Author: Grégoire Chéron
Departure postponed for today but a new window targeted for Thursday!
Record hunting is not a bed of roses, but the many variables, which have inevitably been part and parcel of life for the Gitana Team and her crew since the start of standby, were known about by one and all before they decided to take on the Jules Verne Trophy. There are a great many expectations and the desire to see the six sailors of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild setting sail is still intact, but the five-arrow stable’s weather cell is keeping a cool head to give itself every chance to beat the record of 40 days 23 hours and 30 minutes set by Francis Joyon and his team in 2017. The departure, which was still being envisaged yesterday, for late in the day this Tuesday 24 November is no longer a possibility, but the team remains on code yellow as another opportunity might well present itself on Thursday.
No departure today
Yesterday, by switching to code yellow, a change of colour synonymous with a possible departure offshore of the north-west tip of Brittany in 48 hours’ time, the Gitana Team had initiated the final round of preparations: PCR tests validated for everyone, loading of sailors’ provisions and their personal bags… The Maxi Edmond de Rothschild was ready to go, with everything in place for her first circumnavigation. For all that, the weather cell comprising Franck Cammas, Charles Caudrelier, Marcel van Triest and Cyril Dardashti, was transparent: “Even though it varies a little from one model to the other, including a 6-hour deal to negotiate the doldrums, there is every chance that the crew can make the southern hemisphere in 4 days and 12 hours. However, that’s where the situation becomes complicated and blurred”, explained the onshore router yesterday. “We’re faced with a very shifty situation that is evolving quickly. The danger is that we’ll miss the train and get crushed between two areas of high pressure in the South Atlantic. It poses a real threat, even though there is still a possibility of linking onto a course that takes us behind the high pressure. Right now, in this very progressive system, it’s circulating very low down in the south.”
The South Atlantic and its descent in the line of sight
The grib file forecasts, which are updated and analysed morning and evening, have unfortunately seen the trend referred to yesterday play out. “The window is still favourable in the North Atlantic, with a passage time to the equator within the current record time held by Spindrift of under 5 days, However, the South Atlantic isn’t shaping up as we would have liked. Today, the routing isn’t just taking us on a big looped circuit to get around the Saint Helena High, which is extending out a long way to the west, it is also sending us a long way south, to around 47°, to secure a reasonable passage time at Cape Agulhas, which marks the entrance to the Indian Ocean. The detection of ice in the area must also be taken into account as that’s something we’ll have to contend with if would descend so far South…” explained Franck Cammas this morning at the end of the weather briefing.
“The models have not been very in phase over recent weeks. The differences and the scenarios vary a great deal between the European model (CEP) and the American model (GFS) and that’s currently making our work to pinpoint the right departure window rather complicated. That’s nothing new though… it’s all part of the strategy of a challenge like this,” confided Marcel van Triest.
This Tuesday 24 November could have been departure day for the men of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild and all the team, who are supporting them in this quest for the outright round the world sailing speed record, but instead it will be another day of waiting, in the hope that the models match up and that a route opens up to release the 32-metre maxi-trimaran and her crew, who are eager to show off the true potential of the giant on a planetary scale.
More informations : http://www.gitana-team.com/en/news_actu.aspx?id=1253
Orange Sunday!
Exactly one week on from the first weather window, which was ultimately rejected, the crew of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild has seen another departure opportunity taking shape offshore of Ushant from late in the day on Tuesday. As such, this morning, in agreement with their onshore router Marcel van Triest and Cyril Dardashti, the director of the five-arrow racing stable, Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier have triggered code orange among their crew and Gitana Team.
“This looks like a promising window with a very fine passage time to the equator for the moment. The idea is to set sail from the north-west tip of Brittany once an Atlantic front has rolled through. The coming days will enable us to adjust this target window, but today we’re aiming at crossing the start line on Tuesday night through into Wednesday,” confided Charles Caudrelier.
