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2008/02/01 - 17h37
Groupama 3 at the Zenith
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| Jules Verne Trophy |
| Whilst she had already passed 20° South this Friday afternoon, Groupama 3 was beginning to bend its course towards South Africa.
The tradewinds have continued to fill in since their passage of the equator and the trimaran has racked up a day at over 680
miles! Heat, squalls and a good atmosphere characterise this eighth day at sea...
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Hanging a left: Franck Cammas and his crew are beginning to follow the access road, which links the `Saint Helena ringroad'
to the `Southern expressway'! The traffic is flowing smoothly despite the proximity of the weekend and there's no indication
of any traffic jams off Rio de Janeiro. Groupama 3 seems to have avoided the rush hours...but not the speed cameras
since it has already been `flashed' making nearly 32 knots this Friday morning! It should be emphasised that there are no
speed restrictions in the South Atlantic and the giant trimaran has made the most of this to rack up 685 miles in 24 hours,
extending its lead over Orange II to 680 miles!
"We're making more and more speed: there are a fair
number of squalls around so you really have to keep an eye on the situation. The seas are beginning to build. The tradewinds
are slowly shifting to the left, but under one reef mainsail and solent jib, we haven't yet begun to bend our course inwards.
This should happen this afternoon and we'll probably have to hoist the gennaker: I think we'll make easting in two stages,
a spell making due South then, with the arrival of a low, a long tack towards South Africa. Once we've caught onto the W'ly
winds of the Deep South, we should be on our way then for a sprint of fifteen days or less to Cape Horn! However, this initial
depression system will escape and we'll have to wait for the next lows to come around: it won't be an easy drive down the
expressway to Cape Town. Our aim will be to remain at the edge of these phenomena so as not to suffer too big a sea. In the
meantime though, we'll have to make southing to hook onto this front" recounted Franck Cammas at the telephone session
this Friday.
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Directly beneath the sunThese high speeds are not preventing life onboard from settling into its own rhythm and schedules, framed by the watches,
the meals, the rests.. and the apéritifs! "Yesterday evening, we made up our weekly apéritif with thinly sliced dried
beef, cheese from the Savoie region, savoury pancakes, all washed down with a small bottle of Cheval Blanc... It's the first
time I've done that aboard a race boat! As the course is a long distance one and you have to know how to take a break away
from the pace to boost the team spirits, it's a good idea for everyone to get together in the cockpit, especially as its rather
warm..." This goes to show that the rhythm of these long haul trips isn't the same as the express ones. This is the
case not simply due to the condition of the boat being crucial, but also the physical shape and motivation of the crew, which
have to be subject to such high average speeds for very long periods of time, without damaging the boat's potential or overly
stressing the crew.
All this is rather a novelty for the skipper Franck Cammas who has already, at the latitude
of Rio de Janeiro, largely exceeded his personal best distance covered during his solo or double-handed transatlantic races.
And on this 1st February, the crew were also able to observe that the sun was directly overhead, at the solar midday: not
a shadow possible when the sun is directly at its zenith in the throes of the austral summer...! Slowly though, or rather
rapidly given the weather forecasts, the temperatures will drop, the winds will strengthen and the seas will build, for at
the end of this bracing second weekend at sea, the roaring 40's will put in an appearance! After just ten days at sea... The
Groupama 3 team are indeed the `time shrinkers'!
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