Geronimo bails out

Light winds after the Canaries stalled de Kersauson's attempt on Route of Discovery record

This morning (Sunday), Geronimo is on course back to Brest. Wind conditions have deteriorated even further for the French crew, with less than 10 knots of wind, which is backing easterly all the time. Worse still, the 24- and 36-hour forecasts leave no doubt of what would lie ahead: a gaping windless hole opening up ahead of her. The anticyclone will extend as far as 15°S and no trade wind is forecast until next week. This will leave no chance left of beating the record for the Route of Discover course set by Playstation and so skipper Olivier de Kersauson has set a course back to base.

This record attempt had many objectives, including beating Steve Fossett’s record, driving the boat hard in the trade winds to achieve pure speed as well as sea trialling the new rigging, sails and crew… all with the aim of returning to Brest in good shape at the beginning of December.

Although it was clear from the start that the trade winds would be light to non-existent, there still remained the possibility of snatching the record set by Fossett's giant catamaran by exploiting the rather sluggish weather systems in the region. But this proved a waste of time and effort, since despite Geronimo’s outstanding abilities in light winds - the trimaran was making 12+ knots at 120 degrees to the wind in 8.6 knots of wind this morning - the record remained out of reach if this continued. The crew were looking for a wind speed of over 20 knots, which would have allowed them to cover over 600 miles a day and thoroughly check out their new sail plan.

A possibility was Geronimo finding such wind conditions by heading further north and into a low pressure system, but this would take them considerably off course. The weather window they began in last Tuesday guaranteed a good start as far as the Canaries, but it was impossible to see beyond this .

With Geronimo now bailing out of the record they can be assured of being back in their homeport of Brest by the beginning of December to prepare fully for their attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy.