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 remain 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
Remaining distance: 8500.30 nm
Lead on day 30:
- J.Verne record: +3357 nm (ahead)
- absolute record: +2548 nm (ahead)

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