Oceanracing 2004 - Orange II/Bruno Peyron mit zwei Rekordfahrten Atlantik und Mittelmeer

Orange II - neuer Rekordversuch von Bruno Peyron
- zur Übersicht

www.orange.fr
Press Release N° 24
Marseilles, Friday 24th September 2004
RECORD OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
Marseille - Carthage (Tunisie)
ORANGE II IN THE PACE OF THE RECORD

At 17 :15 French time (15 :15 GMT), Orange II was positioned by the South of Sardinia, and was getting ready to gybe before coming back on the direct route. The first half of the day has been quite hard for everyone aboard, but now the conditions seem to grow calmer. Nevertheless, the wind force should be sufficient to keep on speeding! This morning, the speedometer displayed 41,2 knots...
The record seems to be accessible for Orange II, and the crew now only needs 19 knots of average speed to better Steve Fossett's performance.

"Photo Gilles Martin-Raget/Orange"

"We sent the gennaker up again about half an hour ago, since the wind decreased a bit, and it should drop to 25 knots in the next two hours", explained Bruno during the 17:00 audio chat session. "It's notably less violent than it was this morning, especially when we were under gennaker — a situation that puts a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the helmsman! I personally saw the speedometer hit 41,2 knots, and we indextained the speed between 35 and 39 knots for at least 20 straight minutes". Which implies a permanent tension for the crew, who have to cope with sudden gusts, likely to cause sudden and brutal reactions. "At one point, the wind picked up in a snap. We were under reefed index and staysail, and we let go of the indexsheet in a desperate manoeuvre — it was a little chaotic, I have to say. But now, things are getting better: fortunately, we'll keep enough wind to sail fast until the end", says a skipper who seems optimistic, as far as the outcome of this record attempt is concerned. "We can't miss out for 30 minutes twice in a month", he laughs, referring to the Atlantic record attempt this summer, when Orange II crossed the line only 31 minutes too late". The maxi-cat should gybe at 19:00 (17:00 GMT), before hitting the direct route and speeding towards the line.