Jules Verne Trophy 2005
Press Release N°10 / 4P.M. GMT
Paris, Friday 28th, January 2005
CAPE VERDE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT !
On this fifth day of racing, the Orange II maxi-catamaran is sailing
350 miles off Nouadhibou (Mauritania). The next waypoint marked on
Roger Nilson’s navigation screen is off Santo-Antao and Sao Vicente,
the two most westerly islands in the Cap Verde archipelago. After the
Canaries, the next little group of islands, which were some 250 miles
ahead of the maxi-catamaran early this afternoon, should be passed in
the middle of the night. For the moment, it is still under full sail
with the staysail and index gennaker that Orange II is cruising along,
averaging 18 knots in a wind varying between 11 and 15 knots from the
north / north east. After a long 600 mile starboard tack (wind coming
from the right), Orange II gybed in the middle of the day, and again in
mid-afternoon. The giant is having to deal with this wind, which is
almost directly aft to head for this waypoint in the Cape Verde
Islands.
Great satisfaction…
«In the end, we managed to thwart the traps in the high-pressure area
and the passage through the Canaries » explained Bruno Peyron during
today’s radio session. «It cost us a fair amount, as we were parked up
for three hours after the Canaries. Since then, there hasn’t been much
wind, but the boat does well in these very light winds. It’s what
makes the difference from the old boat!». It should be pointed out
that the average speeds achieved over the last 48 hours are quite
astonishing. Managing to achieve these speeds of between 15 and 20
knots over 24 hours in winds of less than 15 knots is certainly one of
the index advantages the maxi-catamaran has acquired since last year.
Bruno and his men are taking advantage of the results of the months of
hard work preparing for this moment!
The Equator in less than 7 days?
“As far as the Doldrums are concerned, we’re aiming at between 26 and
27° West. On the other side, there were forecasts announcing the dream
scenario, but it may be a trap. We’ll see in a few days with the
evolution of the weather and are reindexing cautious for the moment. In
theory, we have taken the right decisions, but we have to know how to
adjust our plans and adapt to the situation.»
Adapting to the situation is indeed what is required at the moment.
Thus, Bruno and Roger are working on what lies ahead, in other words
the approach to the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, the Equator and in
the longer term the St. Helena high. «Of the various windows we were
looking at between Monday and Thursday, we preferred the first one. By
chance, it wasn’t that good. But in the virtual race against our
friends, things are going well. If we manage to reach the Equator in
less than seven days, it would be quite reasonable, as it’s not on this
stretch that the result will depend.”
Bruno Peyron :
«We arrived to the north of Lanzarote during the night.
With the large gennaker. That wasn’t good enough. We had to gybe
three or four times to get as far east of Gran Canaria as possible. We
were 60 miles away, but that wasn’t enough to stop us being becalmed.
Orange II is a great machine for making the wind, as it looks for air
50 metres up!»
«At the moment, it’s rather dull. It was fairly cold until last
night. We’ve still got our fleeces and waterproofs on, which is
astonishing at these latitudes, as we’re down level with Mauritania.
That can be explained by the northerly winds caused by the anticyclone.
It’s the first time I have ever seen that.»
«Orange II is a craft capable of impressive performances even on a
millpond. When we say it’s a 4x4, it’s because it’s a boat that can
get through all sorts of seas. We tried her out this summer. With the
previous generation, the arms were lower on the water. When you’re
flying along at 30 knots on the water, the sea is like concrete.»
«We follow closely all the time where the others had reached. We also
have a third virtual opponent and that is Orange I. As far as the
weather is concerned, it’s not as good as in 2002, as in a boat that
wasn’t as fast, we were more or less in the same position. It is a
little better than for our second start last year. But it’s not as
good as if we had set out two days later!».
Sébastien Audigane : «We’re starting to get into the rhythm of the
watches. We started to get our books out yesterday. We grant
ourselves two or three minutes of reading now and then. I’m currently
reading “L’Enchanteur” by Barjavel. Our first two days went well. The
boat is in finer form than last year. She sailed well during the
records, but this time with a load on board to go around the world, she
is sailing even better.»
The data from 10 this morning GMT:
Date/start time: Monday 24th January 2005 at 10h 03 mins and 07 seconds
GMT.
Position : 21° 23.76’ North / 23° 05.28 West
Current bearing: 262°
Current speed: 23.5 knots
Average speed over 24 hours: 21.1 knots
Orange Race headquarters: French Yachting Federation (Fédération
Française de Voile)
17, rue Henri Bocquillon
75015 PARIS
(Metro Boucicaut)
Boat’s positions:
The position of the boat is updated every quarter of an hour on the
website: www.maxicatamaran-orange.com
The records Orange II has to beat
– The Jules Verne Trophy, held since 29th April 2004, by Olivier de
Kersauson and the crew of the trimaran Geronimo, in 63d, 13h 59mn.
– The absolute round the world record held since 5th April 2004, by the
American Steve Fossett, in 58d, 09h, 32mn.
Orange II’s most recent records
- The world 24 h record (706.2 miles covered at an average speed of
29.42 knots),
- The Mediterranean Record (17h 56mn and 13s, at an average of 25.53
knots).
2005 Jules Verne Trophy
Morning PR N°4 / 7:30 GMT
Paris, Friday January 28, 2005
Cape Verde Islands ahead…
Orange II’s Atlantic descent is indeed quite atypical… Rather than
finding settled NE tradewinds, blowing at 20 knots, Bruno Peyron’s
maxi-cat must deal with weak northerlies, generated by a capricious
high pressure cell in the north west. After having slowed down
yesterday below the Canary Islands, skipper and crew are now back in
the 20 knots + range, under big gennaker and full indexsail. On a
south-western heading since the end of the night, Bruno’s goal is now
to get closer to the high, in order to catch a shift to the north-east,
before gybing, in roughly six hours, towards Cape Verde Islands. The
objective is to make good speed towards that mark by sliding downwind,
and to reach the archipelago located 270 nm off Dakar, Senegal, by the
end of the evening.
Bruno Peyron: “Like we anticipated, yesterday has been difficult. We
had to cross a tricky zone of the high, and at the same time deal with
the Canary Islands passage. We encountered light winds, and even sailed
at 4 – 5 knots for a few hours. We had no other choice but gaining in
the South, and thus privileging VMG. Afterwards, speed came back little
by little. Now, we have rather unstable winds, between 12 and 17 knots,
and we’re sailing with all the canvas up – full index and big gennaker,
for 1230 sq. m. of total surface. It’s quite a sight under the full
moon!”
Key figures (5:00 AM data)
Start: Monday January 24 2005 – 10:03’07’’ GMT).
Distance covered since the start: 1961 miles
Avg speed since the start: 21,8 knots
Reindexing distance: 22 792 miles
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