Jules Verne Trophy - Groupama 3's Day-to-day round the world + Video

by Groupama-Cammas on 22 Mar 2010 Jules Verne Trophy - Groupama 3's Day-to-day on the round the world.

Franck Cammas and his nine crew are the seventh team to win the Jules Verne Trophy which began in 1993! However, Groupama 3's circumnavigation of the globe in 48 days 07 hours 44 minutes 52 seconds was very distinctive in that she was only able to make headway in fits and starts and didn't really open up an extensive lead until after she'd crossed the equator a second time, 2,500 miles from the finish!

Indeed it wasn't the most favourable weather window for setting off on the Jules Verne Trophy, but skipper Franck Cammas, navigator Stan Honey and onshore router Sylvain Mondon nevertheless decided to set off with Brittany in the grips of winter. After her second failed attempt in November 2009 and a return to Lorient to reinforce Groupama 3's structure, the stand-by period was drawing to a close: a gap in the weather, albeit it narrow, was enough to inspire them to go for the record... The Bay of Biscay was peaceful, too peaceful even, and the first goal was to get round Cape Finisterre safely and then decide whether to persevere or throw in the towel.



Equator: 1d 02h 04' deficit
It's a long old slog to make headway in the South Atlantic! The ascent begins with some close-hauled sailing whilst Bruno Peyron and his crew enjoyed downwind conditions as far as Brazil in 2005. Next on the menu, the stormy front causes the wind to shift round to the N, right on their nose. Thanks to a beat in a narrow corridor of breeze between two windless zones, Groupama 3 comes off pretty well as she's been designed for these variable, light airs, but there's a haemorrhage of miles all the same! The result is a deficit of over 500 miles but there are still 4,000 miles to make up the 12% deficit for the 17% of the remaining course around the world. The penalty is severe as they switch hemispheres: 41d 21h 09' on crossing the equator a second time...



Agulhas Cape: 7h 30' deficit
The SE'ly tradewinds are very much in evidence offshore of Brazil and Groupama 3 opts for a trajectory fairly close to the coast to avoid the Saint Helena High. The situation becomes more complicated as from the latitude of Rio de Janeiro, Franck Cammas and his men have to wait for the wind to shift before it dies out completely... After eleven days at sea, the whole of their lead over the reference time has melted away! In fact the giant trimaran is awaiting the arrival of a Brazilian low so they can get going again at speed. However, the breeze only really becomes established once they're into the Roaring Forties. At that point they make an extremely fast comeback at an average of over thirty knots for two days, until such time as Groupama 3 stumbles into a front which brakes her momentum. 14d 15h 48': the passage of the longitude of the Agulhas Cape heralds the start of two difficult days before they can hook onto the next low...

South Tasmania: 9h 56' lead
Whilst Bruno Peyron and his crew had to perform a series of gybes in the Indian Ocean, Franck Cammas and his men manage to make headway along the southern edge of a large anticyclone for several days. The average speeds are staggering and despite a very northern trajectory along 45°S, Groupama 3 comes back on the reference time like a bullet: in the space of five days, she makes up over 550 miles and passes ahead of Orange 2 at the entrance to the Pacific Ocean. 23d 09h 27': the passage to the South of Tasmania precedes further happy days (albeit wet)...

Cape Horn: 8h 55' lead
The crew of Groupama 3 are able to make out the first land since leaving Ushant 25 days earlier: they skirt round the island of Auckland and are able to dive down into the Deep South. The trajectory is highly favourable as far as 55°S and the downwind conditions colour proceedings. However, the arrival of a nasty Australian low puts a new light on matters: it is necessary to modify the strategy and climb up to 50°S, then further still to 47° S to avoid the worst of the gale and most importantly the heavy and badly organised seas. Despite the fact that the giant trimaran is able to power along at an average of over thirty knots, the extra miles they need to cover causes their lead to shrink to 200 miles (from a previous advantage of 500 miles). However, Franck Cammas and his men are finally able to plunge down towards the Hard Cape at that stage. In Drake's Passage, the downwind breeze dies, the wind even shifting round to the NE, forcing the crew to put in a tack change but also enabling them to get a glimpse of the lighthouse at the end of the world. 32d 04h 34': the multihull isn't very far ahead of the reference time, but the crew is able to chat with the lighthouse keepers at Cape Horn...



