trimaran groupama 3

The Maxi-Trimaran

A boat that has proved herself.

The former Groupama 3 and Banque Populaire VII, the IDEC SPORT maxi-trimaran has had an exceptional list of successes. Winner of the Jules Verne Trophy in 2010 and 2012, and again in 2017, the boat also won the last three editions of the Route du Rhum – and many other events. Thirteen years after she was first launched, this strong all-round performer can look forward to a bright future in the expert hands of Francis Joyon.

It was in December 2004 that Groupama announced the construction of a giant trimaran to attempt to smash the major ocean records leading up to the legendary Jules Verne Trophy. At a time when the arms race was on in the sailing world, Groupama wanted to come up with a reasonably sized boat, the smallest trimaran capable of beating Orange II. Franck Cammas and his team opted for a length of 31.50 metres (105 feet) designed by the architects, Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost.

Work began on Groupama 3 in 2005 at the Multiplast yard in Vannes. After almost 130,000 man hours, the boat was launched on 7th June 2006. “ We decided to design a medium power trimaran,” stressed Cammas when presenting his project. ” Groupama 3 is light, but long enough to be safe in the Southern Ocean. The power comes from her width, while her light weight is down to optimising her structure, rationalising the equipment and paying attention to how she was built.” Groupama 3 innovated with her concept inspired by the 60-foot ORMA trimarans (like Groupama 2) ratehr than the more recent giants, which were heavier and designed to face the Southern Ocean. While Orange II (36.80 metres) was amazing in heavy seas, she found it tougher in lighter conditions and moderate winds. Groupama 3 was a strong all-rounder and could sail almost as quickly in strong winds, while remaining at ease in lighter weather. There was another new feature: Groupama 3 was the very first big multihull to set off around the world with foils, a concept only used until then on the Orma boats in the Atlantic.

Specifications

Architects : VPLP team (Van Péteghem-Lauriot Prévost) Previous names : Groupama 3 , Banque Populaire VII Length : 31.50 m Beam : 22.50 m Displacement : 18,000 kg Draught : 5.70 m Mast height : 33.50 m Structure : carbon-Nomex Upwind sail surface : 411 m 2 Downwind sail surface : 678 m 2 Initial launch date : June 2006

The boat which has won the Route du Rhum three times

In 2010, Franck Cammas took up a challenge which many people thought impossible, or at best very complicated: he wanted to win the Route du Rhum, sailing alone on his 31.5m maxi trimaran which was equipped with a shorter rig and with a more suitable deck layout. Cammas’s performance was amazing: after nine days 3 hrs 14 mins 47 seconds, he finished first in Pointe-à-Pitre ahead of Francis Joyon and Thomas Coville.

The boat was then sold and became Banque Populaire VII. Relaunched on 15th April 2013 in Lorient, the boat achieved more successes in the hands of Armel Le Cléac’h, who smashed several solo records aboard her: the Mediterranean record, Columbus Route and 24-Hour record (682 miles). After injuring his hand, Armel Le Cléac’h was forced to stand down for the Route du Rhum and was replaced at the last moment by Loïck Peyron at the helm of the maxi trimaran, which had won the previous edition of the prestigious transatlantic race. After a fantastic race, Peyron won the tenth edition of the Route du Rhum with a time of 7 days, 15 hrs 8 minutes and 32 seconds.

BoatNews.com

Report / From Groupama 3 to Idec Sport, the story of a legendary trimaran

Groupama 3 became a household name in 2010, after winning the Jules Verne Trophy and the Route du Rhum, in the hands of Franck Cammas. In 2013, she switched to the colors of Banque Populaire and won the Route du Rhum, for the second consecutive time, skippered by Loïck Peyron. Passed into the hands of Francis Joyon in 2015, she won the Jules Verne Trophy and a new Route du Rhum in 2018.

It was during the Route du Rhum, in 2010, that Francis Joyon saw Groupama 3, skippered by Franck Cammas , set off. His keen sailor's eye understands that the giant trimaran can be sailed both single-handed and with a crew , and win in both cases. And it's exactly a boat like that that Joyon is looking for.

To take the start of the legendary Transatlantic race, the mast was shortened to 33 meters and the deck plan was adapted, notably with a bicycle frame that allowed the winches to be turned while pedaling. While many were skeptical about the ability of one man to bring such a large boat to port, Cammas won after 9 days, 3 hours and 14 minutes of crossing.

