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2010/02/03-08h07
Tradewind transition
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| Jules Verne Trophy 2009 - 2010 |
| Franck Cammas and his men have managed to smoothly skirt around the low over Madeira and have only been gently slowed off
the Canaries. With a lead of nearly 150 miles over the reference time this Wednesday morning, the routing has been confirmed
as favourable as far as the equator.
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It has been fast work reversing the trend! After two and a half days at sea, Groupama 3 has now racked up a big lead
over Orange 2 and the separation is set to increase still further this Wednesday, as the weather situation is proving to be
more favourable than forecast. Traversing the low pressure off Madeira went according to the initial scenario with a N'ly
wind of up to thirty knots on relatively manageable seas. This enabled Franck Cammas and his nine crew to maintain an average
speed of nearly thirty knots for almost the whole night...
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Hooking onto the tradewindsThe current trajectory is corresponding well with the forecasts and continues to be very straight towards the Cape Verde archipelago,
which the giant trimaran is set to reach some time tonight... However, despite Groupama 3 being positioned over a hundred
miles to the West of the Canaries, she did suffer a temporary drop in pace at around 0200 hours UTC as a result of the disturbed
air created by the land. The alert was only momentary though as the NW'ly wind hung in for longer than forecast. This Wednesday
Groupama 3 will have to traverse a ridge of high pressure, which is the result of the transition between the low filling in
behind her and the tradewinds which are moving in off Cape Blanc in Mauritania.
With the moon still very bright
and the skies clearing midway through the night, Franck Cammas and his men will have ideal conditions for making headway:
good visibility, organised seas, steady downwind conditions with around twenty knots of breeze and rising temperatures. The
rotation of the wind from the NW to the NE will be slow during this third day at sea and a final gybe is scheduled before
reaching the Doldrums (situated between 5° and 3° North) from Friday onwards...
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