Just a few hours from New Year and for the second time since the start of their stand-by initiated on 6th December 2007, Franck
Cammas and his nine man crew have passed onto Code Orange. A change of colour, which is synonymous with a possible departure
on the Jules Verne Trophy within the next four days.
"Fronts, Wind and Pressure planned January 3 at 12:00 UT "
Very carefully scanning
a favourable weather window for Groupama 3 to set off on its first Round the World, the skipper of the maxi-trimaran and its
weather cell (Franck Proffit, Yves Parlier and Sylvain Mondon) have gone for a departure on Thursday 3rd January.
Sylvain Mondon, forecaster for safety at sea at Météo France and shore expert for Groupama 3, reveals this latest opportunity
to us:
"The gap which is currently presenting itself is a good window since in theory it provides a very fine course time as
far as the equator. However it also promises a tricky exit from the Bay of Biscay. The idea of the departure configuration
is to end up ahead of a depression, which is dropping down into the Bay and then round to the North of it. In this way, Groupama
3 will benefit from downwind conditions of around twenty knots of E to SE'ly over the first few hours of racing, followed
by 30 to 35 knots of NW'ly. This depression will be associated with big to very big seas, with forecasts of 4 to 5 metre
troughs in the Bay of Biscay. Over the coming days, our work will consist of monitoring the evolution of the depression's
trajectory, as well as that of a ridge of high pressure, which is currently stretching out from the Azores High off Madeira."
If the weather conditions currently being observed on the start zone remain, Groupama 3 may well leave
it's home port of Lorient, SW Brittany on Wednesday 2nd January towards the end of the afternoon bound for the line, situated
off Ushant.
A new countdown has begun then for the Groupama team.... But a code yellow has yet to follow (departure
- 48h) then a code green (departure - 24h) prior to casting off for real!
