Records

article dated January 19 2010 Send this article to a friend

Records

Records

Groupama: damage, stopover in South Africa, and back to the start. 

Things began well for Franck Cammas and his crew, even if, on the eighth day at sea, the big trimaran entered a transition phase which caused it to lose part of its lead over the Jules Verne Trophy reference time. Until 16th November, when Franck called his team to inform them that the port aft crossbeam bulkhead had broken, causing considerable damage to the float. At that moment, Groupama 3 still had a 345-mile lead over Orange 2 (over half a day) and was sailing at an average of more than 25 knots, directly towards the Kerguelen archipelago. An emergency repair allowed them to reach Cape Town, where the work was organised. Three weeks later, Groupama 3 left South Africa, for Brest, 6,000 miles away, where it will begin its second stand-by period for the Jules Verne Trophy. 

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