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2008/02/08 - 18h20
Stowaway
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| Jules Verne Trophy |
| The loss of miles in relation to the reference time over the past three days has finally been stopped since sunrise and Groupama
3 has been stabilising the gap, despite some still difficult sea conditions. A welcome addition to the crew has come in the
form of an albatross, which has spent a few hours aboard resting!
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Since the passage of the equator, the distance between the virtual position of Orange II and the actual position of Groupama
3 has yoyoed: from 60 miles at the Canaries, the lead stretched to over 200 miles at Cape Verde, 400 miles at the equator
and 650 miles off Brazil, then dropping to less than 400 miles at the Cape of Good Hope, barely over 300 miles yesterday and
only 200 miles this Friday morning! As is the case at the casino, it is easier to lose than to win and with this weather lottery,
the roulette wheel has certainly been spinning in the wrong direction... However, the crew aboard the giant trimaran are dealing
well with the situation and, though they will have to remain patience for a good half day yet, they are remaining confident
about the coming conditions. These should enable the boat to slip along on a long W'ly swell of the Indian Ocean in a fine
downwind breeze from this weekend! The haemorrhage has therefore been limited and it hasn't dampened the spirits of the crew,
which were surprised last night by the landing of a stowaway!
"We're making headway in seas, which are still
big, but they're calming a little. We're still in this swell for 24 hours, but it's better than yesterday. There was a stowaway
in the night: an albatross... It probably landed in the darkness and we didn't spot it: it stayed until this morning! We threw
it into the air so that it would take off again. He wasn't very big, with a fine yellow beak and bright white feathers. Maybe
he landed because he was tired or maybe he got caught up on a shroud. He couldn't take off all on his own... It's very wild
and very rare to see them land, but we didn't have the time to ring it!" remarked Franck Cammas at today's radio
session.
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Crozet boundAlready to the North of the Prince Edward and Marion Islands (47° South - 36° East), Groupama 3 is continuing to sail abeam
of the wind in a fine twenty knots or so of S'ly, which is easing gently. At the Eastern edge of a zone of high pressure,
Franck Cammas and his nine crew are witnessing the progressive improvement of the sailing conditions and they have building
W'ly winds in store for them this weekend. Still situated at 39° South this Friday afternoon, the giant trimaran will finally
be able to bend its route in towards the SE to plunge between Crozet Island and the Kerguelen Islands and reposition itself
at 45° South. The distance gained over the course will therefore quickly be shorter since you can circle the Earth in a few
seconds at the poles, whilst you need a lot more time at the equator!
"The wind is complicated at the moment
with 15 to 25 knots in the gusts. We are sailing with two reefs in the mainsail and staysail... We're making 28 knots on one
wave and at the bottom we're only making 15 knots! The wind will become a little bit more stable during the day and we're
beginning to slip along a little further South. The W'ly wind will kick in again from tomorrow, as far as the Kerguelen Islands
where we'll be able to gybe... It is pretty unusual nonetheless to have wind on the beam for 50 hours in the Indian Ocean..."
confirmed the skipper of Groupama 3.
In this way, the rhythm will pick up again for a fair while as the circulation
of the depression systems along 45° South, seem to be continuous over the next few days. Of course the temperature of the
air will drop, of course we'll have to be more careful at the helm to negotiate the more abrupt waves, of course we'll have
to play the wind rotations well to cover the minimum number of miles around Antarctica. However, after this unexpected section
in the Indian Ocean, the crew will really enter into the Deep South, where they'll remain until Cape Horn... A change of life,
a change of atmosphere, a change of sky and above all a change of gear! Containing its 200 mile lead, Groupama 3 should in
this way reconstruct its cushion of advance as Orange II wasn't as quick three years ago, till she entered the Pacific...
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