Trofeo Jules Verne, Groupama 3 parte alle 17
Groupama 3MultiscafiOceanoTrofeo Jules VerneVela 5 Novembre 2009 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic id=7 w=300 h=204 float=left]Trofeo Jules Verne – Brest – L’equipaggio di Groupama 3 ha salutato Brest pochi minuti fa e si sta dirigendo verso l’allineamento con il faro dell’isola di Créac’h, da dove avrà inizio il tentativo di migliorare il primato sul giro del mondo senza scalo. Il team di Franck Cammas ha nel mirino il record di Orange 2, che nel 2005, sotto la guida di Bruno Peyron, impiego 50 giorni, 16 ore e 20 minuti a compiere il periplo del globo.
Le condizioni meteo ottimali che accompagneranno Groupama 3 nel corso della prima settimana – l’uscita dal Golfo di Biscaglia si annuncia molto impegnativa – dovrebbero consentire all’equipaggio francese il rapido raggiungimento dell’Equatore, da lì in avanti si vivrà alla giornata, pianificando la rotta sulla base delle indicazioni che verranno trasmesse da terra dal team di France Meteo che spera nel concretizzarsi di una bassa pressione lungo le coste brasiliane utile a spingere il multiscafo verso il Sudafrica a tutta velocità.
Ricordiamo che il precedente tentativo di Groupama 3 era fallito a causa di una scuffia avvenuta a poche centinaia di miglia dalla Nuova Zelanda.
JULES VERNE TROPHY, GROUPAMA 3 READY TO TAKE OFF
[Source Groupama] The crew of Groupama 3 has been in position in Brest since Wednesday evening in view of a new Jules Verne Trophy record attempt. Today Franck Cammas and his nine crew will leave the pontoon of the port of Le Château at 13.00 hours to make for the start line off the Créac’h lighthouse…
On stand-by since 1st November, Groupama 3 has ended up benefiting from a favourable weather window very early on in order to head off around the world. Objective: to do better than Bruno Peyron and his men in 2005, that is a time of less than 50 days 16 hours 20 minutes, in the knowledge that a record is validated by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) if the time is at least a minute less than the reference time.
As such the giant trimaran is setting off early in the season, which is beneficial for several reasons: first of all the days are longer in the boreal autumn, and the nights are shorter in the austral spring. Furthermore, the Antarctic ice field hasn’t yet begun to break up, which slightly reduces the risk of a whole mass of icebergs and drifting ice being present, especially in the vicinity of Kerguelen and Cape Horn. Finally, during the climb up the Atlantic in December, the weather situations are generally more stable than during the low seasons, such as at the end of winter or the start of spring…
A powerful introduction
In fact, it’s at the start that the weather conditions will be the harshest, until the point where the crew reach the Roaring Forties in the Southern Atlantic! Indeed, Groupama 3 will head off in a powerful NW’ly air flow off Ushant, a system linked to a disturbance which passed over Brittany on Wednesday and has generated big seas at the entrance to the English Channel. In addition, the full moon of a couple of days ago implies big springs and hence strong currents around the islands off the NW France. By setting out at around 17.00 hours this Thursday 5th November, there should be less of a swell (tide turning) but it’s probably under two or three reefs in the mainsail and staysail that the ten men will set sail in over 25 knots of breeze. They’ll have around a dozen difficult hours ahead to escape the Bay of Biscay, before they hook onto the tradewinds already blowing along the coast of Spain and Portugal.
The sequence of systems as far as the equator is favourable with a steady NE’ly air flow as far as Cape Verde, which will enable Groupama 3 to enter into the Southern hemisphere midway through next week. Following on from that, there’s a possibility of being hit by a Brazilian low which will push the giant trimaran as far as South Africa… By heading off at 1700 hours today, the crew will have to be back in the waters off Ushant before 26th December at around 0900 hours…
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