(BYM News)

At dawn on the eighth day at sea, Groupama 3 has increased its lead over Orange II to 650 miles – And the giant trimaran continues to accelerate.

Fine seas, blue skies, steady wind: the tradewinds generated by the Saint Helena High are much in evidence and are filling in as Franck Cammas and his nine crew gain southing.

The icing on the cake is that the centre of the high pressure is compressed over Africa and, this breeze which had already backed to the East yesterday, is now gradually shifting to the NE… This rotation will become increasingly favourable then for Groupama 3, which will gently be able to track to the SW, shortening its trajectory towards the Indian Ocean…

Such is the way the weather situation is shaping up over the next few days, with the arrival of an active low from Argentina slipping along under South Africa and enabling Groupama 3 to adopt a curved route parallel to that of Orange II four years ago. This same route enabled a large amount of time to be saved since the catamaran took just 7d 5h 22′ to sail from the equator to the Cape of Good Hope.

See the latest position here