LVT: A Win and Extra Point for TEAMORIGIN Closes Up the Scoreboard

Four Teams Now Tied on 3 Points Each Will Lead to a Thrilling Last Two days for the Round Robin


TEAMORIGIN had a close tussle with the Russians on Synergy on Sunday. Image copyright Ian Roman/TEAMORIGIN.

by Leslie Greenhalgh

TEAMORIGIN won their race Sunday against the Russian Synergy team in an exciting race that was close until the Russians experienced a spinnaker drop problem leaving Ben Ainslie and the British team to take a comfortable win.

In the other races today, the all-French derby between ALL4ONE (FRA/GER) and Aleph (FRA) led to a win for ALL4ONE giving them a solid 3 wins and 2 losses so far. An exciting race between Emirates Team New Zealand and Azzurra, currently the top ranked teams on the leaderboard and the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice finalists saw the Kiwis prevail despite them breaking a spinnaker pole during the race and managing to keep the lead and win by 42 seconds. In the final race of the day, the race between Artemis and Mascalzone Latino provided thrilling excitement to the end, the Swedes incurred a penalty and waited right until the finish line to do their turn, allowing Mascalzone to take an important race win.

Start gun for the third race for TEAMORIGIN was fired at 1315 with 16-18 knots reported on the race course. As the two teams approached the line, Synergy came in from behind at pace and tried to put pressure the British team, they both split tacks just off the line with TEAMORIGIN taking a small jump and heading out to the favoured right hand side. Synergy kept pace well as they headed out to the left.

The course area today had placed the Bean Rock lighthouse right in middle of the course with a ‘restricted zone’ around that area. This lead to Synergy having to tack across to avoid the restricted area. At the first cross with TEAMORIGIN on starboard, it was pretty close but TEAMORIGIN had a narrow lead and was holding most of the cards as they tacked back to their right side. Synergy was then not able to tack away because of the ‘no-go’ zone of Bean Rock. This manoeuvre further benefitted the British team as they managed to box out the Russians. Both boats tacked onto the layline with Synergy managing initially to hold on to the weather hip of TEAMRIGIN but they were eventually squeezed out by bad air from TEAMORIGIN.

At first windward mark, TEAMORIGIN headed round first with 12 seconds lead.

Both teams executed bear away hoists but there was a small twist on the gennaker of Synergy. The two teams did a simultaneous gybe and Synergy was trying hard to cast some wind shadow on TEAMORIGIN as they headed downwind. The breeze was up to 15/16 knots but quite flukey so pretty hard conditions to read. TEAMORIGIN sailed smartly to extend to a three length lead, keeping clear ahead but covering their opponent.

At the bottom mark Synergy executed a pour drop being set up for the wrong mark and could not get their kite down. The Russians had to sail past the mark before they sorted themselves out and by then TEAMORIGIN’s lead was 48 seconds.

Up the second beat, TEAMORIGIN kept their cool and sailed smartly and safely, the audio onboard enabling the spectators to hear the smooth and streamlined communications on the boat and between the crew. By the second windward mark, Ben Ainslie’s lead had extended to 1 min and 7 seconds. The last downwind leg went without incident and TEAMORIGIN took the win by 1 minute and 18 seconds – now giving them 3 wins and 2 losses on the scoreboard.


TEAMORIGIN wins against Synergy. Image copyright Ian Roman/TEAMORIGIN.

There are two more races in this Round Robin with TEAMORIGIN still to race Artemis and Mascalzone Latino. ETNZ have an undefeated score line with 5 wins but 4 teams now all have 3 wins and 3 points on the board so there is a close battle on for the second golden ticket spot.

Kelvin Harrap, TEAMORIGIN Afterguard Coach, commented after the race, “We got the basics right today, we were in control by the top corner of the first beat, the crew work was smooth and efficient and all went according to plan. Now we need to focus on winning our next two races to finish the round robin in the best possible position.”


Crew work on TEAMORIGIN. Image copyright Ian Roman/TEAMORIGIN.

Race results Saturday:
Race 1: All4One (FRA) beat Aleph (FRA): 1m 6s
Race 2 : ETNZ (NZL) beat Azzurra (ITA): 42s
Race 3: TEAMORIGIN (GBR) beat Synergy (RUS) : 1m 18s
Race 4: Mascalzone Latino (ITA) beat Artemis by 1min 3s

Race wins/losses/points after day 5 of racing:
1st : ETNZ 5 wins/0 losses 5
2nd : Azzurra 3 wins/2 losses 3
2nd : TEAMORIGIN 3 wins/2 losses 3
2nd : ALL4ONE 3 wins/2 losses 3
2nd : Mascalzone 3 win/2 losses 3
6th : Artemis 2 wins/3 losses 2
7th: Aleph* 1 wins/4 losses 0
7th: Synergy 0 wins/5 losses 0
*docked 1 point for collision

Race schedule for Monday 15th March, is as follows:
Race 1: ETNZ (NZL) vs Aleph (FRA)
Race 2 : TEAMORIGIN vs Artemis (SWE)
Race 3: Mascalzone (ITA) vs Azzurra (ITA)
Race 4: Synergy vs All4One (FRA)

LVT: Third Win for ALL4ONE - against Aleph this time - in Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland!

ALL4ONE versus Aleph at the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland. Image copyright Frank Socha/www.franksocha.com

by Stephanie Nadin

ALL4ONE Sunday won its match against Aleph (5th match of the Round Robin), which allows the French-German team to get a 3rd point on its scoreboard.

A point that the team had to win to continue its nice progression in the competition, where it has two important matches remaining to be raced to finish the Round Robin (one tomorrow against Synergy and one on Tuesday against Artemis).

This time, Sebastien Col managed to take the team to the right of the race course, according to the strategy that the afterguard had decided for Sunday.

After a long leg after the start on the right, ALL4ONE came back to make the first cross in front of Aleph, sending them back to the left side of the race course by then.

ALL4ONE then continued to control the right side of the race course, using the wind shifts, so that the French-German team managed to take an important advantage which grew even bigger at the end of the first upwind leg, after having pushed Aleph to do two more tacks.

ALL4ONE rounded the first mark 30 seconds ahead.

The team continued to increase its advantage while controlling Aleph all along the race, and ALL4ONE crossed the finish line 1 minute and 6 seconds ahead.


ALL4ONE at the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland. Image copyright Frank Socha/www.franksocha.com

Jochen Schümann, Skipper and Sports Director for ALL4ONE: "All these races are very tough. And I think that in contradiction to yesterday's race against Emirates Team New Zealand, this was an important race because we had to make this point for the overall result. That's why we had a clear plan to start with speed and stay out of trouble with them so that we have a race over the whole length of the course, and I think we really fulfilled our plan there: full speed start, sailing on the lifted tack first, then we had a little gain already which made the race looking very easy from the outside, but we sailed well the shifts and we kept gaining and gaining, so very good race wise. Everyone feels more confident; every race here is kind of a practice for us. That's the same for all the teams. I think the quality of racing gets higher and higher, and I guess the guys that didn't do that many points probably also get more aggressive each race so, the intensity of racing increases."

ALL4ONE will race against Russian team Synergy Monday for its 6th match in the Round Robin.

RESULTS DAY 5
Race 1: ALL4ONE wins by 1'06 sec over Aleph
Race 2: Emirates Team New Zealand wins by 42 sec over Azzurra
Race 3: TeamOrigin wins by 1'18 sec over Synergy
Race 4: Mascalzone Latino Audi Team wins by 1'03 sec over Artemis

ALL4ONE
Louis Vuitton Trophy

LVT: Hungry pack fights for top place at Louis Vuitton Trophy

Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand went unbeaten, while Paul Cayard and Artemis lost a vital match on a penalty call in an action-packed day of racing during the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland


Approaching the weather mark, ALL4ONE leads Aleph. Image copyright Bob Grieser/www.outsideimages.co.nz/Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland.

by Keith Taylor

With just two days of racing remaining before the end of the round robin, a hungry pack of four teams is in equal second place, each with three points and fighting to catch the thus-far unbeatable Kiwis. They are All4One, representing Germany and France, Azzurra and Mascalzone Latino Audi Team from Italy and the British-based TEAMORIGIN.

Conditions were ideal for racing with almost flat water and a southerly breeze that ranged from 12 to 20 knots with some big shifts and puffs. Peter Reggio’s race committee from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron got off four races with time to spare even after pauses for boat repairs and commercial shipping.

Emirates got an extra share of the limelight today when it hosted All Black rugby football star Dan Carter as 18th man, and when it broke a spinnaker pole during a hoist, the third fracture in the regatta in as many days. The Kiwis shrugged it off, losing only a few seconds in their match against Azzurra and setting their spinnaker without a pole.


Spinnaker pole breaks on Emirates Team New Zealand - but they still win, again. Image copyright Bob Grieser/www.outsideimages.co.nz/Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland.

Carter put in a lot of extra time comparing rugby to sailing action for the media microphones and signing autographs for the crowd that gathered in the Louis Vuitton Village in Market Square when he came ashore. His verdict? He was impressed by the teamwork and amazed at the intensity of the sounds of a Cup boat complaining under full load.

Speaking of the penalty against Artemis, Gavin Brady, the Kiwi skipper of Mascalzone Latino Audi Team. “It (the penalty) was out there for the taking and it’s nice that it landed on our plate!”

Brady said that about 35 seconds was needed on the short courses of the Louis Vuitton Trophy for a team to exonerate itself with a penalty turn. The other boat had only to stay close to guarantee a win. After the start and while they were racing it was vital not to be lured into a penalty situation that would cancel the first.

“You’ve got to get on the right hand side of them and get starboard and it’s hard for the umpires to give you a penalty,” he said. “It was simple for us after that. We just had to watch for all the traps. I could see Terry and Paul looking back. They made it pretty clear when they were both looking back at me like hawks.”

Race One: All4One, def. ALEPH, 01:06 – The breeze was 14 knots from the south, sou-west as the all-French team of ALEPH met the German/French All4One. After an intense pre-start in which Bertrand Pacé at the wheel of ALEPH attempted to get a hook on his opponent, it was the combined team steered by Frenchman Sébastien Col that grabbed control of the right as the boats split at the start. On the first cross All4One led narrowly and ALEPH had to duck but that was as close as she got. Bolstered by the local knowledge of her Kiwi tactician John Cutler, All4One extended her control. “Our start strategy was to stay to the right of our opponent but the first thing we wanted was to be going full speed when the gun went,” Cutler said. “We started on port which was the lifted tack. That took a bit of pressure off us. We just had to wait for the next shift to come our way. When we crossed, Sébastien did a very nice job on a slam dunk on Bertrand Pacé and we were again on a very nice shift. The leader had the option to sail on the wind shifts and the trailing boat really didn’t have a lot of choice.” With yesterday’s Umpire decision, penalising them one point, ALEPH shares the bottom of the table with zero points.

Race Two: Emirates Team New Zealand def. Azzurra, 00:42 – This was the opportunity for Italy’s Azzurra team skippered by Francesco Bruni to level the points lead with Emirates Team New Zealand if they won. Dean Barker’s host team offered the Italians a slender opportunity when they broke their spinnaker pole at the first weather mark but it was still a one-sided match. Riding as 18th man on ETNZ, New Zealand rugby star player Dan Carter got a close up view of Barker’s surgical tactics before the start. Barker wanted the left and fought for it. The Kiwis got under the transom of the Italian boat to control them before the gun, then headed out to the left at speed while Bruni could only tack away and go right. They were 1,000 metres apart on the short harbour course before the Italians came back to trail by eight boat lengths at the first mark. The Kiwis showed a crack in their impeccable crew work as the spinnaker pole end dropped overboard at the hoist and broke as it wrapped around the shrouds. But the chute went up as planned and they sailed both runs with the spinnaker clipped to the bow. The finish delta was 42 seconds and the Azzurra team drowned their spinnaker, if not their disappointment, when they trawled it overboard while dropping after the finish.

Race Three: TEAMORIGIN def. Synergy Russian Sailing team, 01:18 – Karol Jablonski, Polish skipper of the Russian boat, has a reputation as a tenacious and sometimes unconventional starter, as Ben Ainslie and the British TEAMORIGIN crew were reminded today. Jablonski had the favoured starboard tack entry and after losing a preliminary pre-start skirmish he was able to grab control and start where he wanted on the left and force Ainslie away. The expected left shift never really materialized and the British boat led when they first closed tacks. Jablonski kept in touch around the first two legs and the Russians only trailed by four boat lengths at the end of the first run. Problems getting the spinnaker down cost them heavily and the British boat had a 400 metre margin at the finish.