Ushant: 2d 08h 35' lead
Fortunately the North Atlantic is shaping up to be more favourable. As was the case during the descent a month earlier, Groupama 3 finds her way into some established tradewinds and then manages to avoid getting hemmed in by a zone of high pressure offshore of the Cape Verde archipelago. As such she can finally bend her course towards the Bay of Biscay from the latitude of the Canaries. Bruno Peyron and his crew didn't score well over this section of the course five years earlier, which is just as well! It isn't until the 46th day at sea that Franck Cammas and his nine crew get ahead of the reference time again... The next three days are fast in a disturbed air flow and the giant trimaran's lead continues to increase as they make for Ushant, finally stretching to nearly 1,500 miles as they cross the finish line.

From one Jules Verne to another
Ultimately Groupama 3 completed her circumnavigation of the globe with a deficit in relation to the reference time over a 22 day period and a lead over Orange 2 for 26 days. However, this distribution isn't consistent since the separation continued to yo-yo throughout the Jules Verne Trophy, with a whole series of highs and lows. According to the 1400 UTC position reports (corresponding with their start time from Ushant on 31st January 2010), the giant trimaran had a 94 mile deficit on the first day, a 620 mile lead on the sixth day, a deficit of 433 miles on the 18th day, a 560 mile lead on the 27th day, a deficit of 492 miles on the 41st day, rounding off with a 1,492 mile lead on her arrival in Ushant!

This stop-start progress is a first in relation to all the previous victorious Jules Verne Trophy campaigns as every one of the attempts vying for the record since Bruno Peyron's successful attempt in 1993, have always been ahead all the way to the finish on rounding the Cape of Good Hope, or even Cape Leeuwin, with the exception of Olivier de Kersauson in 2004, who had to wait until they reached the International Date Line... The record set by Groupama 3 this 21st March 2010 has thus improved on the previous reference time by 4%! However, by adding together the best times over the six sections of the round the world during recent attempts of the 24,375 mile course (of which Groupama 3 holds four reference times: Ushant-Equator in November 2009, Equator-Agulhas in January 2008, Agulhas Cape-Cape Leeuwin in February 2010 and Equator-Ushant in March 2010), a circumnavigation of the globe in 45 days is feasible. However, that's another story: Franck Cammas and his men haven't scheduled a second circumnavigation...



Equator: a lead of 1d 07h 49'
In fact this first `course mark' proved tricky to negotiate: the moderate NW'ly wind on leaving Ushant on 31st January at 13h 55' 53' UTC increased overnight and then eased as they approached the Spanish coast, shifting across to the E with the arrival of a windless zone... Fortunately Groupama 3 managed to slip past before the calm spell and was into the Portuguese tradewinds to celebrate Lionel Lemonchois' fiftieth birthday offshore of Madeira! They were very much on track again then and the pace could only pick up once they gybed to the W of the Canaries. However, there was another obstacle to negotiate before rounding the Cape Verde archipelago, with a depression centre compelling them to perform several gybes. Once past this zone, the descent towards the equator proved very fast in the moderate NE'ly tradewinds and a rather inactive Doldrums at 2° N. 5d 19h 07': it's the second best passage time from Ushant to the equator...

Quotes from the pontoon:

Extracts from an emotional and memorable day, coloured by good humour, a true sense of team spirit and mutual respect.

Franck Cammas: 'I think we could do a lot better but I’ll let someone else beat our record first as I don’t really see the appeal of battling against myself! It was a great relief to cross the finish line. We ended up with a great time, certainly better than we could have expected after crossing the equator with a day’s deficit. 48 days was an objective we set ourselves before the start and this proved to be the case even though we didn’t often have conditions that were favourable. In the northern hemisphere we had the right conditions in which to play catch up and end up with a very respectable time. I feel that I’ve put a great deal of energy and time into this project and getting to the end is fantastic. It’s down to the relentless work of a team and a partner who never gave up. It’s superb that it’s culminated in this way. The key to this project has been that when there are failures you have to make use of them and turn them into positive aspects which you can learn from. They all add to the experience, the awareness and reliability of the boat. We’ve proven that today. It was a lot more intense than I’d imagined, but that’s what we like and obviously we’ve had nearly 50 days of extremely strong emotions. We trusted in our boat and in the concept of the trimaran. It was a dream-team with a whole wealth of experiences and talents. Sometimes I had to put my feelings to one side and take onboard the ideas of everyone else. I learnt a vast amount, it was superb. The image which stays with us is the rounding of Cape Horn. We were like kids.'

Stan Honey: 'It’s an incredible honour as an American to have been invited to be part of this experience because French multihull sailing is the very pinnacle of world sailing. Added to that French sailing is a closed world in general so to share that has made it a terrific trip. The whole ‘Bar des Sports’ concept of getting together once or twice a week was an interesting and intriguing tradition. I’ve sailed a lot on kiwi boats and they’ve never had that. The French have everything sorted inside the boat too with special places to stow everything and it’s all nice and dry down below too. They sure know how to cook too! Unfortunately my work involved a great deal of course selection so I can’t say that my French has improved, though I’m sure that the onshore weather router, Sylvain Mondon and Franck have been able to improve their English with me! We had a great working relationship with Sylvain there every step of the way supporting us and helping us with the decision making. It took a while to get used to how high performance Groupama is because she’s about two generations behind Playstation. I feel lucky to have been part of the dream team. The welcome we had today is something you just don’t see in the US with sailing. Last night was the perfect way to conclude our round the world voyage, on a beam reach making good headway and then the chance to have some quality time together to look back on our trip. As regards the French participation in the Volvo, it’s an interesting innovation to sailing. It will be fun to see what they’re capable of doing and I’m very much looking forward to it as I have a lot of respect for them.

Thomas Coville: 'When the boat broke and we stopped off in Cape Town, we could tell that we were a very strong group, capable of getting through any issue in conditions which weren’t necessary evident or easy. There was a real sense of boldness and a real desire to do battle. Stève Ravussin and I really pushed the boat hard during a particularly good session of reaching. We were euphoric… the boat was literally flying and the guys came up on deck to ask us if we were on another planet! Steve was grinning from ear to ear… and I was elsewhere… It was fabulous!'

Fred Le Peutrec: 'This Trophy is a whole mixture of things, a kind of fade in-fade out between what I wanted to experience when I was a boy and the reality! I still have the feeling that it’s the others that did it, the sensation of being disembodied, the sense that it wasn’t me that was there… It’s an overwhelming emotion, a moment beyond time. I’ve dreamt of it when I’ve seen the other crews set off and return. It’s something concrete and yet elusive. Groupama 3’s course over the past three years has nevertheless been full of pitfalls. Experiencing the Trophy in this way, on a knife edge over the past few days at sea, when we nearly didn’t set off at all…. Is pretty special!'

Lionel Lemonchois: 'Arriving back in Brest is always great! We did the best we could and it went superbly well. We had some very varied conditions and not always favourable ones. Added to that whoever manages to link on nicely from one weather system to another would just fly… though I don’t know if it would be possible. What you need is to be consistent, constantly sail well and have a good boat. This was true of Groupama 3. The crew was superb and that makes things easy: everyone was in their allotted position as was the case with Bruno Peyron. What is essential and motivating is to put together a fine team and Franck Cammas had a perfect cast! 48 days at sea, with ten men in a confined space, is not a trivial matter. It’s not only the technology it the human relations above all which dictate whether a trip is successful. The boat was really easy: it’s a small 32 metre yacht! With three of us on deck we could do almost anything. We had some unforgettable moments such as when we had to pick our way along towards Cape Horn at over 40 knots, under stormy skies and eight metre waves… 48 extraordinary hours.'

Bruno Peyron, previous Jules Verne Trophy holder (2005): 'Bravo to the whole Groupama team for this exemplary performance around the world. I know the amount of skills, effort and commitment necessary to achieve such a result: the design team, the shore crew, the weather team, the crew and the sponsor. We must salute their determination and their ability to trust in their team, even in the hard times. Everyone deserves this success which was built on method. In this way, together they are writing a fine new page in the history of the Jules Verne Trophy. I’m proud to have been beaten by the best oceanic multihull team of her age and I’m eager to put together a team to ‘reconquer’ the Trophy. I hope they will become the best monohull team in the VOR and I hope that they will come and join us on the start line of The Race II. In any case, it’s a challenge that I’m putting up, no longer just against the clock but side by side!'

Olivier de Kersauson, former Jules Verne Trophy record holder (2004): 'Bravo for this extraordinary performance... Bravo for never having given up! Bravo for stepping up to the plate and writing your own fantastic story in the spirit of the finest and most daring events in the world. Welcome to Franck Cammas and his exceptional crew to the Jules Verne Trophy winners'.

