Franck Cammas and his nine crew are navigating through a difficult zone between a stormy low and the tradewinds of the Saint Helena High. In fact Groupama 3 will have to continue northward for another 36 hours before she can escape this meteorological minefield and pick up the thread of this Jules Verne Trophy again… Each puff of breeze translates as a gain or loss in relation to the reference time!
There are still another 4,500 miles to go before they can get a glimpse of Finistère on the horizon! A sight Franck Cammas and his crew hope to see in eleven days if they are to stand a chance of beating the round the world record! Before all that though, they will have to escape the meteorological minefield, which has held Groupama 3 captive for over a day in shifty and rather unfavourable winds… Fortunately the 10-man crew are 100% focused on doing just that, though it is still tricky to cast one’s mind forward some ten days when you’re at sea. Whatever happens, the energy and atmosphere aboard the giant trimaran is so positive that the obstacles along the route are but trivial…
“We had some difficulties last night and since then we’ve had to deal with squalls every ten minutes, but we’re now beginning to escape this unstable zone! We’re not yet into the tradewinds, but it’s reminiscent of such conditions, even though we’re not yet reaching great speeds. Everyone is on watch in the rather pleasant conditions in order to build up their strength again. After 39 days at sea, we’re no longer having any problems in adapting to the weather conditions, but we have lost some weight and we’re longing to eat fresh food!” indicated Franck Cammas at the 1130 UTC radio link-up with Groupama’s Race HQ in Paris, in the presence of Frédéric Courant, co-host of a French science programme.
Constant adaptation
The unstable zone of wind isn’t yet astern of Groupama 3 as they must not only leave behind them the stormy low, which has dramatically slowed their progress over the past two days, but also traverse a ridge of high pressure, which will be a tricky transition phase taking them on to the E’ly tradewinds of Saint Helena… For now then, the crew is constantly having to adapt with these changeable conditions!
“In the space of a minute we were able to have a wash in a squall! However, we’re trying to avoid being under the influence of a cumulonimbus where there isn’t a lot of wind… We can clearly see that the tradewinds aren’t far off now. We’ve pretty much had it with upwind sailing as the time goes slowly in these kinds of conditions. However, we’re going to have to be patient for another 36 hours before we find ourselves in a steadier and more favourable system. The passage of the equator is set for Sunday morning and in the meantime we’re going to flirt with the light airs. We’re going to have to make as rapid headway as we can to hold onto our chances of beating the Jules Verne Trophy record.”
Tradewind instructions for use
“Groupama 3 has been sailing into the wind since Cape Horn and they’re going to have to wait till Friday night or early on Saturday before they track down more favourable winds… As such the next 36 hours will continue to be difficult, as they’ll have to traverse a ridge of high pressure. After the Doldrums, the NE’ly tradewinds are well installed in the North Atlantic and, following on from that, a depression will need to be created over the North American continent so as to propel the giant trimaran towards Ushant at high speed. There’s a strong likelihood of this happening too!” explained Sylvain Mondon from Météo France.
In the meantime, the giant trimaran is still managing to maintain a stable separation in relation to the reference time as Orange 2 didn’t have the wind gods on her side at this point in 2005 either. Whilst Groupama 3 is having to put in a series of tacks to make northing, her predecessor had to wait a while before they made it through to the tradewinds associated with the Saint Helena High. Currently with a deficit of around 300 miles, Franck Cammas and his men still have everything to play for as the ascent of the North Atlantic wasn’t very fast for Bruno Peyron and his crew… However, now more than ever before, every hour counts.