Crewed round the world record
Evening press release
Paris, Sunday 20th February 2005 – 16.00 GMT
ORANGE II SURFING IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC
2300 miles ahead after the first third of the Pacific
Bruno Peyron and his 13-man crew are coming to the end of their first month of racing around the world. The giant Orange II is speeding along towards Cape Horn averaging 27.4 knots (657 miles covered in 24 hours).
After 27 days of racing, they were sailing at 51° latitude south and their route crossed those taken last winter by Fossett and Kersauson.
At this pace, Orange II could round the southernmost tip of America by next weekend. It will all depend on whether Bruno Peyron and Roger Nilson manage to hold on to the low that they picked up under Australia offering them favourable winds all the way to Chile. If not, the maxi catamaran could be re-entering the Atlantic at the start of the following week.
More than 4 days ahead of Fossett
A year ago, Steve Fossett’s giant took 39 days and 16 hours to reach Cape Horn from Ushant. To improve on this current record, Orange II must round it before Saturday 5th March 2005 at 2 in the morning. For the moment, Peyron’s crew’s lead over the Fossett’s is 2303 miles, or the equivalent of four days covering almost 600 miles a day. After 27 days at sea during his race in 2004, the American cat was sailing down under Australia. They hadn’t yet passed Tasmania. At the same moment on her progress charts, the French catamaran had crossed a third of the Pacific. However, a year ago, Cheyenne set the best time between Tasmania and Cape Horn in 11 days, 20 hours and 18 minutes. A time for Peyron to aim for. If he wants to improve on it and set a new record for the Pacific crossing, he will have to cross the longitude of Cape Horn before Tuesday 1st March at 01.44 GMT.
Reminder of Orange II’s intermediary times
Ushant:
Start on the 24th January 2005 at 10.03 GMT
Equator (0° North):
crossed on 31st January at 12.59 GMT after 7 days 2 hours and 59 minutes.
Cape of Good Hope (18° 29 East):
rounded on 7th February at 15.24 GMT after 14 days, 5 hours and 21 minutes.
Cape Agulhas (20° East – end of the Atlantic – start of the Indian):
rounded on 7th February at 18.22 GMT after 14 days, 8 hours and 19 minutes.
Cape Leeuwin (115° 08 East):
passed on 14th February at 23.57 GMT after 21 days, 13 hours and 54 minutes.
Tasmania (146° 49 East – end of the Indian– start of the Pacific):
passed on 17th February at 05.26 GMT after 23 days, 19 hours and 23 minutes.
WSSRC record for the Indian Ocean: Orange II (Peyron 2005) in 9 days 11 hours and 04 minutes
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Website: 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.
Orange Race headquarters: 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
Data:
Day at sea: 28th
Date: 20/02/2005
Time (GMT): 11h08
Latitude: 51 58.64' S
Longitude: 160 14.68' W
Recorded speed: 21.2 knots
Recorded bearing: 108
Average speed: 25.2 knots
Speed over 24h: 27.4 knots
Distance over 24h: 657 nm
Speed since the start: 23.4 knots
Total distance: 15169 nm
Reindexing distance: 10,360.90 nm
Lead on day 27:
- J.Verne record: +2827 nm (ahead)
– absolute record: +2303 nm (ahead)
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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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