Geronimo, the maxi cat forced to retire from the Jules Verne Challenge last week, has been making good headway towards her destination in Brittany. The task now facing the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young – Schneider Electric team is to reach Brest as quickly as possible and get started on diagnosing and repairing the problems encountered with the boat’s steering gear.

Olivier de Kersauson explained: ‘We’re charting a course towards a position 20 degrees north and 40 degrees west, and we’re making somewhere between 14 and 18 knots, depending on wind strength. We’re going rather out of our way to avoid a low pressure system off Portugal.’ Geronimo therefore has some 4,000 miles (7,400 km) yet to cover before she reaches her home port which should take at least 10 days.

Once the boat arrives in Brest, the steering gear will be dismantled and a series of tests run on the rudder blade to identify the problem. Until then, the crew will be using this rapid return leg to find out even more about the boat.