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2008/02/09 - 17h26
First third
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| Jules Verne Trophy |
| On this seventeenth day at sea, Groupama 3 has already covered a third of the course around the globe and is managing to hold
onto a small lead over the reference time. These two pieces of good news are added to the fact that a SW'ly wind rotation
should kick in over the coming hours, a shift which will be favourable for a long descent towards the furious fifties...
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Franck Cammas and his crew have paid their share to the Indian Ocean and can now invest in the long term... As Orange
II climbed up and down like the Stock Exchange at around 45° three years ago, Groupama 3 has instead begun a fine parabola
towards the foaming summits. In the hours which follow this Saturday lunchtime radio session, the giant trimaran will take
off whilst Bruno Peyron's crew were floundering at this time in some variable fluctuations as far as the Kerguelen Islands...
Patience is the mother of safety and the sailors will finally be able to jump into action and rack up figures with several
zeros on the end... The reasons for this are that Franck Cammas and his nine crew will adopt a more productive route to the
benefit of an anticipated speed calculation over 24 hours, which will culminate in nearly 600 mile daily averages throughout
the week...
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Hanging a rightAfter having absorbed the impact of some rather big seas on the hip, as well as suffering from a very bumpy ride due to the
combination of a very strong S'ly swell and a very variable high pressure breeze, things have now stabilised since the start
of the weekend: the breeze is slowly shifting to the right and Groupama 3 can finally slip along quicker, further and lower
towards the Kerguelen Islands. Indeed a low will bring along its share of rain, clouds and low temperature, as well as wind,
most importantly. This breeze will initially pass to the SW at 20-25 knots, then to the W at 25-30 knots on Sunday morning,
before returning to the SW at 35-40 knots at the end of the weekend... Do up your foulies nice and tight, its going to get
wet and seriously blustery as the wind swings round!
The course over 40° South that Groupama 3 has been forced to
endure since passing the Cape of Good Hope, will therefore curve slowly inwards towards 50° South so as to shorten the distance
to sail around the Antarctic. Already though, Franck Cammas and his men have covered the first third of the race against the
clock with over 8,000 miles on the speedo, whilst the weather conditions have not been particularly favourable. But how much
does three times seventeen days come to... ?
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