Set back for Groupama III

Delamination discovered in retractible foil sets back Jules Verne Trophy attempt departure

Last Wednesday Groupama 3 left from her base in Lorient to carry out a 24 hour test sail with her crew, including new navigator, Yves Parlier. Unfortunately upon their return the next day the crew carried out a thorough inspection of their 105ft long trimaran to discover an area of delamination in the middle of one of the curved retractible daggerboards mounted in one of Groupama III's floats. The delamination had occurred on the outside of radius of the foil and upon further investigation the same fault was found in the daggerboard on the opposite float.

"Since our return from sailing on Thursday, the team have worked tirelessly to relaminate the outer skin of the two foils," commented Cammas, adding that the repair work would take one week.

As with Thomas Coville, the Groupama III weather team, comprising Cammas, his water leader Franck Proffit, navigator Yves Parlier and meteorologist Sylvain Mondon had been contemplating a departure tomorrow.

"These technical problems prevent us from leaving in the weather window that opens up off the coast of Brittany on Tuesday. In fact, we had two options: finish the repairs and make this brief window, or properly repair the foils as they should be for a round the world record of at least 50 days and wait for a new weather window. We chose the second because the foils are important parts of Groupama 3 and must be 100% reliable if we are stand a chance of breaking Orange 2's record."

It should be remembers that Groupama III will be the first G-Class maxi-multihull to attempt the Jules Verne Trophy with ORMA 60-style foils in her floats.