Groupama in the Volvo Ocean Race
Groupama 4 headed back out to sea 24 hours ago and is currently 380 miles from Itajai, making headway at an average speed of 8 knots. Seven sailors remained aboard Franck Cammas' Volvo Open 70: rest and health are the watchwords, after over 12,000 kilometres of sailing, most of which has been testing.
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Photo: Yann Riou/Groupama Sailing Team/Volvo Ocean Race |
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Photo: Yann Riou/Groupama Sailing Team/Volvo Ocean Race |
It now remains to be seen how Groupama 4 and her new rig handle in other conditions, such as the light airs we're set to encounter tomorrow. However, we remain prudent as regards the ETA.
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Photo: Yann Riou/Groupama Sailing Team/Volvo Ocean Race |
Indeed, the watch system has become simpler now. There are three watches of two people with a rotation every two hours. And when conditions are really stable, it's not rare to see one of the two crew on watch go down below to eat or look at the nav, leaving his mate alone on deck for a few minutes.
We made a video on the first of April where we said that we leave one guy on deck working, whilst the other ten sleep down below. The initiated will immediately have spotted the April Fool.
However, for the others, it's likely to be a little complicated to explain that last week, it was something which was intended to be funny, as sailing these boats single-handed is completely out of context and absurd. This week though, it's a system we're more naturally tending towards, and shouldn't come as any great shock at such speeds...
In short, it's night-time, the wind has just begun to pick up to around 25 knots, and we dumped the staysail to hoist the storm jib. The idea behind this is still to avoid working our rig too hard. We're still making over 10 knots and the latest position report sees us polled some 431 miles from Itajai.
Have a good Sunday!
Yann
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