Groupama 3 has begun her sequence of tack changes to get across to the other side of the zone of high pressure, which has stabilised offshore of Argentina. Fortunately the giant trimaran is particularly at ease in these moderate headwinds.
The ascent of this West face of the Argentinean anticyclone promised to be both long and laborious: an initial change of tack was made at around 1700 UTC on Sunday to switch onto a NW'ly course in line with the first wind shift to the N. However, shortly before midnight, the wind oscillated again and Groupama 3 once more repositioned herself to the NE to get onto a better angle with which to escape the high pressure.
This Monday morning, Franck Cammas and his men are making towards the Argentinean coast again to extract themselves from the zone of high pressure. The dying breeze and the barometer displaying over 1 030 hPa are signs that the centre of the zone of high pressure is close by.
The Jules Verne Trophy now belongs Groupama 3, who have sailed around the globe beating the reference time set by Orange 2 in 2005 by 2 days 08 hours 35 minutes
Taking just 8 days 17 hours and 39 minutes to traverse the Indian Ocean, the maxi trimaran Groupama 3 skippered by Franck Cammas has snatched the record held by Orange 2 since 2005
Returning to cross the finish line off Ushant before 06h 14' 57'' on 23rd March: such is the objective the ten men aboard the trimaran have set themselves in order to snatch the round the world record, that is within one minute of the reference time
Major damage, this afternoon, for Groupama 3. The maxi trimaran, led by skipper Franck Cammas, is now sailing towards Cape Town (RSA) some 1,700 miles away
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