Race Four: Mascalzone Latino Audi Def Artemis, 01:03 – The pre-start struggle saw Paul Cayard’s Artemis, steered by Terry Hutchinson, penalized for gybing too close. Cayard was blunt. “It was not, in my opinion, a foul!” Brady, steering ML Audi, saw it differently. “In this game the rules are pretty strict and we’ve got umpires watching us. He couldn’t quite get his boat onto starboard. He was desperately trying to but the rules of sailing say the sail has to be set and he couldn’t get his sail through (in time).” Artemis led off the line to control the first beat and was leading by less than a boat length at the top mark until a very untidy situation on ML Audi when the spinnaker flew loose from the tack. Brady’s boat lost five boat lengths but pulled it back on the subsequent legs to overtake Artemis on the last run, surviving an Artemis protest as they sailed through the Swedish boat’s lee. They came to the line together with ML Audi one length clear ahead. The finish delta after the Artemis penalty turn stretched out to 1:03.

Provisional leaderboard after Flight Five:

1. Emirates Team New Zealand, 5-0, 5 pts
=2. All4One, 3-2, 3 pts
=2. Azzurra, 3-2, 3 pts
=2. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, 3-2, 3 pts
=2. TEAMORIGIN, 3-2, 3 pts
6. Artemis, 2-3, 2 pts
7. ALEPH Sailing Team, 1-4, 0 pts *
8. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 0-5, 0 pts

*Penalty point deducted

LIVE Sport Sailing 103.0 FM is featuring all-day live coverage of the Louis Vuitton Trophy. On television, during the seven days of the round robin, TVNZ is carrying nightly reports on its sports news. From March 16, during the elimination rounds, TVNZ will feature nightly half-hour reports. For the finals on 20th and 21st March there will be live coverage of the racing from noon to 4:00pm.

Louis Vuitton Trophy

Day Six Report from PUMA International Moth Worlds

Simon Payne (GBR) still on top going into the final day


The fleet at the PUMA Moth Worlds in ´Day 6. Image copyright Th. Martinez/Sea&Co.

by Bridgid Murphy

Three races were held Saturday for the Puma Moth World Championships in more light winds off the coast of Dubai Offshore Sailing Club. Along with most of the competition, UAE resident Glenn Raphael has been surprised by the light conditions this week. "It's pretty testing out there. Most of our training has been in the 12-15 knot range, and we've just had very little practice in these conditions," said Raphael. "Still, I'm having fun and that's what really matters."

With only one day remaining, Simon Payne (GBR) tripled his three point lead from yesterday over Brad Funk (USA). "It's damned hard work, and I guess I've got a good lead but I can't seem to win a race out there," said Payne, regarding his performance. "I'll look at the board, won't be doing anything differently, maybe have a few beers, read my book, then go to bed."

Funk, who earned two come-from-behind, first-place finishes for the day had a 13th in the second race, making Payne's lead all-but untouchable barring catastrophe.


Brad Funk (USA), Anna Tunnicliffe's husband, on Day 6 of the PUMA Moth Worlds. Image copyright Th. Martinez/Sea&Co.

Andrew McDougall (AUS) continued his strong performance with a decisive victory in race two, lifting him over Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) for the final spot on the podium with just two races left in the 2010 championship. Psarofaghis had a disappointing performance, his worst of the week, with a 17th and a 15th on Saturday.

Amazingly, the first and third-place racers are among the oldest in the fleet. Payne (45) explains that "age isn't a barrier unless you think it is. You've got to stay fit and do your own thing and you can do well,”he said. "Who says this is a young man's game?" said McDougall. "Our average age is 50 years old, and we're not getting any slower either."

After making major changes to his boat, top level pro sailor George “Bear” Peet (USA) had his best day of this championship with two solid top ten finishes, but he remained baffled by the conditions. "There's no rhyme or reason to the wind. You can sail 20 degrees higher and faster than a guy 10 feet away from you. It'll make you go crazy.” With so much experience in sailing other classes he explains that “Moth sailing requires every aspect of your sailing ability to be at the top if you want to do well in this class. It's made me so much better in my other sailing."

In the women’s division, Emma Aspington (SWE) has opened up a 17 point lead over Kirsten Sommer (UAE). As the event has progressed both have gotten quite a bit faster. "This is one of the best regattas I've ever been to in any class. The people are so nice and helpful but it is still extremely competitive,” said Aspinton. These women have been sailing impressively consistently finishing in the middle of the men’s fleet.

Two races are scheduled for Sunday, the final day of the 2010 Puma Moth World Championship.

PUMA Ocean Racing

2nd for Osborne and crew in Women’s Match Race Regatta

The New Zealand Women’s Match-Racing team of Samantha Osborne, Raynor Smeal and Keryn Henderson (pictured below) have finished in second place at the 2010 Harken Women’s International Match Racing Regatta in Sydney, Australia


Samatha Osborne and crew in action at the Harken Women's International Match Racing Regatta. Image copyright Andrea Francolini.

by Jodie Bakewell-White

The kiwis won their semi-final against Olivia Price and crew who were sailing on home waters, by 2-0, and went on to face another Sydney team led by Lucinda Whitty in the final of the Harken Women’s Match-Racing Regatta. Whitty and crew took the regatta win with a 3-0 victory in the final, but the official report explains it was no easy win for the Aussies.

“Three closely fought matches against Samantha Osborne later, Whitty was declared the winner of the Harken Women’s International Match Racing Regatta. It was the last match of the day that had everyone talking. Whitty and Osborne displayed some of the best match racing skills and tactics; using obstructions on the course and ‘dummy tacks’ to try to outwit each other. Whitty was to win by only seven seconds after a tight spinnaker run to the finish line.”

“It was a shifty day out on the Sydney harbour and racing was close,” reports the kiwi team after racing concluded yesterday.

“For us, it's now back home where we will be training for the next month before heading overseas for our next World Cup event in Hyeres, France.”

Ten teams were competing at the ISAF Grade 3 event including four from New Zealand, five Australian teams and one from the USA. Next best placed of the kiwi teams was Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Kat Stroinovsky.

New Zealand’s Final Placings

2nd Samantha Osborne, Raynor Smeal & Keryn Henderson
5th Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen & Kat Stroinovsky
6th Danielle Bowater, Bianca Cook, Hannah Osborne & Katie de Lange
9th Anita Trudgen, Hana Maguire, Hannah Scott-Mackie & Heather Trudgen

Yachting New Zealand
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia

Whitty wins the Harken Women's International Youth Match Racing Regatta

Finals action: Whitty leads Osborne in the Harken Womens International Match Racing at the CYCA. Image copyright David Brogan.

by Jennifer Crooks

Lucinda Whitty, representing Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, and her crew of Stacey Jackson and Nina Curtis, have won the Harken Women’s International Match Racing Regatta in convincing style with three straight wins in the Grand Final.

Starting the day with her semi-final against Jessica Eastwell (RPAYC), Whitty knew that she had to bring her 'A' game to the race track. A penalty during pre-start showed early nerves, and with both skippers being OCS, Whitty was able to wipe off her penalty as Eastwell took longer to return to the start line. From there, Whitty went on to win the match.

Whitty took the next match of the semi-final convincingly by 45 seconds to set up a Grand Final match up with Samantha Osborne from Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Osborne secured a second win in her semi-final match over Olivia Price (CYCA and Australian Women’s Match Racing team).


Celebrations as Whitty wins Harken Womens Match Racing. Image copyright David Brogan.

Three closely fought matches against Samantha Osborne later, Whitty was declared the winner of the Harken Women’s International Match Racing Regatta. It was the last match of the day that had everyone talking. Whitty and Osborne displayed some of the best match racing skills and tactics; using obstructions on the course and ‘dummy tacks’ to try to outwit each other. Whitty was to win by only seven seconds after a tight spinnaker run to the finish line.

“I was really determined to come back strongly after yesterday’s performance,” said Whitty. “It was a sudden death match this morning, but we were totally focused and knew what we had to do to take the regatta title”

“We’ve used this regatta as a stepping stone to the team’s European tour and I am really happy with our performance. My thanks to Harken for their continuing sponsorship of the regatta and to all the race officials, umpires and the host club,” Whitty concluded.

