Franck Cammas and his nine crew smashed the Atlantic crossing record in a time of 4 days 03 hours 57 minutes 54 seconds, at an average of 28.65 knots over the 2,925 mile course. Groupama 3 crossed the finish line off Lizard Point on Tuesday at 00 hours 00 minutes 49 seconds (French time), improving on Bruno Peyron's time of (4d 08hr 23' 54'') by 4 hours 26 minutes.
Nonetheless, the giant trimaran has not had ideal conditions for this historic record, officially established for the first time on 11th June 1905 by the Atlantic schooner helmed by the legendary Charlie Barr. For the past 102 years, this reference time has been beaten nine times by multihulls but the progress in speed has virtually tripled! In fact Groupama 3 has maintained an incredible average of over 28.6 knots for over four days... An unimaginable level just ten years ago, since it is greater than the ocean liners, which still cross the Atlantic today.
The weather situation at the start on Thursday 19th July at 20hrs 02m 55s off Ambrose Light (New York) only offered up a single, very narrow window that gave them a sniff of the record, though its evolution in the Atlantic was not totally clear: a depression for starters, a zone of high pressure to skirt to the North forcing them off the direct course and an unsettled area to follow with a Northerly of varying strength to end the course... Despite extending its trajectory in relation to the previous record set by Bruno Peyron, Groupama 3's configuration proved favorable in the end for Franck Cammas and his crew, who had to continually get the very most from the giant trimaran. In so doing, the ten men devoured the last miles in the Channel at over 29 knots, snatching back even more minutes on their course time...
