We knew that under Australia we were going to make up our deficit as Bruno Peyron and his crew had to put in several gybes with some slower phases. However, they traversed the Pacific very quickly... It will be difficult to maintain the same average speed as far as Cape Horn. If we have a bit of a lead at that stage that wouldn't be bad: theoretically the climb up the Atlantic should enable us to claw back the time!" said Fred Le Peutrec at the 1130 UTC radio link-up with Groupama's Race HQ in Paris.

At the end of 23 days at sea then, Groupama 3 has been tracking ahead of the reference time for some ten days and lamenting a deficit for thirteen days... Right now Franck Cammas' aim is to commit to the Pacific with a lead of several hours over the record pace. - Find all the latest news from the Groupama trimarans at: