Please select your home edition
Edition
Pantaenius Sail 2025 ROW Leaderboard

Groupama in the Volvo Ocean Race- Echoes of the ridge of high pressure

by Franck Cammas on 10 Nov 2011
Groupama Sailing Team during leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, from Alicante, Spain to Cape Town, South Africa. Yann Riou/Groupama Sailing Team /Volvo Ocean Race http://www.cammas-groupama.com/

Still alone offshore of Agadir, Groupama 4 is benefiting from a gentle downwind breeze of barely ten knots trickling down from the North. However, the situation is set to improve the further down the coast of Morocco they get, becoming more favourable once they reach the Canaries, at around noon on Thursday if all goes to plan. To the North of Madeira, their three rivals , Telefonica, Puma and Camper, are sailing at quite a lick but they're at 60° to the direct route towards the equator...

On the one side then, you have a French yacht, heading down the Moroccan coast all alone. On the other, you have three VOR-70s sailing in contact with each other to the North of Madeira. The upshot of this is a lateral separation stretching some 350 miles! A veritable gulf has opened up between them then after just four days at sea and 750 miles on the clock since setting out from Alicante last Saturday... Most significantly of all though, conditions are radically different, as the one boat is sailing in light downwind airs whilst the group are contending with steadier headwinds. So what's happened?

On exiting the Strait of Gibraltar, a ridge of high pressure has filled in the `void' left between the depression which shook the VOR-70s up in the Alboran Sea, and a vast disturbed zone which is stagnating off Ireland and is set to be reactivated by a secondary depression to the North of the Azores. As such a long yet narrow band of high pressure is making the transition between these two weather systems, stretching virtually right the way across from Sicily to the area surrounding the West Indies! Franck Cammas and his men decided very early on to slip along the Moroccan coast and crawl down the length of the southern edge of this ridge of high pressure, whilst the other three competitors opted to link onto the fronts associated with the Atlantic low by trucking down the northern edge of this band of high pressure. Between the two, in the area to the North of the Canaries, calm reigns.

Though it's unusual in an event like the Volvo Ocean Race to break away from the bulk of the fleet (especially from the second day out!), Franck Cammas and his crew are certainly stamping their cultural differences on the racetrack. Indeed, on a round the world, and particularly so on this Atlantic stage which the French are very familiar with (Transat Jacques Vabre, Jules Verne Trophy...), tactics are always secondary to strategy! In this way, though Groupama 4 is set to slip below the Canaries tomorrow, Thursday, she will latch onto a north-easterly tradewind system which will gradually build to over fifteen knots... Meantime, between Madeira and the Canaries, the three VOR-70s will have to make the switch from a depressionary system with W'ly wind, to a tradewind system. Between these two systems, they'll have to traverse this ridge of high pressure where the breeze will wilt away until Saturday...

However, this certainly doesn't mean that Groupama 4 will have a clear run. In reality, this Wednesday afternoon and tonight, they will have to deal with a rather messy northerly breeze of around ten knots, forcing them to hug the Moroccan coast so as not to get ensnared in the zones of calm. As such, Franck Cammas has been picking his way southwards making about ten knots of boat speed, on track for the bay of Agadir, whilst his rivals have been flying along at nearly fifteen knots to the North of Madeira. Their trajectory would have us believe that they're on a mission to pass way offshore of the Canaries archipelago so as to try to catch up with the northerly air flow as early as possible this weekend... As a result the next 24 hours are crucial and will certainly determine which of these two groups will be first to reach the Tropic of Cancer, at 23°26 North, which marks the midway point between the Canaries and Cape Verde islands.
Noble Marine 2022 SW - FOOTERRS Sailing 2021 - FOOTERSelden 2020 - FOOTER

Related Articles

The Trimaran SVR-Lazartigue is back at sea
Peter Burling joining the team for the Rolex Fastnet Race After a refit that began in March, the Trimaran SVR-Lazartigue was relaunched this Thursday, July 3. Lined up for the months ahead is an exciting race programme, culminating this year with the Transat Café L'Or in October.
Posted today at 5:14 am
GKSS Match Cup Sweden & Nordea Women's Trophy D4
High stakes for semi-finalists as the final four teams in each division are locked in The third day of racing at GKSS Match Cup Sweden saw the completion of the quarter-final match-ups in both the Open and Women's class, locking in the final four teams in each division for Friday's semi-finals.
Posted on 3 Jul
Northern ILCA circuit at Rudyard Lake
Gritted teeth, hard hiking and several capsizes Rudyard Lake Sailing Club held the latest round of the Northern ILCA circuit with eleven ILCA sailors on Saturday 28th June.
Posted on 3 Jul
Celebrating 50 years of AZAB
Royal Cornwall YC host gathering of Azores and Back competitors Yachtsmen and women from around the world gathered at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club to celebrate 50 years since the Club's "Azores and Back" (AZAB) yacht race first set off from Falmouth Harbour.
Posted on 3 Jul
2025 29er Europeans at Lake Garda Day 1
Five teams tied at the top Ikke Huber / Liam Berger (Switzerland) lead the charge after sweeping all 3 races in the Green fleet — an impressive perfect score of 2 points. Lucas & Moritz Hamm, the dynamic twin duo from Germany, matched their Swiss rivals with consistency and pace.
Posted on 3 Jul
Dylan Fletcher joins #TeamMusto
The Olympian and 2022 Moth World Champion will become an ambassador for performance clothing brand The Olympian and 2022 Moth World Champion will become an ambassador for the performance clothing brand, with a specific focus on his Moth campaign.
Posted on 3 Jul
Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy Preview
Promising another colourful and memorable chapter in the history of this exceptional race The date is set for Thursday, October 2nd in Saint-Tropez for the 14th edition of the Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy. This one-of-a-kind regatta is exclusively reserved for classic yachts that are at least 100 years old.
Posted on 3 Jul
Onboard reporters in the Course des Caps
Enjoying the challenge of bringing the race to life In the Course des Caps - Boulogne sur Mer - Banque Populaire du Nord, the Onboard Reporters, or OBRs, are back doing a wonderful job of bringing IMOCA racing to life with pictures, videos, interviews and reports from the boats.
Posted on 3 Jul
Rolex TP52 Worlds in Cascais Day 2
Consistent American Magic Quantum Racing move clear ahead American Magic Quantum Racing stepped three points clear at the top of the 2025 Rolex TP52 World Championship leaderboard today in Cascais, Portugal on the strength of a first and third from two breezy races.
Posted on 3 Jul
505 UK Nationals at Weymouth
Michael Sims and Carl Gibbon hold back Howie Hamlin and Andy Zinn Apart from one 'stumble' in Race 7, the two leading boats were almost invisibly tied together to the point that after 8 races, they were tied on points.
Posted on 3 Jul