Groupama 3 iväg!
They’re off!
Jules Verne Trophy
15h 50′ 22”: Groupama 3 set off from off the Créac’h lighthouse (Ushant Finistère) in a good NW’ly breeze and big seas. Franck Cammas and his nine crew will have to be back from their circumnavigation of the globe spanning over 24,000 miles, prior to the morning of 26th December…
A granulated sky, gusts, intermittent showers, setting sun, big Atlantic swell, squalls, breaking waves: here we have the setting for this latest departure to gain a new reference time in the Jules Verne Trophy, the round the world record held by Bruno Peyron and his crew since 2005 (50d 16h 20m). Groupama 3 left the pontoon of the port of Le Château in Brest, NW France this Thursday 5th November at 1300 hours before a warm crowd of locals and the crew’s families, which came out as far as the Petit Minou lighthouse to bid them farewell. Under two-reefed mainsail and a small jib, Groupama 3 then released her tow at 1400 hours and headed out to sea in a building swell… As such the giant trimaran had to put in a few tacks to get to the North of Ushant before setting the clock running at 15h 50′ 22” UT.A muscly introduction
The NW’ly wind associated with the low, which passed over Brittany on Wednesday, was still very active: the stormy sky with its cumulonimbus was generating a twenty to twenty-five knot breeze, gusting to over thirty-five knots… Above all though, the seas were hard at the exit from the English Channel with waves of nearly seven metres offshore! As such conditions weren’t ideal for the start, but the next stage in the programme is highly favourable, once the crew reaches the Portuguese coast. As a result, for half a day, Franck Cammas and his nine crew are likely to be tackling beam winds and may even have to sail close-hauled for a few hours…“We’re going to set off under reduced sail to get free of the continental shelf. After that this NW’ly wind will shift round to the West for three hours at which point we’ll have to sail close-hauled. It’s not the ideal scenario for starting out, however the weather window is pretty favourable after that. In fact, from tomorrow lunchtime, Friday, Groupama 3 should already be sailing along the coast of Portugal. At that stage we’ll hit some N’ly and then NE’ly winds, which are set to accompany us to the archipelago of Cape Verde” indicated Franck Cammas a few minutes after leaving the pontoon.
The crew didn’t appear to be concerned about this choppy introduction to proceedings: being in a position to head out early in the season, not to have to hang around waiting for a favourable “firing window”, just after a preparation session in the mountains at the end of October, and knowing that the aim of the record is for the crew to be back before Christmas, all makes for a serene departure.”We’re going to be shaken about at the exit from the English Channel because the seas are big, but that makes for a good introduction before we slip southwards. It’ll be hot from this weekend, we’ll be at the equator in the middle of next week and the Southern Atlantic appears to be willing to enable us a swift passage”> explained Lionel Lemonchois.
As such Groupama 3 must cross the finish line off Ushant before 26th December at 08h 09′ 26” (UT)…
A tour of the weather
“Groupama 3 is setting off as the NW’ly wind is easing slightly to 25 knots with gusts at 35 knots and a reduction in the number of squalls: the storms have dissipated. Nevertheless, it is important to remain prudent as the big seas are set to last for a few more hours yet, due largely to a big NW’ly swell. The crew will have to deal with these tricky conditions right the way across the Bay of Biscay, because although the wind will continue to ease and it will be less gusty, there will still be big seas until Friday morning. As such the exit from the Bay of Biscay will be all the trickier as a result of a cold front moving in from the West, which will come face to face with Franck Cammas and his crew in the second part of the night. The approach of this front will cause the wind to shift round to the West as it becomes less steady, before clocking back round to the NW again on Friday morning. The main reason that Franck Cammas and his crew have opted to tackle such conditions is in order to be in a position to exploit some much more favourable conditions further along the track, in particular those level with the NE’ly tradewinds off Portugal and further to the South”. Sylvain Mondon from Météo France
Nov 6, 2009 @ 18:01
2009/11/06 – 16h49
Already off Spain
Jules Verne Trophy
Groupama 3 had reached Cape Finisterre this Friday lunchtime. As such Franck Cammas and his nine crew were set to rack up over 500 miles in 24 hours midway through the afternoon, which remains a good average speed for this first day in predominantly beam winds and close-hauled conditions. The downwind conditions along the Portuguese coast should enable them to quickly make up their deficit in relation to the reference time.
In 2005, Bruno Peyron and his crew set out from Ushant on their successful Jules Verne Trophy campaign with some highly favourable conditions to escape the Bay of Biscay and benefit from the Portuguese tradewinds. In this way, the giant catamaran was able to cover nearly 600 miles on its first day. This won’t be the case for Groupama 3, but this was already part of the plan on leaving Brest. Indeed, by setting out in a strong NW’ly breeze and, most strikingly, pitted against big, highly chaotic seas with waves in excess of 6 metres, the giant trimaran didn’t have a hope of reaching an average of more than twenty knots.
“The wind frequently switched direction on this first night at sea, which meant that we weren’t constantly able to carry the optimum amount of sail area on Groupama 3. We thought we were free of this phenomenon this morning, but right now the wind still has a tendency to shift 40°… The true NW’ly wind should return soon at which point we’ll be able to pick up speed over the course of the afternoon. In any case, we couldn’t take any risks with the start and for the time being all’s well! We’ve just broken a helmsman’s helmet, but it’s already been repaired…” indicated Franck Cammas during the radio link-up this Friday lunchtime.
Nov 7, 2009 @ 12:07
Bara en sprucken hjälm, ingen fara:-) Man undrar ju om det var ett huvud i hjälmen när den sprack. I så fall var det ju bra att han/hon hade hjälmen på sig.
Nov 7, 2009 @ 17:48
Det här blir kul att följa http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne2009/?lg=en plus att man kan få in vädret upp till 36 timmar framåt. Så kan man sitta o fundera över deras vägväl…
Nov 7, 2009 @ 19:54
Det går att utmana proffsen hemifrån. Det kallas visst “Armchair adventure” ;-)
http://www.virtualregatta.com/index_julesverne.php
Nov 7, 2009 @ 17:56
Dagens video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNQq4oeX-Ec
Nov 7, 2009 @ 20:02
Satt för några timmar sedan o funderade på när de skulle börja falla – o nu har de gjort det! Tagit in 10 mil på två timmar.
Nov 8, 2009 @ 19:12
Press release of the 2009/11/08
2009/11/08 – 17h47
708 miles in 24 hours
Jules Verne Trophy
In a single day, Groupama 3 has succeeded not only in making up yesterday’s deficit on the reference time, but also gaining almost a day on the course adopted by Bruno Peyron in 2005! It’s been an excellent weekend for all Franck Cammas’ crew with over 700 miles covered over the past 24 hours.
First of all, Stan Honey is a lot better. Groupama 3’s navigator has been taken in hand by the crew and thanks to dried Swiss meat and a highly favourable weather situation, the American has been able to get on with his work at the chart table in the best possible conditions. The trimaran is also on a favourable course for tackling the Doldrums from Monday evening… In fact, this is the latest objective for Franck Cammas’ crew, who haven’t had as easy a day as all that despite the supersonic speeds this Sunday: the trimaran has managed to rack up nearly 708 miles in 24 hours!
“Stan is resting, but fortunately he’s feeling a lot better. I think it was partly due to the exhaust fumes from the engine but he also has a problem with one ear: he’s taken some Swiss potions and he’s doing well…” indicated Stève Ravussin at the midday radio link-up this Sunday.
Point of contact
Since gybing on Saturday evening, Groupama 3 has been able to trace a straight course towards the S-SE at a regular speed, pushed along by tradewinds varying in strength between 22 and 35 knots beneath the squalls. These weather conditions necessitated a lot of effort from the crew who constantly had to adapt the sail area to make good speed in safety: “it’s very wet but it’s nice! Nevertheless, we did have to carry out a fair number of manoeuvres last night with squalls and gusts up to 36 knots… Added to that the short seas made for an exciting ride: we went down to two reefs in the mainsail and Solent! We clocked up some top speeds of 42 knots, but it wasn’t our aim to go very fast; our main focus is making good headway…” confirmed the watch leader.
In fact, the trajectory is very pure with a course of 210° enabling them to retain some distance from the Cape Verde archipelago so as not to suffer from the wind shadow caused by these volcanic islands. Sylvain Mondon from Météo France has explained that the tradewinds are much in evidence as far as 20° North and that the trimaran’s trajectory is likely to bend southwards slightly once they’re around the archipelago. On the approach to the Doldrums, the NE’ly wind is set to ease and the difficulty for the skipper, the navigator and the onshore router lies in correctly defining the optimum zone for traversing this magma of shifty winds… Logically, a way through is likely to be located between 24° and 27° West, but from Monday morning the crew are going to need to choose the exact point of contact as any change of course in the light airs can be highly disadvantageous…
Upside down
After three days at sea Groupama 3, which had racked up a deficit on the Jules Verne reference time of some 115 miles at most, has turned the whole situation around! Since gybing off Madeira on Saturday after two days’ sailing, the crew have been devouring the miles and it’s with a lead of nearly a day that the trimaran is now tackling Cape Verde… It should be highlighted that Orange 2 didn’t have a very good day as they exited the Canaries and they even strayed off course in the Cape Verde archipelago the following day. As such, Franck Cammas and his nine crew had a lead of over 270 miles this Sunday afternoon in relation to Bruno Peyron’s course in 2005; that is a margin of nearly a day! For Monday, it is highly likely that they will be ahead by a day and a half, so at this rate, the equator may well be crossed in less than six days this coming Wednesday…
The crew and organisation aboard Groupama 3
• Watch No.1: Franck Cammas / Loïc Le Mignon / Jacques Caraës
• Watch No.2: Stève Ravussin / Thomas Coville / Bruno Jeanjean
• Watch No.3: Fred Le Peutrec / Lionel Lemonchois / Ronan Le Goff
• Off watch navigator: Stan Honey goes up on deck for manoeuvres
• Each watch lasts three hours
• One watch system on deck, one watch on stand-by ready to help manoeuvre, one watch totally resting
The record to beat
Currently held by Bruno Peyron on Orange 2 since 2005 with a time of 50 days 16 hours 20 minutes at an average of 17.89 knots. Lionel Lemonchois, Ronan Le Goff and Jacques Caraës were aboard at the time.
Nov 9, 2009 @ 16:10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1spdG7e4zI
Nov 11, 2009 @ 13:07
5 dygn 15 timmar och 23 minuter till ekvatorn!
Över ett dygn snabbare än Orange, vars rekord man skall slå… men det är långt kvar!
Nov 11, 2009 @ 22:07
Förra vändan låg dom också bra till tills dom låg uppåner. Rackarns tur att det var 80 nm söder om NZ. Ska man vurpa någonstans längs varvet så är det allra närmast land där! Nu har de inte kolfiber/nomex sandwich utan ett segare laminat så den håller bättre.
Nov 16, 2009 @ 19:03
Nov 16, 2009 @ 19:23
Ajdå. Och Banque Populaire ligger redo för att ge sig iväg. Håller den lär rekordet ryka och då lär Cammas behöva ragga ihop till en ännu större kärra.
Nov 16, 2009 @ 23:34
Haveri och avbrutet rekordförsök enl. SA
http://www.sailinganarchy.com/index_page1.php