This information is naturally intended to be viewed simply as a possibility. Indeed, the episode last week, which saw a deterioration in the target departure window, serves as a reminder of this. In terms of weather and the record hunting, things can change very quickly in one direction or another. As a result, through until the point where the virtual start line is crossed offshore of Le Créac’h lighthouse, on the island of Ushant, the men of Gitana Team may well decide to postpone their departure and turn back.
“This launch window is one of the only things we can really choose in this record attempt so we’re putting in every effort to get it right. This choice has implications for the first third of the course, through until the Cape of Good Hope, which is already a very sizeable chunk. It’s a long way, as we’re talking about a forecast of over 10 days, but this does come into play in our departure criteria. We’re after optimum conditions to have a manageable departure, a quick trajectory towards the equator and then the right timing to hook onto a train of depressions in the South Atlantic. This is the sequence we’re targeting,” explained Franck Cammas.
It’s worth noting that Gitana 17, which has been on standby in Lorient since 1 November, will be tackling her very first Jules Verne Trophy with six sailors aboard, including the two skippers of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild. In this attempt to break the record of 40 days 23 hours and 30 minutes, held by Francis Joyon and the men of Idec Sport since 2017, Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier will be accompanied by Morgan Lagravière, Yann Riou, Erwan Israël and David Boileau.
Deterioration of the weather window, return to standby for Gitana Team
That’s the way records are set! Having switched to code orange yesterday for a potential departure offshore of Ushant within 72 hours, namely over the course of the day on Wednesday 18 November, in the space of 24 hours the crew of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild has seen its chance of setting sail on the round the world record under sail simply vanish. These comings and goings are very much a part of the game of strategy that colours these Jules Verne Trophy departures, especially in light of the fact that the current record held by the crew of Idec Sport is so high that there must be no doubt about the launchpad’.
Yesterday, the evening’s grib files were already hinting at a deterioration in the weather window being targeted by the Gitana Team. Unfortunately, this trend was confirmed over the course of the day leading to a return to standby for the men of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild.
“Yesterday, we switched to code orange with a departure possibility that we reckoned to be between 70% and 80%. We were waiting for this window to develop in a bid to obtain a greater degree of certainty about the connection in the South Atlantic. However, yesterday evening, it was in the North Atlantic that the situation deteriorated with the appearance of a tropical depression sprawled across the route through to the trade wind. This new element is not favourable for a departure as it would likely prolong our trajectory towards the southern hemisphere considerably. At the same time, the models were also predicting a very long course along the coasts of Brazil and Uruguay to get around the high pressure associated with Saint Helena, which is not the way to secure a record,” explained Charles Caudrelier.
OVER 5 DAYS TO THE EQUATOR
“Therein lies the difficulty of these pre-start periods! The desire to set sail is inevitably much in evidence, but we’re at the start of our standby and we mustn’t rush into it. The record will be tough to hunt down and we need an ambitious departure window if we are to stand a good chance,” added Charles.
Meantime, Franck Cammas was keen to point out that: “The timing criteria we’re striving for are dictated by the performance we know that the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is capable of, together with the analysis of the different record sequences posted by Idec in 2017. The passage to the equator and the time to Cape Agulhas are our primary criteria. Over 5 days to the equator is no longer a good window and that’s what the routing was offering us.”
The crew of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild
Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier, skippers
Morgan Lagravière, Yann Riou, Erwan Israël and David Boileau.
Reminder of the standby codes
During the period of standby for the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, which the five-arrow team has scheduled to run from 1 November to the first few days of February 2021, any changes in the situation and a possible departure date for the boat are announced via a colour coding system as detailed below:
– Black: no departure possible within 96hrs
– Red: observation of a possible departure between 72 and 96hrs
– Orange: observation of a possible departure between 48 and 72hrs
– Yellow: probable departure between 24 and 48hrs
– Green: departure within 24hrs
(FR) SPINDRIFT 2 ARRÊTE SA TENTATIVE SUR LE TROPHÉE JULES VERNE : LES EXPLICATIONS DE YANN GUICHARD
MAJOR RUDDER PROBLEM: SPINDRIFT 2 IS FORCED TO ABANDON