In the Petit Final, Price dominated the two matches against Eastwell. Price got the early lead in first match and headed wide to the lay line with both skippers tacking up the course. Price got a good downwind run to the bottom mark with Eastwell receiving a penalty at the top of the course, which allowed Price to get away.

Eastwell carried the penalty until the finish line, but spinnaker issues on the finish line delayed the turn.

In the second match, Eastwell received a penalty in the pre-start and used the puffs of breezes coming from the left hand side of the course in an attempt to gain enough off a lead to wipe off her penalty. The penalty would remain until the second leg of the match at the top mark, but Price got the better spinnaker run to the finish line and won by 16 seconds and secured third place.

“It was a very hard fought third place against fellow Australian Women’s Match Racing Team members. I’ve found it really interesting to be on the helm this regatta – It’s a totally different mindset to mainsheet or bow. Congratulations to Lucinda and her team,” Price concluded.

Carl Watson, Managing Director, Harken Australia, watched the finals action with great excitement. “That was one of the best match races I have seen in a long while” he said when referring to the Whitty vs Osborne final match. “It was a great display of tactics, picking the shifts in the breeze and maximizing the opportunities as they presented themselves.”

“Congratulations to Lucinda and her crew, and to all the women participating in this regatta. I look forward to welcoming all the competitors back again next year,” Watson concluded.

Racing was again conducted in Rushcutters Bay with sou’easterly breezes of 12-15 knots.


Harken Women's Match Racing Regatta Winning team of Lucinda Whitty, Nina Curtis and Stacey Jackson. Image copyright David Brogan.

A prizegiving was conducted at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the host club for the Harken Women’s International Youth Match Racing Regatta.

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia

JVT: Step by Step for Groupama 3

by Vincent Borde and Caroline Muller

At the beginning of her forty-first day at sea in her bid to conquer the Jules Verne Trophy, Groupama 3 is finally benefiting from some favourable weather conditions. However, God knows that the crew has had to be patient before they could once again make the kind of speeds worthy of a 32 metre maxi trimaran. Indeed they are now in a position to begin making up the ground on the current Round the World record holder. In its guise as the final geographical reference of this record, the equator is just a little ahead of them now as Cammas and his crew prepare to take on their final week at sea.

Blue seas and heat, a mild E'ly wind and tropical sunshine, such is the weather Groupama 3 has been enjoying offshore of Recife, beam onto the wind: "We've been slipping along nicely since late yesterday and we're back in slightly more favourable conditions to make good speed. We're in a good phase now with 15 knots of breeze and the boat is making 28 to 30 knots of boat speed. The sailing conditions are very mild. When we're all on deck at the same time, we have some very enjoyable moments together" admitted Thomas Coville, during the daily radio link-up with the Paris HQ for the Jules Verne Trophy.

Positioned 430 miles from the line separating the South Atlantic and the North early this afternoon, the maxi trimaran is now performing as she should now that she's done with the rather unfavourable tack changes, which she'd been linking together since rounding Cape Horn on 4th March. Benefiting from her power (22.5 metre beam) and her large sail area (550 m2) in relation to a weight of just 18 tonnes, Groupama 3 is sailing twice as fast as the wind strength. At this pace, she has made up 54 miles on Orange 2 in the space of 13 hours, that is over 4 miles gained every hour.

Not surprisingly such a performance is giving this very top level crew a good boost: "We're in great spirits and we're going to give it our all until we cross the finish line. From a physical point of view, we're feeling fairly rested and Groupama 3 is in tip-top condition, sailing at 100% of her potential. For the time being we're still taking things step by step, as you would a hurdle race where you have to get over various obstacles. Today is coloured by the tradewinds. The next stage will be the equator then the Doldrums... We're not thinking too far ahead as that just puts unnecessary pressure on us."

As such we can't count on Thomas Coville to give us his prognosis of Groupama 3's chances of crossing the finish line off the island of Ushant before Tuesday 23rd March at 0714 hours. Hardened long-distance racers, the ten crew are respecting the plan of action set by Franck Cammas to the letter: "Since setting out on this Jules Verne Trophy, we have always been sparing of our steed, even if it means not choosing the fastest course. At times that was frustrating but the upshot of that is that the boat is in perfect condition."

