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2007/07/24-20h49
The victory tour
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| New York - Lizard Point |
| From April to July, Groupama 3 has sailed a remarkable Atlantic tour, racking up four records from four attempts! Starting
out as an observer to validate the options of this 32 meter trimaran launched barely a year ago, this modern-day tour has
born witness to exceptional success and above all an extremely enriching array of experiences prior to the Jules Verne Trophy
scheduled for this coming winter...
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Faultless! The first record on the giant trimaran's programme was really an introduction as Groupama 3 only had a few thousand
miles on the clock and had had to carry out some work over the winter to reinforce some of the structural elements. It has
to be said that the innovative design of this 32 metre multihull was more inspired by the 60 foot Orma trimarans than the
previous maxi-multihulls, which were rather heavy and geared up for storms in the Deep South. Light, but moderately canvassed,
equipped with an open cockpit and a very airy deck layout, sober to the point of spartan in terms of interior fittings, Franck
Cammas' new boat and his crew clashed with the reference catamaran of the past few years, Orange 2...
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From Columbus to BarrFirst challenge on 24th April: an historic record following in the footsteps of Christopher Columbus, comprised a 3,884 miles
crossing between Cadiz (Spain) and San Salvador (Bahamas), the fastest of which was held by Steve Fossett. Groupama 3 wasn't
just going out to explode this reference time: above all else it was to confirm its extraordinary potential in the medium
winds reigning along this trade wind route. Groupama 3 improved on the record by two days, at an average of 21.7 knots over
7d 10hrs 58m 55s!
Following on from that, they had a short wait in Miami before commandeering the best time to New
York, devouring 947 miles in a bid to depose the American Steve Fossett and his giant catamaran PlayStation (2d 05hrs 54m
42s). Once again, Groupama 3 had just one crack of the whip at this course along the American coastline and managed to average
27 knots... The pace was set: Franck Cammas' crew was really beginning to understand the true scale of the green trimaran's
potential!
After over a month and a half on stand-by in New York, spirits were running high for the ten men on Groupama
3, who couldn't find the right weather window for this legendary record established for the first time by Charlie Barr in
1905! The cut-off point to find the right conditions was closing fast as the boat's schedule meant that they were required
to return to the boat's home port of Lorient, France before 25th July... A window of opportunity opened on the evening of
Thursday 19th July: a depression to hook onto, a zone of high pressure to race around and an unsettled zone to catch up with.
The scenario wasn't ideal but they had to head home in any case... And in the end, the start was excellent with flat seas
below the banks of Newfoundland: 794 miles in 24 hours, the port foil breaking under the strain! A lead of twenty-seven miles
over the distance covered by Bruno Peyron in July 2006... In the end the sequence of events proved favourable as they had
to adopt a slightly longer but a little faster trajectory to make Lizard Point after setting out from Ambrose Light: 4d 03hrs
57m 54s at an average speed of 28.65 knots. The upshot of this was a lead of 4hrs 26m over the catamaran Orange 2!
Mission
accomplished for Groupama 3, who perform a faultless first series of records, bringing to an end the validation phase prior
to the round the world target of less than fifty days, which is the next objective for Franck Cammas and his men over the
coming winter!
Franck Cammas, skipper of Groupama 3:
"We're ecstatic! It's great because it's
a real surprise in that we didn't set out with any huge ambitions: the weather was shifty and atypical of a record scenario...
We had to adopt an original trajectory, but it came off because we had a fast finish. Most important of all were the excellent
sensations to the extent that 800 miles in 24 hours would have been within reach if we hadn't broken the foil. We didn't expect
to get to this stage so quickly: these were our first records... And the Atlantic crossing was unquestionably the hardest
to crack! I feel very calm about the future and the round the world attempt this winter in particular: we really pushed the
boat which is something we won't do during the Jules Verne Trophy. There are fewer unknowns and a greater understanding now.
I'm fully confident about heading out again, which is a reflection on both the boat and the crew."
Jean-Yves
Bernot, router for Groupama 3:
"The start was the easiest bit, setting out with a depression across the American
coast providing steady breeze and flat seas. That took them as far as the banks of Newfoundland and gave them the record for
the greatest distance covered in 24 hours. We had fairly reliable forecasts on the journey nonetheless, with the chance to
foresee that a three to five hour lead over the previous record was possible as was the chance to exceed 800 miles in a single
day! It was an absolute textbook scenario... The difficulty came about by the transition between the American depression and
the edge of the zone of high pressure, carving a wide `m' across the Atlantic, in a bid to latch onto another depression which,
quite unusually was located off Greenland bound for the Channel. It was vital that they caught up with the new system at the
right time...
The record today is sailed in four and a half days rather than what would have been a week fifteen
years ago! As a result it is easier to predict the trajectories of the action centres. Added to that, the means of viewing
the weather have progressed enormously over the past ten years and all the routers and sailors alike, have learnt a great
deal. The mass of data is also fairly substantial and these days you have to sort through all the information rather than
track it down. It's important to note though that in the 80's, we broke a record by half a day or more; today you reckon on
two or three hours less on an attempt... The gains are more difficult to gauge as they are smaller!"
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