Geronimo closes on Cape York

by Rob Kothe on 26 Jun 2005 The giant French trimaran, Geronimo, is 12 hours from the north eastern tip of Australia, at Cape York, late on the third day of her round Australia voyage.

She is tracking towards the first big corner and is now 236 nautical miles almost due east. Just on 5.00am Sunday morning, she was sailing at 18.8 knots, powered by a 15 knot south-easterly trade wind.

There is some apprehension on the boat, as skipper, Olivier de Kersauson, explained last night

‘My big concern is this Torres Strait - with us sailing such a big multihull. Geronimo is exactly the kind of boat that has not been designed to zigzag between the coral reefs with seven knots of tidal current.’

‘This is different from offshore racing. It is much more demanding and stressful, but very exciting.'

Geronimo has now sailed almost 1400nm of her 6485 mile journey. Her current ETA, based on her speed for the first 92 hours, is July 10th, a little over 17 days from her Sydney start last Wednesday.

The boat’s position and data is viewable at http://www.sail-world.com/geronimo/index.cfm?SRSID=59