Record attempt failed - Groupama capsized

2008/02/18 - Last night at 2343 UT, Franck Cammas, skipper of the trimaran Groupama 3 engaged in the Jules Verne Trophy, alerted the shore crew to the capsize of the maxi trimaran. "We have just capsized. The leeward float broke in two, leading to the breakage of the two beams and then the subsequent capsize. The crew is all together, taking refuge inside the central hull of Groupama 3. None of the 10 crew are injured. There are 5 to 7 metre waves and 25 to 30 knot winds. The seas are breaking and for the time being we're not putting anyone outside".

Groupama 3 had around a day's lead over the round the world reference time set by Orange II and had begun its entry into the Pacific Ocean over the weekend... The crew was unable to do anything to prevent their capsize and was very rapidly picked up by the New Zealand rescue services, which rushed three helicopters onto the zone. Franck Cammas looks back at how the accident occurred: "The leeward float broke just aft of the forward beam. There was a very quick chain reaction and within ten seconds the float had taken the beam with it and that too broke. I was on rest watch up forward, when I heard the shouts on deck: "Gybe!" and I felt the boat heel over... I had reached the hood when everyone starting hurrying to come inside: we capsized in the space of ten seconds. It was broad daylight, which enabled us to see what had happened. There was nothing left to leeward and Franck immediately tried to gybe, but the manoeuvre became impossible as the float instantly filled with water: without any support downwind, Groupama 3 capsized relatively slowly onto the side with the flooded, broken float to port. It was necessary for the whole crew to be inside the boat as it turned over so as to limit the risk..."

"The rescue was pretty tough with six metre waves. The helicopter couldn't take us whilst we were on the boat so we had to jump into the water to track down the diver as the trimaran was drifting at three knots. Our rescuers were very fast as we were all onboard helicopters within an hour."

Source:www.cammas-groupama.com

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