# Groupama 3 Wins the Jules Verne Trophy



## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

*Fastest Circumnavigation ever*

Frack Camas is one of my favorite sailors. He is the guy that is going to skipper the French boat in the next Volvo Ocean Race, but he is also one of the best multihull skippers. He had just finished winning the Jules Verne Trophy and that means the* fastest circumnavigation ever*....and he had managed that with far from favorable conditions.

Take notice that the full crew were only 9 guys, for that big trimaran. Compare that with the crew of a smaller Volvo boat : 11

"Groupama 3 Wins the Jules Verne Trophy

Saturday 20 March 2010 at 21H 40M 45S (TU) Groupama 3 skippered by Franck Cammas with his crew of 9 crossed the finish line between the Lizzards and Ushant, winning the coveted Jules Verne Trophy. 
It was a battle all the way as the weather conditions were never really 100% in their favour. Groupama's advance on the record (established by Orange 2 in 2005) wavered throughout, but Franck was determined to wrest this prize once and for all, and add it to his already astonishing list of accomplishments. His tenacity and the determination of his experienced crew have, today, made that dream a reality.

Congratulations to Franck Cammas and the all team for this incredible record...

The records around the world - Jules Verne Trophy : 
Bruno Peyron - Explorer in 1993 : 79 jours 06h 15mn 10s
Peter Blake - Enza in 1994 : 74 jours 22h 17mn 22s
Olivier de Kersauson - Sport-Elec in 1997 : 71 jours 14h 18mn 08s
Bruno Peyron - Orange in 2002 : 64 jours 08h 37mn 24s
Olivier de Kersauson - Geronimo in 2004 : 63 jours 13h 59mn 46s
Bruno Peyron - Orange II in 2005 : 50 jours 16h 20mn 04s
Franck Cammas - Groupama 3 in 2010 : 48 jours 07h 44mn 52s "

YouTube - Voile: Cammas remporte le Trophée Jules-Verne















Regards

Paulo


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

It'd be interesting to see how well a monohull would do...


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

sailingdog said:


> It'd be interesting to see how well a monohull would do...


Difficult to say. The Groupama 3 is a giant trimaran (105ft), has a crew of 9 and was built for the job. To my knowledge there is not a giant monohull built for that purpose. But I believe that for equal sizes the multihull will be faster, but not as much as many people think.

I am more interested in small crew or solo races in more human sized boats and the last one with top class racing monos (Open 60) and racing multihulls (Multi50) was the Transat Jaques Vabre (Nov. 09).

There have been 14 Open 60 and 6 Multi50. From the Open 60, four boats retired from the race, from the Multi50, two boats retired. It was a Duo race (two men for each boat).

The first to arrive was Safran, the Open 60 skipped by Marc Guillemot, then the inevitable Crêpes Yahoo, skipped by Franck Escoffier, as usually the fastest of the Multihulls (only 12 minutes behind). Then arrived all the Open 60 (9) and only 3 days after the last one, arrived the second multihull. The last multihull arrived 11 days after the last monohull.

The Transat was raced with strong winds and stormy seas and while the monohulls could go full blast, the multihulls had to take defensive action, taking courses that put them away from the storm.

From the ones that tried to pass, "Crêpes yahoo" make it through, "Actual" pitch-poled.

We will have to wait for the next Transats to see if these relations are true, but it seems to me that a 50ft multihull is a match for a 60ft Monohull, if the weather is not really bad. In very strong winds and stormy seas it seems that the Monohull has the upper hand and the multihull has to take big risks to follow.

Some nice videos of that race:

YouTube - Transat Jacques Vabre 11/11/2009 : La tempÃªte approche

YouTube - Transat Jacques Vabre 2009: Revue des bateaux

Regards

Paulo


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## imagine2frolic (Aug 7, 2008)

Was there any women aboard? Just kidding....he he he he.... ..*i2f*


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

Not on the circumnavigation, yes, on the Transat.

On the jacques Vabre Transat there were three women, all teaming with men (duos). Two on the Open60 (Sam and Dee) and one on the Multi50 (Nicole Harel).


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

Groupama 3, the boat: Some more information and some movies. <O</O
This boat was designed by VPLP design and was the boat that served as base for the design of BMW/Oracle (same designers).

Groupama 3 - Sailing News and Videos | YachtPals.com<O</O

The Fastest Boat Around - Groupama 3 | YachtPals.com

YouTube - Groupama 3: Ballottage atlantique

YouTube - Groupama 3 -- 7-31-2009


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

paulo,

Do you get info on the tranquandra during its every two yr race? or the Figaro races? i recall those being for single/DH setups. Obviously in reasonably affordable boats with most being 32-40' or there abouts. 

marty


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

Marty,

Yes, I will post about them.

One day I would like to make the "Transquadra", or at least have a try at it. The next edition is in 2011. It is a solo or duo Transat raced on IRC.

The last edition had 50 solo sailors and 78 duo teams, but what makes it special is something else: You have to be more than 40 years old, you cannot be a professional and you cannot have won any significant sail race.

But they don't accept any foul that doesn't know enough and want to have some expensive thrills. To enter you have to qualify in some minor ocean races. The qualifying races for the 2011 Transat have already begun.

The Figaro races are a completely different affair: They are also solo or duo races, some of them Transats, raced on a monotype (Figaro Beneteau) but while the Transquadra is raced by amateurs, this one is raced by the best. Many young sailors, the best from the minis but also some of the biggest solo racers (open60) compete on the series. The races are super interesting with young and talented sailors trying hard to beat the big names, all of them racing with equal boats.

The next big race, a transat, is next moth. I will post about it soon.

By the way, Figaro, the main Sponsor is a French newspaper and today's headlines are (translated):

*"1/4 of the Republicans see the Antichrist in Obama"*     

Le Figaro - Actualités

Regards

Paulo


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

Some more information about the Transquadra:

First let me make a correction. Last edition had 239 racing boats.
The numbers I have posted on the last post are the ones that are already inscript for the 2011 race .

More than words I will post some videos. Look at the Guys...lots of them with more than 50 years old, some with more than 60, look at those happy faces .

That's the European amateur sailing adventure...the dream of every sailor that likes to go fast and away...to the horizon.

That's an amateur race, no professional racers, everybody older than 40 years ...but the best really go fast: The last video shows the fastest duo, on a 35ft boat, an A35 and he says that for three times the boat almost touched 23K.

Not bad for a fast small cruising boat with a pair of amateurs

By the way, have a look at this thread:

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/boat-review-purchase-forum/62341-interesting-sailboats-3.html

That's about a fast cruising boat that could (and will) go fast on this race. I bet that in the next one there will be several competing.

Transquadra - Transat solitaire et double réservée aux amateurs.
Transquadra - Transat solitaire et double réservée aux amateurs.
Transquadra - Transat solitaire et double réservée aux amateurs.
YouTube - 239 sur la transquadra. pour CotÃ© voile
YouTube - TRANSQUADRA 2008-2009

Regards

Paulo


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