The Jules Verne Trophy
1993: Commodore Explorer (FRA), 25m catamaran (Bruno Peyron) = 79d 06h 16'
1994: Enza New Zealand (NZL), 26m catamaran (Peter Blake & Robin Knox-Johnston) = 74d 22h 17'
1997: Sport Elec (FRA), 27m trimaran (Olivier de Kersauson) = 71d 14h 22'
2002: Orange (FRA), 33m catamaran (Bruno Peyron) = 64d 08h 37'
2004: Geronimo (FRA), 34m trimaran (Olivier de Kersauson) = 63d 13h 59'
2005: Orange 2 (FRA), 37m catamaran (Bruno Peyron) = 50d 16h 20'
2010: Groupama 3 (FRA), 32m trimaran (Franck Cammas) = 48d 07h 45'

Groupama 3's log (departure on 31st January at 13h 55' 53' UTC)
(Number of miles covered in relation to the optimum course for the Jules Verne Trophy)
Day 1 (1st February 1400 UTC): 500 miles (deficit = 94 miles)
Day 2 (2nd February 1400 UTC): 560 miles (lead = 3.5 miles)
Day 3 (3rd February 1400 UTC): 535 miles (lead = 170 miles)
Day 4 (4th February 1400 UTC): 565 miles (lead = 245 miles)
Day 5 (5th February 1400 UTC): 656 miles (lead = 562 miles)
Day 6 (6th February 1400 UTC): 456 miles (lead = 620 miles)
Day 7 (7th February 1400 UTC): 430 miles (lead = 539 miles)
Day 8 (8th February 1400 UTC): 305 miles (lead = 456 miles)
Day 9 (9th February 1400 UTC): 436 miles (lead = 393 miles)
Day 10 (10th February 1400 UTC): 355 miles (lead = 272 miles)
Day 11 (11th February 1400 UTC): 267 miles (deficit = 30 miles)
Day 12 (12th February 1400 UTC): 274 miles (deficit = 385 miles)
Day 13 (13th February 1400 UTC): 719 miles (deficit = 347 miles)
Day 14 (14th February 1400 UTC): 680 miles (deficit = 288 miles)
Day 15 (15th February 1400 UTC): 651 miles (deficit = 203 miles)
Day 16 (16th February 1400 UTC): 322 miles (deficit = 375 miles)
Day 17 (17th February 1400 UTC): 425 miles (deficit = 338 miles)
Day 18 (18th February 1400 UTC): 362 miles (deficit = 433 miles)
Day 19 (19th February 1400 UTC): 726 miles (deficit = 234 miles)
Day 20 (20th February 1400 UTC): 672 miles (deficit = 211 miles)
Day 21 (21st February 1400 UTC): 584 miles (deficit = 124 miles)
Day 22 (22nd February 1400 UTC): 607 miles (deficit = 137 miles)
Day 23 (23rd February 1400 UTC): 702 miles (lead = 52 miles)
Day 24 (24th February 1400 UTC): 638 miles (lead = 208 miles)
Day 25 (25th February 1400 UTC): 713 miles (lead = 370 miles)
Day 26 (26th February 1400 UTC): 687 miles (lead = 430 miles)
Day 27 (27th February 1400 UTC): 797 miles (lead = 560 miles)
Day 28 (28th February 1400 UTC): 560 miles (lead = 517 miles)
Day 29 (1st March 1400 UTC): 434 miles (lead = 268 miles)
Day 30 (2nd March 1400 UTC): 575 miles (lead = 184 miles)
Day 31 (3rd March 1400 UTC): 617 miles (lead = 291 miles)
Day 32 (4th March 1400 UTC): 492 miles (lead = 248 miles)
Day 33 (5th March 1400 UTC): 445 miles (lead = 150 miles)
Day 34 (6th March 1400 UTC): 464 miles (lead = 62 miles)
Day 35 (7th March 1400 UTC): 389 miles (deficit = 91 miles)
Day 36 (8th March 1400 UTC): 317 miles (deficit = 326 miles)
Day 37 (9th March 1400 UTC): 506 miles (deficit = 331 miles)
Day 38 (10th March 1400 UTC): 321 miles (deficit = 384 miles)
Day 39 (11th March 1400 UTC): 255 miles (deficit = 309 miles)
Day 40 (12th March 1400 UTC): 288 miles (deficit = 473 miles)
Day 41 (13th March 1400 UTC): 496 miles (deficit = 492 miles)
Day 42 (14th March 1400 UTC): 445 miles (deficit = 405 miles)
Day 43 (15th March 1400 UTC): 482 miles (deficit = 216 miles)
Day 44 (16th March 1400 UTC): 401 miles (lead = 72 miles)
Day 45 (17th March 1400 UTC): 441 miles (lead = 412 miles)
Day 46 (18th March 1400 UTC): 583 miles (lead = 844 miles)
Day 47 (19th March 1400 UTC): 588 miles (lead = 1,165 miles)
Day 48 (20th March 1400 UTC): 600 miles (lead = 1,412 miles)

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