He was ahead of a certain Francis Joyon (2nd), who was quick to point out the qualities of the machine and was already dreaming of it as his next boat.

But before that, the boat won many successes and above all, the Jules Verne Trophy in 2010. After two aborted attempts, Franck Cammas and his 9 crew members will achieve a crazy finish on the way back up the Atlantic (after being late for a long time) on March 20th 2010. They crossed the finish line at Lizard Point in 48 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes and 52 seconds, making the trimaran a legend .

In January 2013, the trimaran was sold to Banque Populaire, and took the name Banque Populaire VII, in the hands of Armel le Cléac'h , who set himself the goal of beating Cammas' record in the Route du Rhum (and the boat's record at the same time.) He won two records, previously held by Francis Joyon: the Route de la Découverte and the 24-hour record , which was extended to 682 miles covered in a single day.

But it is in the hands of Loïc Peyron (replacing Armel le Cléac'h who suffered a hand injury) that the boat will take the start of the Route du Rhum in 2014 to meet a real triumph: record of the event in 7 days, 15 hours, 8 minutes and 32 seconds.

Now in the hands of Francis Joyon and turned red and white, the trimaran , which is now called Idec Sport , is ready to take on a new challenge. The january 26, 2017, succeeds in the feat of winning the Jules Verne Trophy with a reduced crew . D ince Bruno Peyron in 1993, he is the first to have set off with a reduced crew of 5. He is still the record holder with a race time of 40 days 23 hours 30 minutes and 30 seconds.

In 2018, after a breathtaking race with François Gabart on Macif, Francis Joyon won the Route du Rhum in Ultim with a lead of only 7 minutes and 08 seconds over his rival. He also took advantage of the opportunity to set the record for the event with a transatlantic race completed in 7 days, 14 hours, 21 minutes and 47 seconds.

Discover the history of the mythical trimaran , which has already held the Jules Verne Trophy and is undefeated in the last three editions of the Route du Rhum.

Summary of the report

Groupama 3, records on the Jules Verne Trophy and the Route du Rhum

Banque Populaire VII, a replacement at the drop of a hat on the Route du Rhum

Lending Club 2, a series of British and American records

Idec Sport, the unbeatable trimaran in the Jules Verne and the Route du Rhum

A pictorial tour of the most successful trimaran in the history of ocean racing

Groupama 3 then Maxi Solo Banque Populaire VII then Lending Club 2 then IDEC Sport then The Famous Project

Five years after Geronimo , VPLP designed another record-beating machine , this time for Franck Cammas. The result was Groupama 3 . A little shorter, slightly less beamy but lighter, she was built at the Multiplast yard like her predecessor. This legendary trimaran is simply one of the most titled on the planet .

After winning the Jules Verne Trophy in 2010 with Franck Cammas and a rock-solid crew, she was modified in a matter of weeks for solo sailing. The same year, Cammas sailed her to victory in the Route du Rhum, thus achieving a historic two in a row and paving the way for single-handed racing on multihulls exceeding 100’.

Sold in 2013 to Banque Populaire and renamed Banque Populaire VII, she broke three records under the steady hand of Armel Le Cléac’h: transmediterranean, Route of the Discovery, and distance run in twenty-four hours. With Armel Le Cléac’h injured, she was entrusted to Loïck Peyron for the 2014 Route du Rhum, and achieved a second resounding victory .

The much-coveted trimaran became Lending Club in 2015 and over the course of the season she smashed the Pacific crossing record from Los Angeles to Honolulu, as well as beating the records for Newport to Bermuda and crossing the Channel crewed!

She was subsequently renamed IDEC Sport when Francis Joyon bought her in 2015 for round-the-world racing with a small crew.

For the Jules Verne Trophy , she kept the set up Groupama 3 and Banque Populaire VII used in their victorious forays into the Routes du Rhum, being light and easy to manoeuvre with her small mast. Francis Joyon and his crew of five set an incredible record of forty days, three hours and thirty second at their second attempt, in January 2017.

And as if proof were needed of this trimaran’s hunger and legendary status, she won the Route du Rhum for the third time in a row in November 2018, beating François Gabart’s Macif in a thrilling sprint to the finishing line.

In 2023, Alexia Barrier takes the helm of the maxi-trimaran, which becomes The Famous Project , with the goal of winning the Jules Verne Trophy with a 100% female crew in 2025. The aim of the project is to inspire younger generations by promoting women in sailing.

