Back on stand-by

Groupama III poised to set off on west to east transat record

Following their setting a new Route of Discovery record and, in mid-June, a new time for the more spurious passage between Miami and New York, so Franck Cammas and his crew on their new maxi-tri Groupama III are on the verge of setting off on their new record attempt imminently. This will be the first of the really big records the team will undertake: fully crewed between New York and the Lizard.

This record presently stands at just 4 days 8 hours 23 minutes and 54 seconds, and currently held by Bruno Peyron and the crew of the maxi-catamaran Orange 2, which covered the 3,000 or so mile passage at an AVERAGE of 28 knots.

At present the team are back to 'code red' with the next likely window being between 9 and 11 July. However a possible window opened up earlier in the week that was in fact so serious that the crew flew to the USA and were ready leave from Newport, where the boat is presently moored. Unfortunately the depression they were looking at riding across the north Atlantic is no longer suitable.

"To hope to beat the Orange 2 record the window weather must be nothing short of excellent as Bruno 's time Peyron allowed very little margin… At the beginning of week, the situation on the Atlantic appeared ideal to us. But since yesterday, we observed it degrading at the end of the route. The first half was completely favourable with breaking the record as it corresponded to the weather from which Orange profited last year." If they had left this week they would have ended up trying to complete the course in unfavourable northwesterlies.

"We still have three weeks of stand by to go and so we want to leave in a better window. Our fingers are crossed.”

This weekend Cammas will be in Marseilles racing in the Ishares Cup aboard an Extreme 40 catamaran. Cammas and crewmate Steve Ravussin and Bruno Jeanjean will leave the United States for Marseilles especially.

See what Groupama III is like here and the video here.