www.orange.fr
Press Release N° 30
Paris Wenesday, 23rd February 2005
JULES VERNE TROPHY 2005
ORANGE II GETTING READY FOR A ROUGH APPROACH TO CAPE HORN
Orange II is still speeding along at almost 30 knots towards Cape Horn that they should be reaching on Friday or Saturday, according to the weather conditions that lie ahead. At the end of the thirtieth day of racing, the maxi-catamaran was recorded 8500 miles from the finish. Two thirds of this round the world voyage will thus have been covered at an average speed of 23.7 knots since the start. The giant has clocked up yet another day of 650 miles, and continues to step up the pace. Orange II now has a lead of more than five days over Steve Fossett's round the world record and almost eight days over Olivier de Kersauson's position during the Jules Verne Trophy 2004. For tomorrow, the winds are forecast to be strengthening from the west to 45 knots, with gusts expected around 60 knots, according to Météo France. In other words, the approach to the Horn looks quite tough...
Bruno Peyron on today's radio session (23rd February) at 14h00 GMT:
Two thirds of the voyage:
«Today, it's a little bit more violent than over the past few days. We are going between 29 and 33 knots. We gybed an hour ago. The rough seas are coming on the beam and that is likely to continue until The Horn. Each time the manoeuvres are a risky business, so we'll be trying to avoid doing too many. This one was planned, so we had to go ahead. The sun came up just as we were gybing. We started the manoeuvre at the end of the night, and by the time it was finished, it was daylight.
Tiredness:
We've been keeping our tiredness under check since the Kerguelens. You can see that on the faces. The overall tiredness is under control. The boat's speed is altered according to the group's tiredness.
Change of watch:
With each change of watch there is a quarter of an hour of worry. Regularly, there's a cock-up during the handover. Last time, we made a mistake with the windward hull, and it rose too high out of the water. In a monohull, you can feel the waves more, but here we have two things moving 20 metres apart, and it's not easy to feel the wave coming.
The albatrosses:
They are behind us, but when they want, they soar ahead. They are the only perfect wind-creating machines. They can stay for hours without flapping their wings. When we arrive, they think we're a nice playground for them. Their wingspan is 3.80 metres. We've been racing against this crazy flock of birds. Now only the smaller ones are still there. The albatrosses were a threat to the clippers, because if someone fell overboard, they are like vultures.
Cape Horn:
Our routes tell us we could be at the Horn seven days ahead of the record. On paper that looks likely. But that's only a forecast looking three days ahead. We may well only have a lead of six days, because of the gybes we're going to have to carry out.
Voyage:
It's not a bit like the round the world voyage from 1993. The first round the world voyage was an initiation. This one is the result of a long process carried out over time. We've been aiming to find the top level of quality. Orange II is a bit like the boat you could only dream of a few years ago.
Weather:
The approach to Cape Horn is likely to be quite rough. We're going to have to reindex cautious and get ourselves ready for it. It's not going to be very comfortable, as the angles won't be very good. It's not the moment to go on the attack, and we're going to take things calmly. Looks like we'll be getting a ticket for speeding after the Horn around the Falklands. Last night's low-pressure area was the one we picked up just as we entered the south. The other is just ahead of us by the Horn at the moment. So we have been around the planet on one system surfing on the isobars.
Lead over Cheyenne:
I know when I want to go on the attack, and when I want to turn, and I don't keep comparing with the performance of the other circumnavigations. If we have a good lead as we climb up the Atlantic, it will make things more comfortable and enable us to manage our progress a little more. We've seen since the start that there are times to manage things and times to go on the attack. During the periods of consolidation, we aren't losing any ground and when we go on the attack, we really reap the benefit.
Data
Day at sea: 31st
Date : 23/02/2005
Time (GMT) : 10h16
Latitude : 54 35.52' S
Longitude : 107 37.80' W
Instantaneous speed: 25.4 knots
Instantaneous bearing: 68
Average speed: 28.6 knots
Speed over 24h : 27.3 knots
Distance over 24h : 654 nm
Speed since the start: 23.7 knots
Total distance: 17059 nm
Reindexing distance: 8500.30 nm
Lead on day 30:
- J.Verne record: +3357 nm (ahead)
- absolute record: +2548 nm (ahead)
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
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.
- 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.
Morning press release
Paris, Wednesday 23rd February 2005 - 6h00
Full speed towards the Horn
The Orange II maxi-catamaran is continuing to clock up almost 700 miles in 24 hours. Peyron and his men are playing with a low-pressure area, which is racing along behind them. As the system develops, they are sometimes slowing down before accelerating away again, in order to reindex in the wind corridor, which is ideal in strength and direction and is propelling them along to the southern tip of South America. Paying more attention than ever to the ice, the crew of Orange II will be keeping on a course relatively far to the north at 55°S. Peyron is giving priority to speed and knows that his fabulous maxi catamaran can easily make up for the extra miles they are covering away from the theoretical route. They are therefore heading due east clocking up as many miles in longitude as possible, before tackling tougher conditions, which are forecast closer to the Horn. The 14 men should be spotting Cape Horn as early as Friday afternoon. Orange II is ploughing through the Pacific under two reefs, gennaker and staysail. Their time is taken up with adjustments and reacting to any changes. There is still one sailor out at the front on the central beam watching for ice with the help of infra-red binoculars…
Bruno Peyron : "We are fully concentrated. We’re racing away ahead of a front. It’s pitch black, as the moon is obscured by clouds, and we’re speeding along at between 27 and 35 knots. We’re not really aiming at covering the magic 700 miles a day, even if that is within reach. The changes in watch are always a tricky moment, especially at night; there must be a smooth handover to the new team, who must be able to take control of all the parameters linked to the very high speed. It’s particularly difficult for the helmsman, who suddenly is given a monster hurtling along at more than 30 knots. However, we’re now well used to it, and as I’ve already pointed out, each day makes us stronger, each day makes us more efficient."
Data:
Day at sea: 30th
Date: 23/02/2005
Time (GMT): 04h44
Latitude: 55 04.68' S
Longitude: 111 43.00' W
Instantaneous speed: 26.4 knots
Instantaneous bearing: 92
Average speed: 24.7 knots
Speed over 24h: 27.9 knots
Distance over 24h : 670 nm
Speed since the start: 23.7 knots
Total distance: 16912 nm
Reindexing distance: 8636.70 nm
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
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.
Freely available photos (for free press use) : www.maxicatamaran-orange.com (press section)
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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