Geronimo on the other side of the world

At 06:13:56 this morning, the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran set a new record for the fastest passage to the Antimeridian (the point where 180° East is the same as 180° West), which effectively returns them to the previous day. The new record time of 32 days, 3 hours, 13 minutes and 47 seconds puts them 2 days, 6 hours and 7 minutes ahead of the time Bruno Peyron set on Orange last year.

Bruno Peyron sent Olivier de Kersauson the following message of congratulation: "You've done a great job right from the start! After a magnificent leg south, you found the same turbulent Indian Ocean as we did. I've been watching the beautifully controlled tracks of Geronimo… It's a great example of the "sailor's art", as you would say. Pass on my best wishes to all your crew and make the most of the Pacific!".

This new record time has been very well received by the crew. "Now we're really on the other side of the world. In fact, the moment we passed 176° East, every metre began to bring us closer to Ushant. Up to that point, we'd been moving further away from it. It's a real turn around and we're very happy about that!", says the skipper.

Geronimo has been heading south for the last 72 hours and continues to swallow up the sea miles, covering 474 on her 32nd day at sea; an average of 19.74 knots. The trimaran is currently pushing hard at over 30 knots on a wet and foggy night: "It's real 'back to school' grey weather. As things stand, it's impossible for us to go further south than 58°or 60° without risking coming face-to-face with a severe storm now to the south of us. So we're going to keep heading due East at around 56° South. We have to try and understand what's going on around us so that we don't get carried away. At the moment, the wind is much more northerly than forecast and we've been sailing under staysail and double-reefed main at 115° to the wind for a little while now. We're making between 30 and 31 knots in a rather difficult sea, but we're going to have to lift off before long. We've been going at it hammer and tongs since the beginning of the night and I don't think we can keep up this pace through into tomorrow. The boat is gliding pretty well, but with the wind that's rising now, we're certainly going to lose that. The wind is just on the turn and I think we'll be slowing down over the next hour".

www.grandsrecords.com

Geronimo's position : Day 32
Geronimo's position at 03:00 GMT