Into the Indian Ocean

Geronimo continues to make good progress through the Southern Ocean

Position at 2317: 44°26S 18°52 E
Daily run: 411nm
Av speed: 17.13 knots

This evening (Sunday) at 22:15GMT Geronimo, Olivier de Kersauson's Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric sponsored maxi trimaran passed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope (18°28'26"E).

The big tri reached the Cape after 17 days, 22 hours and 58 minutes at sea. This 19 hours, 42 minutes (or nearly 400 nautical miles) faster than the present record - on 21 March 2002, Bruno Peyron and his crew on board Orange reached the Cape of Good Hope in a time of 18 days, 18 hours and 40 minutes. Their time is just a few minutes faster than Cheyenne, who made the passage in 17 days, 23 hours and 29 minutes, but not as quick as the present record of just 16 days, 14 hours, 35 minutes and 26 seconds that de Kersauson and his crew scored on their Jules Verne Trophy bid in 2003.

Comparing with the first Jules Verne Trophy attempts - in 1993 Bruno Peyron and Commodore Explorer took 21.5 days to reach the Cape while ENZA a year later took 19.5 days.

The performance of Geronimo on this occasion is especially good considering the slow progress they made coming out of the Doldrums on two days they managed just 254 and 225 miles - snail's pace for a maxi-tri.

At present Geronimo are sailing in steady WNWerly winds sandwiched between a high to the north and a depression to the south. These conditions look set to stay with them for at least the next 24 hours.