 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Geronimo fails in Jules Verne bid
BREST, France -- French skipper Olivier de Kersauson failed to break the Jules Verne round-the-world record after light winds slowed his catamaran as it approached the finish line. The record, set by Bruno Peyron in Orange in 2002, remains at 64 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes and 24 seconds for circumnavigating the globe. De Kersauson, sailing Geronimo, has spent more than 65 days racing around the world, at one point building up a lead of five days over Peyron's record. But as the giant trimaran approached Ushant, France, on Sunday winds slowed De Kersauson and his 11 crew to a crawl in the Atlantic. Up until Friday last week, after 62 days at sea, Geronimo was ahead of the 64-day record. But Geronimo's progress came to a halt in the final miles as a high pressure system blocked her path and the crew were helpless as they drifted off the coast of Portugal. On her 64th day at sea, Geronimo could only manage a 24-hour mileage of 176 nautical miles at an average speed of just 7.3 knots. "It's a real meteorological catastrophe and something that no one could have predicted," said a disappointed de Kersauson. De Kersauson had been keen to take back the trophy he last held in 1997 and had built the 34m (110ft) trimaran specifically for the record attempt. He set off twice in 2002, but was turned back, once with a broken topmast and once with steering problems. After leaving Brittany on January 11 this year on a third attempt, Geronimo set record times to the equator and the three great Capes, rounding Cape Horn on 20 February after 40 days at sea, improving on the record time set by Bruno Peyron by over 24 hours. The Jules Verne Trophy has only been broken three times in 12 attempts. Just three weeks ago Briton Ellen MacArthur abandoned her round the world attempt when the mast of her catamaran Kingfisher2 came crashing down in the Southern Ocean. It will be at least another year before there are any more Jules Verne attempts.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