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Maxi Groupama trimaran launched ______________________________________________________________________

Bang on schedule, the launch of the 105 ft (31.50 m) long maxi trimaran for French skipper Franck Cammas is the 6th maxi-mulithull to have come out of the Multiplast shipyard in Vannes since the year 2000. The yard is world leader in the building of ocean-racing maxi-multihulls. The unique experience and unrivalled savoir-faire of the Multiplast yard no doubt convinced Groupama 3's sponsors and skipper to commission the Vannes yard to undertake construction. A fine programme of major records and circumnavigations has been scheduled for the boat, events and courses where boats bearing the 'made by Multiplast ' mark have an unbeaten record. The yard builds machines that can be relied upon. Gilles Ollier, Director of the Multiplast yard :

Multiplast has been investing in the construction of big ocean-racing multihulls for more than 25 years now. Being chosen to build a prototype for one of the world's leading green water racing teams reflects our experience and savoir-faire. We are proud to have undertaken this project...". Groupama 3 is the 6th maxi-multihull of more than 105 ft (32 m) to have been built here (only 7 multis of this size have been built in the world). Designed by the firm Marc Van Peteghem & Vincent Lauriot-Prévost , she is the 2nd maxi-trimaran to come out of the yard's build shed.

A gigantic puzzle

Truly dynamic

Quest for the Holy Grail

As soon as she has been launched, Groupama 3 will make for her home base in Lorient (Southern Brittany). There she will first undergo loading tests. This means that all of the major traction points, such as the rigging chain plates or the sail pulling points will be subjected to working loads which have been calculated statistically by the architects. A final validation before the first sea trial. The first series of sea trials will get underway in the middle of June. All testing will be under the direction of Multiplast, before the boat can be said to be handed over finally. Franck Cammas and his team will then enter into the training and apprenticeship phase of their platform, before setting about attacking their programme of record attempts including the transatlantic records, the 24-hour distance record and the round the world record.

Facts and figures

Characteristics LOA 31,50 m Bmax 22,50 m Mast height 38,40 m Draft 5,70 m Air clearance 41,00 m Dislacement 18,00 t Upwaind sail area 557 m² Mainsail area 356 m² Solent jib 201 m² Downwind sail area 828 m² Gennaker 472 m²

Construction 16 000 m² of carbon Oven cured more than 50 times at temperatures of between 100° and 120° C A puzzle comprising more than 400 parts A team of 50 people working on the prototype Cost of boat : 8 million euros (excl VAT)

Copyright free photos for the press by Yvan Zedda

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Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

GROUPAMA 3: ‘IT’S EASY UP TO 36 KNOTS…’

• Chris Beeson
• July 25, 2007

Exclusive report from onboard the record breaking tri

YM’s technical editor Chris Beeson was in Lorient, France, to carry out a liferaft test when he chanced upon Groupama 3 click here for previous story  It was too good an opportunity to miss. Here’s his special report:

Franck Cammas’ maxi-trimaran Groupama 3 passed south of The Lizard at 0045 on Tuesday morning, setting a new Transatlantic record of 4 days 3 hours, 57 minutes 54 seconds. That’s an average speed of 28.65 knots over the 2,925-mile course. She also becomes the first boat to cross the Atlantic in under 100 hours.

The 31.5m green giant broke the record set by Bruno Peyron’s 36.8m catamaran Orange 2 by 4 hours 26 minutes. She also set a new record for distance covered in 24 hours – a remarkable 794 miles – within 30 hours of the start off New York’s Ambrose Light.

‘We broke the port foil (daggerboard) on the first night,’ co-skipper Franck Proffit (34) told Yachting Monthly’s Chris Beeson in Lorient, France. ‘Otherwise we would have past 800 miles in 24 hours. We lost about 2 knots.’

Groupama 3 was built for skipper Franck Cammas (44) and his crew to break the Jules Verne non-stop round the world record. The record of 50 days 16 hours 20 minutes is currently held by Peyron’s Orange 2, set in 2006.

Apart from breaking three bunks, two records and one daggerboard, the trip was an uneventful work-out for Groupama 3 in advance of its Jules Verne attempt in December. It was widely thought that the boat would be too small to challenge the bigger multihulls like Orange 2. This record blows that notion away.

