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2008/02/05 - 17h36
Light patch?
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| Jules Verne Trophy |
| Whilst the Cape of Good Hope is shaping up on the horizon, the atmosphere aboard Groupama 3 was less serene this Tuesday lunchtime
with the reading of the weather reports... Forced to remain on a fairly N'ly course, Franck Cammas and his nine crew will
not simply extend their course but also stumble into a zone of high pressure!
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23 hours separate Orange II and Groupama 3 in the space of three years! Bruno Peyron's maxi-catamaran `virtually' passed
along the same trajectory as the giant trimaran this Tuesday at 0800 UT with a deficit of 590 miles... This is good news since
Franck Cammas and his men have thus saved two and a half hours on the reference time since their passage of the equator, despite
a succession of gybes slowing their pace. Indeed, though the averages have grazed and even exceeded an average of 27 knots
over the past two days, the trimaran has extended its course by performing successive hooks to the SW to get clear of the
pitfalls of the Saint Helena High. Bruno Peyron's catamaran didn't have to resolve such problems, instead scribing a perfect
curve from the equator to 40 degrees at equivalent speeds. Result: more route at the same speed and Groupama 3's room for
manoeuvre has been reduced by 80 miles in half a day...
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Hope at the Cape of Good Hope?Nevertheless, like all sailors, their eyes are on their bow and not on their wake! And in fact the situation has become complicated
by entering the Indian Ocean on Wednesday afternoon. Franck Cammas and his nine crew will find a low pressure system which,
unfortunately, won't last very long! Indeed, a zone of high pressure has just slipped under the African continent and will
catch the multihull up, providing light S'ly and then N'ly winds in this landscape swept by swells, which come alternately
from the NW and the SW. The multihull and its crew are expecting a big shake-up!
"We are sailing in 25 knots of
W'ly wind: we had to reposition ourselves a few times last night but the seas are 15°C and coming from the right direction.
It's also very nice outside, even though it's grey with a front coming from the South, which will serve up a bit of a chill.
We're expecting a final rotation of the breeze to gybe, as the wind will head and pass to the SW so we can then make E'ly...
Next though we'll be blocked between a big sea and a header wind... We'll be forced to remain on a fairly N'ly course whilst
we await the next front! It's not a very joyful forecast... The passage across the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope is still
scheduled for late afternoon on Wednesday, but above all else we're trying to manage what will happen afterwards... We'll
have to go South at some point!" indicated Franck Cammas
The forecast for the next few `Indian' days are
therefore not very optimistic and Franck Cammas reacted to this during the radio session this Tuesday lunchtime. However,
Groupama 3 has already proven in its descent of the Atlantic, that it is still extremely fast in breezes in excess of ten
knots. It also remains to be seen if this zone of high pressure will stay in place under the Cape of Good Hope as it expands
or if it will get pushed by a new depression, which is expected on Thursday evening to the South of Cape Town. In the first
instance, the sluggish pace could eat away Groupama 3's lead over the reference time; in the second, this little 'light patch'
could just be a scratch on the spirits of a crew, who don't yet seem to have consumed a single slice of its confidence capital!
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