Trofeo Jules Verne, Groupama 3 in rotta per Brest

Trofeo Jules Verne – Città del Capo – Dopo due settimane trascorse in rimessaggio a Cape Town Groupama 3 si appresta a tornare in acqua e a rimettere la prua verso Brest dove, dal primo di gennaio, comincerà un nuovo periodo di standby in vista di rilanciarsi verso la conquista del Trofeo Jules Verne.

I quattro membri dell’equipaggio di Franck Cammas che sono rimasti in Sudafrica per tutta la durata dei lavori contano di raggiungere la Francia in due o tre settimane: “La presenza a bordo di tutto l’equipaggio non è stata ritenuta necessaria – ha spiegato Fred Le Peutrec, nominato skipper del team rimaneggiato – I lavori, infatti, sono stati seguiti dallo shore team ed è con alcuni di loro che inizieremo la navigazione verso nord”.

“I lavori sono riusciti alla perfezione, ma non sono stati semplici – ha continuato Le Peutrec – Per determinare con esattezza lo stato delle cose abbiamo dovuto portare qui in Sudafrica un architetto e un ingegnere e con loro abbiamo pianificato una serie di interventi tesi a rinforzare sensibilmente la struttura della barca, affinché cedimenti come quelli registrati durante la traversata del Sud Atlantico non si tornino a ripetersi. Abbandonare il precedente tentativo è stato davvero un peccato: eravamo in vantaggio sul tempo di riferimento e almeno sino all’Australia avremmo continuato a godere di condizioni meteo estremamente favorevoli: ciò dimostra he Stan Honey, il nostro navigatore, e Sylvain Mondon, il nostro meteorologo, avevano lavorato davvero bene”.

JULES VERNE TROPHY, GROUPAMA 3 HEADING TO BREST
[Groupama Press Release] On stopover in Cape Town, South Africa since 21st November, after suffering damage during her Jules Verne Trophy attempt, the trimaran Groupama 3 will head back out to sea again tomorrow morning, Friday, bound for Brest. Having been repaired and reinforced by the team’s shore crew, the maxi trimaran is likely to take two to three weeks to cover the 6,000 miles (11,500 km) separating her from Brittany.

Of the ten men making up the Jules Verne Trophy crew four will be onboard to deliver Groupama 3 to Brest, where she will begin a new period of stand-by to tackle the Round the World record on 1st January: “The presence aboard of the entire Jules Verne crew wasn’t justified. As such, together with Lionel Lemonchois, Jacques Caraës, Ronan Le Goff and six new crew, we’ll be in a position to validate the reliability of the repairs carried out in Cape Town” explains Fred Le Peutrec, who will be shouldering the role of skipper during this climb up the Atlantic.

“We’re going to make the most of this delivery trip to give some members of the shore crew a chance to sail, as they know Groupama 3 very well. They will include Eric Lamy, Clément Surtel as well as François Salabert. We will also be playing host to some other multihull specialists: Thierry Duprey du Vorsent, Ludovic Aglaor as well as a South African who notably sailed aboard Cheyenne, Nick Legatt” adds Fred Le Peutrec.

In all, Groupama‘s stopover in Cape Town will have lasted nearly two weeks: “Once we’d worked out where the damage was, it was necessary to bring in the architects and engineers to determine the cause so that we could be sure about what repairs and reinforcement were required on the beam-float joints. There was great understanding in the collaboration between the Groupama Team‘s research department and the architects from VPLP and HDS. As such we’ll be setting off with complete trust in what is a more solid boat in tip-top condition. It was very important for the whole team to take the time to do things properly, without being overly hasty” continues Fred.

Determined to set off on a fresh attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy from 1st January 2010, the crew of Groupama 3 has managed to find the energy necessary for this new challenge, despite the inevitable disappointment caused by this damage: “We were really on the pace. Despite our retirement, we monitored the evolution of the weather system we’d been sailing in. It was excellent as far as Australia. That goes to prove the quality of the work carried out by Stan Honey, our navigator, as well as Sylvain Mondon, the weather adviser at Météo France. This augurs well for the next stage and the five weeks of stand-by we’ll have at our disposal between 1st January and 6th February for our new attempt” comments Franck Cammas.

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