It’s been her biggest test since launching in 2006. ‘We put the boat in the water and two days later we started to push, but never that hard,’ said Proffit. ‘Now we know it can handle that workload. We can beat the bigger boats.’

Proffit raced non-stop round the world with Peyron onboard Orange 2’s sistership during The Race in 2001. He believes Groupama 3 is better suited to the challenge. ‘She’s not too big, not too heavy, not too powerful. We can reef with hooks in 5 minutes. During The Race, it took us 20 minutes. You lose a lot of time.’

The roughest conditions encountered were on the last day when an easterly, head-on wave train sent them crashing down from 2 metres. That exposed a weak point for Groupama 3: ‘The only problem is the sea,’ said Proffit. ‘If the waves are not organised, it’s very rough. Orange 2 can handle the waves easier than us.’

The bigger boats have one more important advantage: ‘It’s more difficult to steer than the bigger boats, you have to concentrate every second. It’s easy up to 36 knots but after that? Our top speed was 42.5 knots.’

After breaking the record, Groupama 3 was off Lorient by 1100 the same morning. She stood off until 1430 while her champagne reception was arranged and the press assembled. ‘After all the press, we had a party until 0400. Now I’m back in debrief meetings, getting the boat ready again.’

Despite – or possibly because of – the Tour de France and its daily scandals, her achievement has attracted high profile praise, as Proffit explained. ‘Sarkozy sent us a message this morning saying good job, best of luck with the Jules Verne.’

Franck Proffit spent 20 years racing with Bruno Peyron’s brother Loïck onboard a series of Fujicolor-sponsored 60ft trimarans. He joined Cammas’ Groupama project five years ago, racing the 60ft trimaran Groupama 2.

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

First record for Groupama 3

• Helen Dormer
• February 24, 2010

The maxi trimaran has snatched its first record during the Jules Verne Trophy

Taking just 8 days 17 hours and 39 minutes to traverse the Indian Ocean, the maxi trimaran Groupama 3, skippered by Franck Cammas, has taken the record held by Orange 2 since 2005.   It was at 23:22 UTC yesterday evening (Tuesday 23 February) that Groupama 3 crossed the longitude of Tasmania, to the South of Australia, which marks the exit from the Indian Ocean and the entry to the Pacific.   Having rounded Cape Agulhas off South Africa 8 days and 17 hours earlier, Franck Cammas and his nine crew took 17 hours and 25 minutes less than that of Bruno Peyron five years ago.   With the Indian Ocean behind them, Groupama 3 is now attacking the largest ocean in the world – the Pacific – the exit from which is marked by the renowned Cape Horn.

• Departure from Ushant: 31 January at 13:55 UTC
• Passage around the Agulhas Cape: 15 February at 05:43 UTC
• Passage of Tasmania: 23 February at 23:22 UTC
• Race time from start line to Tasmania: 23 days 9 hours and 27 minutes
• Indian Ocean crossing time: 8 days 17 hours and 39 minutes (that is 17 hours and 25 minutes faster than Orange).

  This new record for the passage across the Indian Ocean is awaiting approval by the WSSRC.

To follow Groupama 3, visit www.cammas-groupama.com

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Groupama 3 on track to break own transatlantic record

Franck Cammas was in fine fettle at noon on Thursday, 30 July, for the first radio link-up organised with the shore-based HQ in Lorient, at which point the green trimaran had already covered over 450 miles since setting out from New York. “We’re sailing downwind on flat seas with 20 to 25 knots of breeze. We’ve had to make a few sail changes since leaving the Ambrose Light, hoisting more sail aloft this morning as we set the gennaker. We’re trying to go fast by heading up to accelerate. “The trajectory as far as Lizard Point isn’t as clear as all that; after Newfoundland we’re going to have to choose between a route which sees us heading up a bit or bearing away a little, which has repercussions on the sail configuration. We’re going to take that decision after Cap Race. The crux of the matter still centres on the end of the course as the front looks to want to drag its heels as we approach the goal.”

Read more …

By Ocean Navigator

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Transatlantic Record route - perfect position for Groupama 3

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Bientôt sur le site A l’image de la « Carte de l’Océan » dressée par un grand cartographe français du 18 ième  siècle et représentant les routes des navigateurs autour du monde sur la carte papier, la cartographie numérique du Jules Verne offrira la possibilité de dérouler et comparer les différents records successifs autour du monde réalisés suivant le règlement du « Trohée Jules Verne » . Mais le point remarquable de cette cartographie sera de pouvoir suivre tout nouveau défi, le comparer en temps réel par rapport aux records précédents tout en respectant les contraintes imposées par le défi en cours.

