Grands Records - Counting And Recounting
29 April 22:20

Claude Breton, Chairman of the WSSRC (World Sailing Speed Record Council), has issued a few details on the way Geronimo's crossing time was checked on the line of the Jules Verne trophy".

The visible man in action, with two stopwatches in hand on the photo linked to the day's "Regard" article (accessible in the "Geronimo" section), whose main occupation is cartographer at the French Navy's Hydrographic and Oceanographic, tells us:

"Our usual procedure, at the WSSRC, requires us to use three stopwatches to take the time of a boat that crosses the line determined for a record."

"We calculate the time difference with the closest whole hour, at the departure and on arrival, then calculate the difference between the two to establish the total time of the voyage. In our opinion, there is no stopwatch that is sufficiently reliable to stay in action for the duration of an around-the-world voyage"

"For the arrival of Geronimo, which crossed the line as winner of the Jules Verne trophy, we were unable to proceed with the visual check we usually do"

"However we checked the GPS coordinates of the boat on the basis of which it is possible to precisely calculate the time at which the line was crossed"

"Our semaphore colleagues from the Stiff, in Ouessant, also made a precise radar check of Geronimo's course and confirm the precision of the data calculated"

"The crossover of these different checks will enable us, once all verifications have been made, to certify Geronimo's time and declare it as the new winner of the Jules Verne trophy".

Geronimo's latest news are on http://www.trimaran-geronimo.com