Jules Verne Trophy 2005
Morning press release N°17 / 05.00 GMT
Paris, Wednesday 16th February 2005
Orange II at the halfway point today!
Orange II has had to ease off on the throttle a little over the past 24 hours, because of rough seas with 6-7 metre troughs, which are forcing the maxi-catamaran to restrain herself, postponing any attack to ensure her own safety. They have already had two warnings with a running backstay winch and a boom block that exploded. Fortunately, these two incidents were not too serious, but only go to confirm that Bruno Peyron’s decision to stay on the defensive was the wise one. Nevertheless, even in this very tough sea state, caused by the presence of a front 300 miles ahead with 50-knot winds, Orange II is still managing to indextain a daily average speed of almost 23 knots. Priority is being given at the moment to finding the best route to avoid punishing the boat, while at the same time improving day by day on the lead over the two major records they are aiming at. The goal is being reached, as two figures once again clearly show this morning: Orange II is now more than 2000 miles ahead of these two records and will be passing the halfway point today after around 23 or 24 days sailing. An impressive performance indeed!
Bruno Peyron :
«Things are a little tricky, as we’ve had some nasty seas since yesterday. We’re more in a defensive mode than an attacking one. The sea is going to have to calm down a little, before we can speed off again. We have had two inconsequential warnings, with a boom block that exploded and a broken running backstay winch. Two warnings we need to listen to. But it’s been a week now since Crozet that we have been on the defensive. We shall be in this mode for another 24 hours until tomorrow evening, before speeding away again.»
2 000 miles ahead. «It’s true that it is quite impressive to know that we are almost at the halfway point, even if we’re not too happy about the past 24 hours. It was difficult to let the boat suffer, not having the right angle and being forced to slow down, but we mustn’t grumble either when you see 11 days to reach Cape Town, 21 days for the south of Australia and 24 or 25 days for New Zealand.»
The ice zone south of New Zealand. «We haven’t had any information over the past month concerning the ice zone, which lies ahead and which is a real discontinuous wall. We don’t have any radar, no security system on board, so we’re going to have to take the long way around. That will mean we have further to go, but we’re going to have to put up with that cost, as the decision has been taken.»
Data:
Day at sea: 23rd
Date: 16/02/2005
Time (GMT): 04h00
Latitude: 52 42.32' S
Longitude: 131 44.12' E
Recorded speed: 22.3 knots
Recorded bearing: 66
Average speed: 27.5 knots
Speed over 24h: 22.2 knots
Distance over 24h: 532 nm
Speed since the start: 22.8 knots
Total distance: 12,466 nm
Reindexing distance: 12,825.40 nm
Lead on day 22:
- record J.Verne record: +2,091 nm (ahead)
– absolute record: +2,057 nm (ahead)
Internet : http://www.maxicatamaran-orange.com
Radio sessions: Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1.15 p.m. GMT at Orange race headquarters and live on Internet. Wednesday’s broadcast will be a live video link on Internet and on Orange mobile handsets.
PC Course Orange : Fédération Française de Voile
17, rue Henri Bocquillon
75015 PARIS
(Métro Boucicaut)
Audio: Apart from the radio session three times a week, an audio recording is made every morning at 5 a.m. with the boat.
These recordings can be heard and downloaded in MP3 format in the press section of the website: www.maxicatamaran-orange.com
For any individual requests, please contact Bénédicte Etienne on 06 87 30 12 83
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 latest records
- The world 24 h record (706.2 miles covered at an average of 29.42 knots) - August 2004.
– The Mediterranean record (17h, 56 mins and 13s, at an average of 25.53 knots) - September 2004.
- The Record between Ushant and the Cape of Good Hope (14 days, 8h and 19 mins) - February 2005.
- The Record between the Equator and the Cape of Good Hope (7days, 5h, and 22mins) - February 2005.
- The Record between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin (7 days, 5 hours and 35 minutes) - February 2005.
- The Record between Ushant and Cape Leeuwin (21 days 13 hours and 54 minutes) - February 2005.
- The Record between the Equator and Cape Leeuwin (14 days and 11 hours) - February 2005.
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About Orange ...
Orange, a subsidiary of France Telecom, is one of the global leaders in mobile telephony. Orange France is the leading operator in mobile telecommunications in France with a market share of 47.7% and more than 21.3 million clients on 31st December 2004.
index partners: Orange, France Telecom
Local authority partners: City of Marseilles, Marseilles Metropolitan Authority
Official supliers: TD Com, International Peinture, Henri Lloyd, UKHO, Lomac, Yamaha, Nera, Valderas Consulting, Telemar Scandinavia, Aramid Rigging, Southern Spars.
Video production for the Orange Maxi-Catamaran:
Arnaud de Belinay : +33/(0)6 84 84 14 71 - debelinay@therace.org
Official Photographer: Gilles Martin-Raget : +33/(0)6 07 55 45 85 - gmr@martin-raget.com
Press contacts for France Télécom / Orange :
Sébastien Goalès - France Télécom / 01 44 44 93 93 - sebastien.goales@francetelecom.com
Marie-Cécile Leprat - C Sports Communication / 01 58 47 84 58 – mc.leprat@csports.fr
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