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2010/02/19-16h58
Shooting across the Indian
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| Jules Verne Trophy 2009 - 2010 |
| The miles have been streaming by since Thursday lunchtime: 763.4 miles across the water in 24 hours at an average of 31.8
knots! The stable W to NW'ly wind is enabling Groupama 3 to maintain a constant speed thanks to a sea, which remains manageable
for a thirty metre long trimaran. The deficit in relation to the reference time has shrunk away to less than 240 miles...
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Time is ticking by! After amassing a deficit of over 430 miles following 18 days at sea at 1400 UTC on Thursday, the time
spent in the Indian Ocean was beginning to drag for Franck Cammas and his nine crew. However, having now succeeded in getting
ahead of the front circulating around the Roaring Forties as it shifts quickly across towards Tasmania, Groupama 3 has finally
clawed back some miles this Friday. And as this wind-fuelled boost of speed is set to continue as far as the Pacific, the
deficit on Orange 2 will be recovered over the course of the weekend, transforming into a lead at the start of the third ocean...
However the sailing conditions are particularly wet for now...
"We're going to unfurl the heavy gennaker as
the NW'ly wind is easing off a little. In fact we're switching between the solent jib when there's 30-35 knots and the small
gennaker when there's no more than 27-32 knots of breeze. We're really copping it at the helm... It's raining a lot and there
are big seas. That's why we're avoiding sending anyone up to the foredeck. I prefer a helmet but some of the others are wearing
ski masks to stand up to the spray as it slaps against your face. Fortunately the water isn't cold..." stated Fréd
Le Peutrec, at the 1130 UTC radio link-up with Groupama's Race HQ in Paris.
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Constant speedThe current script for this round the world sprint began at midday on Thursday and is continuing to record some incredible
average speeds for a `normal' sailor: 32, 33, 34, or even 36, 37 knots. Such a pace doesn't seem to be unsettling the crew
of Groupama 3 who are confident in the boat's structure, which isn't suffering impact from the sea. Furthermore this tempo
with over 700 mile days across the water should last the whole weekend, or even longer! Indeed from Sunday evening, the giant
trimaran should pass the longitude of Cape Leeuwin (SW Australia), and by Tuesday Tasmania will already be in their wake...
A crossing of the Indian Ocean in a little more than eight days in prospect then! Should this prove to be the case, the crew
will have a good handful of miles on the reference time and look set to explode the WSSRC record between Cape Agulhas and
Southern Tasmania, set by Orange 2 in a time of 9d 11h 04'...
"We look to be on target to maintain this pace
as far as Tasmania, or even as far as New Zealand. We may have to put in a few gybes to reposition ourselves, but the trajectory
will remain very straight, in contrast to Orange 2 in 2005... For 48 hours, we're still going to be pushed along by this thirty
knot wind, then it will ease a little but the W'ly breeze will accompany us as far as the Pacific. Furthermore, if the depression
stagnating over Auckland Island evacuates, we won't have any real transition to negotiate at that point, which would be quite
good!"
By passing over 200 miles to the North of the Kerguelen Islands, the continental shelf hasn't altered
the sea state, which has remained orientated in the direction of the wind. This has enabled Groupama 3's helmsmen, currently
taking turns at the helm every half hour, to benefit from the waves to power up. Franck Cammas and his men still haven't seen
any landfall since leaving Ushant as the giant trimaran's course hasn't taken them close to the austral islands. However there
are numerous seabirds around...
"It's soaking both outdoors and in, both on the inside and the outside of
our foulies! The levels of humidity have reached 100% and the heating doesn't work... As such there isn't a little corner
by the `fireplace', despite Ronan's best efforts to fix the problem. Fortunately it's fairly mild since we're on the southern
edge of a zone of high pressure, with wind dropping down off Africa. We're being tailed by petrels and albatrosses..."
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