Cet outil se voudra simple d’utilisation mais moderne et doté de fonctionnalités permettant de voyager autour du monde. Nous espérons vous voir très nombreux et prendre beaucoup de plaisir.

René Boulaire

Franck Cammas / Groupama 3

Five years after Bruno Peyron’s historic performance, it was Franck Cammas’ turn to challenge the chronometer on the three oceans with his team. The goal: a circumnavigation in under 50 days. The young skipper had met with setbacks on his first two attempts at the course. From dead calm to sudden sprints, his third try would lead him to victory.

2004: Groupama announced the creation of a gigantic trimaran aimed at beating historic sailing records, and to cap them all, the Jules Verne Trophy (1) (1) Le Monde en 48 jours , Luc Le Vaillant, Dominic Bourgeois, Yvan Zedda, Mer&Découverte Editions, 2010. . The schedule targeted by the sponsor was tight – this was the first challenge to be met. Marc van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prevost were set the task of designing the new prototype in a year and a half, and the boat constructor Multiplast – source of most of the Trophy’s winners – had the job of building it. As of June 2006, Groupama 3 was ready. It was a 31.5-metre-long trimaran, shorter than the maxi catamarans that had been running on the circuit for almost a decade, but also lighter, more reactive, and easier to steer for ten crewmembers, operating on shifts of three on deck.

The Groupama champion, Franck Cammas, was already a whizz at competitive sailing. And even if he had never affronted Cape Horn and knew nothing about the southern seas, he could rely on his crewmembers (2) (2) Team: Franck Cammas, Fredéric Le Peutrec and Stève Ravussin (shift managers); Lionel Lemonchois, Loïc Le Mignon and Thomas Coville (helmsmen); Ronan Le Goff, Jacques Caraës and Bruno Jeanjean (bowmen) and Stan Honey (navigator). Sylvain Mondon from Météo France for land-based routing. who, between them, had notched up thirteen world tours, four of them already having been on winning Jules Verne Trophy teams: Thomas Coville with Olivier de Kersauson in 1997; Jacques Caraës, Ronan Le Goff and Lionel Lemonchois, with Bruno Peyron in 2002 and 2005.

Winning wager

The third departure was abrupt. Groupama 3 crossed the Ushant-Point Lizard line on 31 January 2010, at 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds (GMT). The weather conditions had not been very engaging so far that year. It was necessary to take advantage of an optimal slot – even if far from ideal – to get to the equator in under a week and make the most of a welcome depression off Brazil. It was a wager to try and make this sequence, for there is no certainty in forecasts for periods further than a week away.

The first and main uncertainty was removed when the Spanish tip of Cape Finisterre was rounded in less than 24 hours. “We’re sailing with a gennaker and mainsail on a calm sea that allows us to slide along well,” rejoiced Franck Cammas on 1 February. “We’ve managed to clear the delicate passage north of Cape Finisterre where we really couldn’t afford to be late, at the risk of being blocked by an anticyclone: the first barrier is behind us!” Afterwards, Groupama 3 progressed quickly thanks to the trade winds, then managed to pull through a prolonged halt in the stillness of the Doldrums. The equator was crossed in 5 days, 19 hours and 7 minutes, in other words 3 hours and 44 minutes less than the best time set on this section of the itinerary by… Groupama 3, in November 2009!

Groupama 3 kept up an average of 22 knots since departing from Ushant, and sped along to gain a day’s advance on the holder of the Jules Verne Trophy. The only hitch was that Saint Helena’s High, the main barrier in the south Atlantic, stretched a broad calm zone over a very high latitude. Cammas and his men were forced to skirt the phenomenon by nearing the Brazilian coastline. The trimaran’s speed did not drop – Groupama 3 often reached peaks topping 30 knots – but this detour to the west lengthened its course.

The ten crewmembers attempted to get through on a byway on their ninth day at sea. No luck. Trapped, they would need to wait for a depression from the South American coast – one that that failed to come. Things didn’t improve when Saint Helena’s High dispersed, scattering anticyclone bubbles along the boat’s path. On the twelfth day at sea, the virtual Orange II passed in front of Groupama 3. At 37 degrees South, the winds are always unstable, and the trimaran’s average speed dropped to between 8 and 14 knots. Groupama 3 finally found wind again off the Tristan da Cunha islands, at the longitude 12°19 West, and suddenly scurried at 35 knots on a flat sea. Destination: the most dreaded ocean on the course.

