Jules Verne attempt picks up African trades
With light winds and the Canary archipelago now behind them, Franck Cammas and his nine crew are finally able to tap the potential of their 103 metre trimaran. Following a frustrating 24 hours of light airs, during which they had to stop twice in order to carry out repairs to the gennaker hook, Groupama 3 has finally found the African trade winds, blowing between 20 and 25 knots from the east.
The next part of the voyage promises to be very fast. The Cape Verde Islands should be reached by the middle of tonight, after a little over three and a half days at sea. With 22,594 nm remaining, the current advance is 236nm over Bruno Peyron’s record set in March 2005, when his team sailed the course in 50 days, 16 hours, 20 minutes.