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2008/02/07 - 09h15
Lying low
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| Jules Verne Trophy |
| As he announced yesterday shortly after having achieved the best ever time by a yacht to link Ushant to Cape Agulhas, to the
SE of Cape Town, as well as the equator to the same South African cape, the skipper of Groupama 3 has spent the night picking
his way across a difficult sea...
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You simply have to look at the performance of the giant trimaran to realise this, with speeds oscillating between 28 and
18 knots.
Climbing above 40° South in this Indian Ocean, which he is discovering as he goes along, Franck Cammas
is doing everything he can to preserve the boat, which we learnt yesterday has a delaminated central bulkhead on the aft beam.
With
wind on the beam, which is set to ease this afternoon, and whilst the seas are still very big, Groupama 3 is lying low.
And
yet light and powerful, the trimaran simply wants to accelerate.
However, with a 329 mile lead over the time of
the current Jules Verne Trophy holder, the crew is opting to play it careful and will certainly be looking forward to milder
sea conditions to consolidate the repairs.
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 Further details: What is Cape Agulhas?
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Since yesterday, the various communications broadcast refer a great deal to Cape Agulhas...
Situated to the
SE of the legendary Cape of Good Hope it is the official geographical reference, which marks the passage from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Indian Ocean.
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