Jules Verne Trophy 2009-2010. Groupama 3 has been able to lengthen her stride since the latitude of Porto.
With the gradual rotation of the wind from the NW to the NE off the coast of Portugal, Groupama 3’s course has curved to accelerate: in a few hours time Franck Cammas and his crew will gybe to make for the equator on a single tack.
After a harsh first day to escape the Bay of Biscay, Groupama 3 has been able to lengthen her stride since the latitude of Porto: the giant trimaran has already made up two thirds of her deficit on the 2005 reference time and between now and the end of today, she’ll be ahead of Bruno Peyron’s record. Indeed, Orange 2 had some difficulty in negotiating the Canaries archipelago whilst Groupama 3 will benefit from a NE’ly tradewind system which is in the process of strengthening to up to 25 knots and more. In addition, Franck Cammas and his nine crew will avoid passing close to the archipelagos of Madeira and the Canaries, which cause a massive disturbance in the flow of wind due to their imposing land mass.
As such it promises to be a good weekend for the giant trimaran! A regular following sea, a NE’ly wind enabling her to sail under full mainsail and gennaker, temperatures which are already summery and above all a direct course southwards… Off Madeira, the trimaran will be reaching average speeds which are likely to exceed thirty knots. The Canaries are on tonight’s programme this Saturday and Cape Verde is scheduled for Sunday… As a result Franck Cammas and his crew should be within the record time from this evening and ahead from the end of the weekend. The weather window for setting off on the Jules Verne Trophy record remains excellent despite the rather unfavourable departure from Ushant in big winds and sea.