Still highly attentive to developments in the weather, the group coming on watch always start out by visiting navigator Stan Honey to get instructions for the next two or three hours they'll spend on deck: "This exchange is essential to performance because, in contrast to what you may think, there is a great deal to be won or lost according to the way in which you helm and trim the sails. We're highly concentrated" concluded Thomas Coville.

Groupama 3's log (departure on 31st January at 13h 55' 53'' UTC)
Day 1 (1st February 1400 UTC): 500 miles (deficit = 94 miles)
Day 2 (2nd February 1400 UTC): 560 miles (lead = 3.5 miles)
Day 3 (3rd February 1400 UTC): 535 miles (lead = 170 miles)
Day 4 (4th February 1400 UTC): 565 miles (lead = 245 miles)
Day 5 (5th February 1400 UTC): 656 miles (lead = 562 miles)
Day 6 (6th February 1400 UTC): 456 miles (lead = 620 miles)
Day 7 (7th February 1400 UTC): 430 miles (lead = 539 miles)
Day 8 (8th February 1400 UTC): 305 miles (lead = 456 miles)
Day 9 (9th February 1400 UTC): 436 miles (lead = 393 miles)
Day 10 (10th February 1400 UTC): 355 miles (lead = 272 miles)
Day 11 (11th February 1400 UTC): 267 miles (deficit = 30 miles)
Day 12 (12th February 1400 UTC): 247 miles (deficit = 385 miles)
Day 13 (13th February 1400 UTC): 719 miles (deficit = 347 miles)
Day 14 (14th February 1400 UTC): 680 miles (deficit = 288 miles)
Day 15 (15th February 1400 UTC): 651 miles (deficit = 203 miles)
Day 16 (16th February 1400 UTC): 322 miles (deficit = 376 miles)
Day 17 (17th February 1400 UTC): 425 miles (deficit = 338 miles)
Day 18 (18th February 1400 UTC): 362 miles (deficit = 433 miles)
Day 19 (19th February 1400 UTC): 726 miles (deficit = 234 miles)
Day 20 (20th February 1400 UTC): 672 miles (deficit = 211 miles)
Day 21 (21th February 1400 UTC): 584 miles (deficit = 124 miles)
Day 22 (22nd February 1400 UTC): 607 miles (deficit = 137 miles)
Day 23 (23rd February 1400 UTC): 702 miles (lead = 60 miles)
Day 24 (24th February 1400 UTC): 638 miles (lead = 208 miles)
Day 25 (25th February 1400 UTC): 712 miles (lead = 371 miles)
Day 26 (26th February 1400 UTC): 687 miles (lead = 430 miles)
Day 27 (27th February 1400 UTC): 797 miles (lead = 560 miles)
Day 27 (27th February 1400 UTC): 560 miles (lead = 517 miles)
Day 29 (1st March 1400 UTC): 434 miles (lead = 268 miles)
Day 30 (2nd March 1400 UTC): 575 miles (lead = 184 miles)
Day 31 (3rd March 1400 UTC): 617 miles (lead = 291 miles)
Day 32 (4th March 1400 UTC): 492 miles (lead = 248 miles)
Day 33 (5th March 1400 UTC): 445 miles (lead = 150 miles)
Day 34 (6th March 1400 UTC): 461 miles (lead = 58 miles)
Day 35 (7th March 1400 UTC): 382 miles (deficit = 100 miles)
Day 36 (8th March 1400 UTC): 317 miles (deficit = 326 miles)
Day 37 (9th March 1400 UTC): 506 miles (deficit = 331 miles)
Day 38 (10th March 1400 UTC): 321 miles (deficit = 384 miles)
Day 39 (11th March 1400 UTC): 255 miles (deficit = 309 miles)
Day 40 (12th March 1400 UTC): 288 miles (deficit = 473 miles)
Day 41 (13th March 1400 UTC): 503 miles (deficit = 483 miles)

WSSRC record from equator to equator
Orange 2 (2005): 33d 16h 06'

Cammas - Groupama