www.orange.fr
Jules Verne Trophy 2004
Paris Tuesday March 2nd 2004
Race day : 5
Average speed fram the start : 20,34 knots
COMMANDO OPERATION ABOARD ORANGE II
06:00 GMT this morning, the Orange II giant is sailing along at 29 knots heading south, and will soon reach the Cape Verde Islands. Since the beginning of the night, a strong vibration is perceptible and keeps amplifying — enough to worry the crew. At 07:00, Bruno Peyron decides to stop the boat, off Santo Antao Island (north-west of Santo Vincente), and sends a crew member for an inspection under the hull. Vladimir Dzalba-Lyndis, a professional combat diver, goes underwater with spotlights and confirms the origin of the vibration. The fairing which protects the propeller shaft (S Drive) shows a crack through which water gets in at high speed. The boat's speed generates serious vibrations, and the water pressure threatens to provoke a delamination of the hull. There is no way the crew can carry on racing in such conditions, and after discussion, the decision is taken to try and find a sheltered place to repair the damaged part.
At 11:00, Bruno Peyron announces that if at first he thought reaching the Doldrums (Inter-tropical Convergence Zone), he will eventually head towards the volcanic island of Fogo, located south of the Cape Verde archipelago, 90 miles away from Orange II's bows. Bruno Peyron: "we do not want to go all the way to the Equator like that, because we would risk more severe damage. The boat is not in danger at the moment, the breakage is a minor one, but if we cannot fix the problem ourselves, then it's the end of the race for us. We'll take shelter under the Fogo volcano (14°51 N - 24°30 W) and try to repair from underwater. But what are the odds? And how long will it take? We do not have any answers to give at the moment. We hope to reach Fogo Island before nightfall in order to start working and get a better idea of the chances we have to be back in the race. One thing is for sure, we'll fight till the end, because we have a hard time accepting that our journey can end this way. Unfortunately, we won't know until tomorrow, and meanwhile the clock is ticking..."
UNDERWATER REPAIR
Contacted as soon as the breakage was identified, the boat's designers have immediately given Bruno Peyron the necessary data and advice. Yann Penfornis, architect with the Multiplast yard, explained that two solutions could be envisaged: "if the S Drive fairing is still in place, then the crack should be repaired by applying a "strapping" — which means stretching a wide strap saturated with epoxy resin over the crack to consolidate the whole area. If the fairing has been torn off, then it will be necessary to cut it as close to the hull as possible. The index difficulty for such an operation is to find enough air capacities (it can last several hours). Unfortunately, there is no compressor onboard to refill the 3 diving bottles. The second difficulty is to saw off the aluminium S Drive (19 mm thick in its frontal area) underwater with plain handsaws". Everyone is up on deck preparing this commando-like operation, which could take place tonight or tomorrow morning.
NEXT INFO UPDATE TOMORROW MORNING.
Radio chat session with Bruno Peyron, tomorrow Wednesday March 3rd at 11:30, Orange Race HQ, 91 Bd St Michel (Paris). Alain Prost & Laura Flessel (who officially launched the boat) will attend.
Download the press release on "PDF format":CPGB21.pdf
COMPARISON table / JULES VERNE TROPHY
Ranking of catamaran Orange II on mardi 2 mars 2004 at 8h00.
Day 5
Orange II 16 41,44' N 25 41.48'N 530 m 2307 m 22,1 n 20 n
Orange I 14 21 N 26 22 W 467 m 2310 m 19 n nc
About Orange ...
Orange France is a subsidiary of Orange SA, which includes all the Mobile Phone activities of the France Telecom Group. Orange France is the leading mobile phone operator with a market share exceeding 48,8%, and more than 20,3 millions of customers (December 31th 2003 figure).
Maxi-catamaran Orange official suppliers :
France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications, TD Com
Henri Lloyd, UKHO, Eduardo Valdéras, Nera SatCom, Telemar Sweden, International Peinture
Marseilles, Official Port
Copyright-free pictures (for press purposes) upon request :
Gilles Martin-Raget +33/(0)6 07 55 45 85 - gmr@martin-raget.com
Press Contact Maxi-Catamaran Orange :
Bénédicte Etienne - C Sports Communication : +33/(0)6 87 30 12 83 - benedicte.etienne@csports.fr
Pierre Giboire - Agence Mer & Média - pg.mer.media@wanadoo.fr
Press Contact France Télécom / Orange :
Sébastien Goalès - France Télécom : +33/(0)1 44 44 93 93 - sebastien.goales@francetelecom.com
Marie-Cécile Leprat - C Sprts Communication : +33/(0)1 58 47 84 58 - mc.leprat@csports.fr
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