"Orange II"
On the 30th day of his record attempt to circumnavigate the world as the fastest, the French skipper Bruno Peyron with his 120-foot catamaran "Orange II" is 2,500 nautical miles ahead of the virtual opponent, the record holder Steve Fossett with his 125-foot cat "Cheyenne" (took 58 days, 9 hours).
On the Jules Verne record of Olivier de Kersauson, who traveled 63 days and 14 hours with his 110-foot trimaran "Geronimo", "Orange II" now even has a lead of over 300 nautical miles. In doing so, Peyron and his 13 fellow sailors knock out one 650-meter after the other. And it is probably only due to a largely controlled journey that the crew did not report a new 24-hour record in between. Never mind - it already belongs to the team with 706 nautical miles.
The Kat is currently at 55 ° 01 '48 South, 109 ° 26' 88 West. But while YACHT-online readers are reading these lines, "Orange II" has stormed further east again. On Friday, Peyron wants to round Cape Horn. That would be the 33rd day of the trip. There are then still 25 days to sail up the Atlantic again and to reach the destination. At the same time, Peyron and his team made their way from France to New Zealand at the beginning of the journey !! Or another comparison: Ellen MacArthur completed the ride from the legendary Cape to the finish line at the Ile d'Ouessant / France with her 75-foot tri in around 21 days. Even the Vendée sailor Vincent Riou made the ascent from Cape to Les Sables (a little shorter) with his Open 60 (monohull) in 30 days. So it seems that only Bruch could stop Peyron from his triumph.
Experience shows, however, that breakage is not uncommon for racing goats, which have been bred for records. But the crew does what they can. To avoid a collision with icebergs, Peyron does not want to sail any deeper than 55 degrees south. He accepts the detour that this deviation from the shortest route gives him in the knowledge of the speed potential of his cat.
Four days ago the team received a message from Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who was the first person to circumnavigate the world solo non-stop and who himself set the Jules Verne record with Sir Peter Blake on board the 92-foot cat "Enza" in 1994 (74 days, 22 hours). "Great progress, you're doing great. Keep it up. Make the two records (Jules Verne Trophy and Cheyenne record; Steve Fossett did not pay the Jules Verne fee) one again!"