Brake and acceleration

Cammas’ trimaran was only seven and a half hours behind Orange II when the Cape of Good Hope was rounded. Then, on 15 February, after 14 days, 15 hours and 47 minutes at sea, the crew went past Cape Agulhas that marks the entrance into the Indian Ocean. Waiting for a good northerly air stream, the ten crewmembers were forced to slow down. The drop in speed was typical of this world tour in stops and starts: the wind weakened to under 10 knots (18 km/h) and the boat’s speed fell to 20 knots. Groupama 3 fell into another trap and tried to escape by changing course, again and again. “The weather systems are taking us on quite a northerly course,” specified Franck Cammas on radio, on 17 February, at 42°South, “but it’s not a bad thing for avoiding the icebergs near the Kerguelen Islands. We haven’t taken the risk of going further south as we might find ourselves with a depression portside, with winds against us, and that’s no good at all! But our choice forces us to keep up high averages to stay in this good system.” On the seventeenth day of sea, Groupama III lagged behind Orange II by 338 miles (719 km).

The wind that the ten crewmembers had been hoping for since entering the Indian Ocean reached Groupama 3 three days later, to the south of the Crozet Islands. The speedometer showed peaks of 35 knots, and an average speed of 30 knots.  The course was finally straight, along 45°South, towards Tasmania, with a west-northwesterly wind of around twenty knots. The trimaran soon went over the longitude of Cape Leeuwin, and scored, on the night of 22 February, its first benchmark time on this third attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy: Cape Agulhas-Cape Leeuwin, in 6 days, 22 hours and 34 minutes. Orange II’s challenger now only had a four-hour lag to catch up. The sea was orderly, the wind stable and regular, blowing at 20 knots (37 km/h) from the northwest. Cammas’ crew left the Indian Ocean under a star-studded sky, the Southern Cross overhead.

Neck and neck

The record for crossing the Indian Ocean was beaten on 23 February, in 8 days, 17 hours and 39 minutes. Groupama 3 once again bettered the Jules Verne Trophy reference time “We’re following our progress by comparing ourselves with Orange II. Even if it’s not our direct competitor, we’re looking at its virtual traces,” declared shift manager and helmsman Frédéric Le Peutrec on the daily radio session. “We knew that the leg under Australia would let us make up for our lost time because Bruno Peyron and his crew had to make several jibes with phases of slowdown. But they crossed the Pacific very quickly… It’ll be difficult to keep up the average up to Cape Horn.”

The advance on the performance of Bruno Peyron’s catamaran was still slim: 200 miles (370 km) at the entrance of the world’s largest ocean. It was now necessary to go south to shorten the route to Cape Horn – the reasoning being that latitude degrees file by more quickly closer to the Antarctic where the meridians are closer to one another.

On 25 February, the ten crewmembers hit the midway mark. They were progressing well at 50 degrees South and continuing to swallow up the miles. But on 27 February, a cold front caught up with Groupama 3, forced at that point to gibe twice on its way to the mythical cape.

At 55°South, while approaching Horn, the sea turned rough, the cold became sharper. The conditions deteriorated from hour to hour. Facing a chaotic swell and violent squalls, the trimaran hurried north-northeast to dodge a disturbance hurtling along at 45 knots along its course. And also to avoid an ice field. On the twenty-eighth day of sailing, winds at 80 knots (145km/h) rushed into Drake Passage, between the tip of South America and the Antarctic continent – before the wind fell and turned north, three days later, while Groupama 3 was in sighting distance from the Chilean coastline. Finally rounding Cape Horn on Thursday 4 March at 18 hours and 30 minutes (GMT), Groupama 3 allowed Orange II to maintain its Pacific crossing record of 8 days, 18 hours and 8 minutes by 59 minutes. The trimaran nonetheless kept its advance of 175 miles (324 km) on the giant catamaran’s performance. The race was tight.

