Confused sea at 40 south takes its toll
The crew of Groupama 3, in their attempt on the Jules Verne trophy, a fully crewed round the world dash, have spent the night carefully picking their way through difficult sea conditions in the Indian Ocean. Yesterday they discovered a delaminated central bulkhead on the aft beam of the giant trimaran.
With a 329 mile lead over the time of the current Jules Verne Trophy holder, the crew is opting to play it careful and will certainly be looking forward to milder sea conditions to consolidate the repairs.
The discovery followed the announcement that Groupama had achieved the best ever time by a yacht to link Ushant and Cape Agulhas, to the SE of Cape Town, as well as the equator to the same South African cape.
Since Cape Agulhas, Groupama has had the wind on the beam and big seas – a look at the performance figures of the giant trimaran bear this out, with the boat’s speed oscillating between 28 and 18 knots.