Groupama 3 back in her stride

The weather conditions and above all the sea state have become sufficiently manageable again for Groupama 3 to lengthen its stride downwind whilst remaining along 42° South. At an average of over thirty knots over the past few hours, her lead over the reference time has increased considerably…

Five knots better than Orange II over the past few hours, Groupama 3 is racing at full tilt again to the North of the Kerguelen Island, since the wind has shifted to the NW and filled in to over 25 knots... On port tack, the giant trimaran has been making headway since midday at over thirty knots on an E'ly heading, which will enable her to maintain a quick pace with temperatures still mild. “We gybed shortly before midday: we’re beginning to escape the ‘hell hole’ of the past three days and it’s the first time in a week that we’ve been able to slip along whilst being pushed by the waves. Beforehand, the gear was taking a real battering and it was hard for the crew too! The seas are now coming from the West and we have the right wind angle to be able to tackle it" announced Stève Ravussin at the radio session.

The forecasts for the next few days are rather encouraging since Franck Cammas and his nine crew will once again be able to reconcile a more ‘normal' life aboard with regular speeds in excess of thirty knots… This should be enough to enable them to quickly regain over a day’s room for manoeuvre on the record, like that Groupama 3 acquired prior to the Cape of Good Hope. The only glitch in this more attractive setting: the presence of two cyclones, between Madagascar and Australia, which may change course at any moment and plunge southwards!

Sylvain Mondon (Météo France), the onshore weather expert for Groupama 3, shares his views with us as regards this situation: “For the next few days, the waves will slow the boat down less. It is on port tack that Franck Cammas and his crew are continuing their course towards a steady N to NW’ly air flow generated by the disturbance, which is preceding them (low situated 400 miles to the East on Sunday morning). It is only midway between the Kerguelen Islands and Cape Leeuwin that Groupama 3 will catch up with this air flow, synonymous with faster progress and even less penalising waves. However, we’ll have to watch what happens in the tropical Indian Ocean as the cyclones (IVAN and HONDO) have been developing there for several days. At any moment, these systems may take a southern trajectory and combine with the disturbed air flow, which the maxi trimaran is currently sailing in. In this type of scenario, vigilance is imperative since the gusts which accompany such systems exceed 100 knots! Fortunately for us, the forecasts don’t seem to be panning out this way for the time being..."

As a result, 400 miles to the North of the Kerguelen Islands this Sunday afternoon, Groupama 3 will have to wait a little longer to bend its course towards the SE, which will enable her to reduce the number of miles to cover in order to circumnavigate the Antarctic. And at around 2,000 miles from the longitude of Cape Leeuwin (SW Australia), the giant trimaran is set to improve on the reference time established by Orange II between Cape Agulhas and the Australian promontory… In any event, it should pass this second historic cape less than three weeks after the start of the record attempt!

Interview from Stève Ravussin, watch leader and helmsman:

“The freeze dried food is good and for the time being it’s very conclusive. We're trying to make up some little aperitifs with the crew from pieces of gruyere cheese and thinly sliced dried beef, but last Thursday the seas were so big that we weren't able to have our little reunion. The past few days we haven’t even been able to sleep as conditions were making things so bumpy in the bunks and we had to lie down so as not to get thrown about by the impact of the waves. We’ve really been copping it for the past three days with seas like Raz Blanchard back home! Right now, we have cloudy skies with some sun and it is doing us the world of good. It’s still very wet outside so we stay below for as long as possible to read and listen to music. The seas change quickly here and we knew that a trimaran was going to be less at ease with chaotic seas like the ones we’ve had of late. We also knew we were going to lose some ground but we're not doing too badly. We’re going to have to stretch out our lead again over the coming hours...”

Live tracking of Groupama 3 is available here.