Groupama III passes Orange II

Cammas and co on track to break record around 11pm GMT this evening

From being 27 miles behind at 0800 this morning so at the 1548 update this afternoon, Groupama III once again surged into front of Orange II in her bid to set a new outright record eastabout across the North Atlantic between New York and the Lizard. While the 105ft trimaran was able to maintain an average speed in the high 20s throughout this morning, this afternoon this has dropped to a mere 25 knots, still enough to liberate the record of Bruno Peyron and Orange II. At their present speed Groupama III should pass Lizard at around 11pm tonight, loping some 3-4 hours off the record.

While the wind is favourable it hasn't backed as the forecast predicted an is according to the wind satellite image above still NNEerly in the 20-25 knot range. While this is still a fast point of sail, the hold up for the boat is at present the short sharp sea state as she crosses the continental shelf.

Franck Cammas outlined what is going on: "As regards the wind, the weather looks set to be favorable for us with a northerly breeze until the end, so one can thus sail in a straight line. It would be perfect but then the sea would also have to be on our side because there are pyramidal waves making for impressive shocks, and even if they are not very high, they stop the boat completely!"

In the northerly conditions, the sea should abate once they get further into the English Channel and ultimately when they get into the lee of the Cornish coast.

Cammas adds that their arrival time all depends upon the sea state. "If it has calmed down, we could gain one to two hours. But for the moment we cannot progress too quickly as it is still rather violent…"

Compared to the end of Orange 2's record last year, Groupama III will not have to gybe but instead can sailed a direct course which will also allow her to head directly for the Lizard, while Orange 2 was forced to cross slightly further offshore due to the wind condition.

"We wib;t gain via pure speed because we cannot attack too much," continuned Cammas. "But we will do better due to the mileage over the ten last hours than Bruno Peyron… For sure we are very excited with the approach of the finish! One can predict some time out that the record is possible, but you get really afraid that something breaks in the last miles…”"