In the past 24 hours, Geronimo averaged 18.53 knots to cover 444 nautical miles point-to-point on Day 6 of her Jules Verne Trophy attempt.

The GPS reading at 2317 GMT on Tuesday March 2 (00:17 Wednesday, French time) on board the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran showed the following position: 09°22’N, 27°54’W.

Having passed the Cape Verde Islands on Tuesday (at 15°S off West Africa near Dakar in Senegal), Geronimo felt the effects of the trade winds begin to fade.

At the time of taking their latest position, the Cap Gemini crew were recording 17 knots of wind at best. The Doldrums seem to be spreading extremely wide and are now likely to compromise the trimaran’s performance considerably.

In an attempt to minimise the effects of this uncontrollable area of weather, Olivier de Kersauson has clearly decided to route much further west, since Geronimo was heading 3 degrees further east yesterday morning than she is today.