The maxi trimaran rounded Cape Horn at 18:30 UTC last night (Thursday 4 March) with Franck Cammas managing to retain a lead of 175 miles over the reference time, which equates to 8 hours 55 minutes. However, the beginning of this final stage of the Jules Verne Trophy will be complicated for Groupama 3 to negotiate, at least for the first few hours of its Atlantic ascent.
 
The Pacific conditions have not enabled Groupama 3 to beat the WSSRC record for traversing the largest ocean in the world. There was wind, but too much, forcing the crew to make a detour to the North and avoid the worst of the seas generated by a nasty low.

In the end, the team devoured nearly 5,000 miles of the Pacific (Southern Tasmania to Cape Horn) in 8 days 19 hours 07 minutes – just 59 minutes more than the reference time set by Orange 2 in 2005 (8 days 18 hours 8 minutes).
 
There is still 7,000 miles to go before they reach the finish line off Ushant. Bruno Peyron took over eighteen days to climb up the Atlantic in 2005, and even though Groupama 3 is still a few miles ahead of the reference time right now, she is set to lose the majority of this over the coming days. The headwinds over the East coast of Patagonia will make a serious dent in the giant trimaran’s lead.

Is fifty days still within her grasp…..?
 
Groupama 3’s time between Tasmania and Cape Horn
8 days 19 hours 7 minutes (59 minutes more than the WSSRC record set by Orange 2 in 2005)
 
Reference time between Ushant and Cape Horn
Groupama 3 (2010): 32 days 4 hours 34 minutes
Orange 2 (2005): 32 days 13 hours 29 mimutes (lead of 8 hours 55 minutes)

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