Home straight for Cammas

1170 miles ahead of Orange 2 now, Groupama 3 is expected home tomorrow afternoon

 Image above courtesy of Expedition Navigation Systems and PredictWind

Just a day and a half at sea remaining this morning for Franck Cammas and the crew of Groupama 3 with just 645 miles left to go to the Jules Verne Trophy finish line between the Le Creac'h lighthouse on Ushant and the Lizard. Her present position is some 670 miles due west of northern Portugal. With the 105ft trimaran still stretching her legs in strong southwesterlies, so her advantage over Orange 2 has now extended to 1,170 miles at the latest sched. While the generally wind direction has been southwesterly, a succession of fronts lying across her path, have been creating some big wind shifts.

Groupama 3 through the main channel through the Azores archipelago at around midnight last night, which involved two gybes to get between Terceira and Sao Miguel to tie in with the northwesterly shift behind a front.

Sylvain Mondon from Météo France gives his synopsis: "The crew are tracking towards Ushant at the mercy of the rapid variations in the wind angles associated with the fronts, which are moving at speeds which are slightly too fast to be used over the long term. A second front has caught up and overtaken Groupama 3 overnight. With the southwesterly winds temporarily dipping below 20 knots, the way has been left clear for some northwesterly breeze to fill in from behind. It's these north to northwesterly winds which will drive Groupama 3 over the next hours. However, given that the fronts moving across to the east can still vary in terms of both strength and direction, it's possible that the giant trimaran will be able to join up with some slightly more favourable conditions if the elements allow..."

Looking at the forecast over the next 24 hours Groupama 3 looks set to remain in a strong northwest to northerly flow behind the front all the way to the line with the breeze dropping slightly on her final approach.

Assuming Groupama 3 arrives tomorrow evening (latest ETA is 2000 local), her time will be significant - she will be the first boat ever to have sailed around the world in less than 50 days...