Laborious Atlantic

It was the first time that Franck Cammas saw Cape Horn while Thomas Coville was celebrating his seventh passage of the celebrated cape. “Even for the most blasé, it’s still a very great moment,” said the helmsman on the radio, on 6 March. “Above all, it’s an important transition, it’s a focal point, all the more because this time we had to wait a long time for it! Now we’re entering a different logic in the course, which becomes a race against the clock: it’s time to really go for it and beat the record.” Coville, like the other Groupama 3 crewmembers, still believed that the Jules Verne Trophy was possible, even if the climb up the Atlantic promised to be laborious.

Groupama 3, entering the Atlantic upwind while Orange II had taken advantage of downwind conditions, traced a very easterly curve, thus lengthening its return journey. As of the thirty-fifth day at sea, the advance on Bruno Peyron’s catamaran was lost. The weather worsened. Groupama 3 continually had to adapt its course and speed to match the brutal and unstable conditions: anticyclone bubbles and opposing wind off Uruguay; storms alternating calmness and violent squalls off Brazil. Cammas’ crew feared that the boat would break apart. “We didn’t expect that this phase of strong wind would be so long! The bad weather with 35-37 knots (64-68 km/h) was only meant to last 4 hours at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. In fact, it lasted four hours longer, rising up to 42 knots (78 km/h) with heavy seas,” reported Loïc Le Mignon on 10 March.

To get to the equator as quickly as possible, Groupama 3 had to avoid nearing the Brazilian coast – at the risk of falling into a calm zone – and had to refrain from going out too far to sea where the northeasterly wind would compromise its progress. When the Earth’s longest parallel was crossed on 14 March, after 41 days, 21 hours and 9 minutes at sea, Groupama 3 was 405 miles (750 km) behind Orange II, in other words, a little more than a day of sailing. The distance was almost discouraging, but the ten crewmembers hoped to see it melt in the northern hemisphere.

Final sprint

Once over the equator, there were only 8 days and 19 hours left for the Groupama 3 men to get to Ushant on time. Bruno Peyron had spent 9 days, 11 hours and 15 minutes on finishing this last stage in 2005. “Thankfully, Groupama 3 is comfortable with short timeframes,” Franck Cammas said with confidence on 14 March. Thankfully for the skipper, his luck was about to change, along with the wind. The trimaran managed to quickly latch onto the brisk trade winds off Cape Verde. On 16 March, Groupama 3 again hopped ahead of its virtual competitor. The ten crewmembers were ready for the first obstacle: the Azores High and its barrier of weak winds. Sylvain Mondon, the land-based router, also announced a series of low-pressure fronts whose potential should be maximized for rushing to Ushant.

On 17 March, as a southwesterly disturbance flowed, Franck Cammas and his nine crewmembers positioned themselves in front of a cold front. “We’ve latched onto the system that’s on the way right up to Brittany. If we have no technical problems, then we have nothing more to fear on the meteorological front. We’re on the last wind train that’s going right up to the arrival point,” announced Fred Le Peutrec on the daily radio session. But this last stretch would not be run on rails. Franck Cammas and Stan Honney, the navigator on board, planned a series of gibes to bring the boat to the south of the depression, in order to spare it from too much disturbance. At 1,500 miles (2778 km) from Ushant, the wind became more unstable, switching from southwest to northwest. The crewmembers set in motion a series of maneuvers. The boat, tired by its high-speed world tour, bounced on the waves. But more speed was needed despite the risk of breakage, for a high-pressure ridge was emerging on the trimaran’s coattails.

It was in the middle of the night, on 20 March, that Franck Cammas and his nine crewmembers crossed the arrival line of the Jules Verne Trophy, under the flashes of the Créac’h, Ushant’s monumental lighthouse. They had just finished their world tour via the three capes in 48 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes and 52 seconds, beating the circumnavigation speed record. Going under the symbolic bar of 50 days, they also notched up the bonus of an absolute record on the last stretch of the course: the north Atlantic, swallowed up in 6 days, 10 hours and 35 minutes.

Beaten by 2 days, 8 hours and 35 minutes, Bruno Peyron, skipper of Orange II in 2005, congratulated all his happy challengers – the crewmembers, the land, technical and weather team, the architects, the sponsor. “All deserve this methodically constructed success. Together, they have written a beautiful new page in the history of the Jules Verne Trophy. I’m proud to have been beaten by the best ocean multihull team today, and I’m looking forward to relaunching our team to ‘recover’ the title.”

Francis Joyon / Idec-Sport vs Franck Cammas / Groupama 3

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