The crew of the giant Orange II arrived in Newport yesterday. One final night ashore before tackling this long sprint across the North Atlantic tomorrow (Sunday). Bruno Peyron has confirmed that the crew will be setting sail this evening from Newport to head for Ambrose Light, in order to start out on Sunday afternoon between 12h and 18 GMT. For the moment, the final preparations are coming to an end, and a healthy enthusiasm can be felt amongst the twelve crew members, who will be going aboard for this high speed crossing of the Atlantic. Just a few hours before they set sail, the skipper of Orange II gave us his final impressions.

The weather conditions: “The weather conditions are just what we were expecting before we jumped in the plane. For the moment, it is fine in Newport, but the front is approaching with the skies clouding over, so that’s no surprise for us and is exactly what we were expecting. We will have to set sail from Newport in a few hours, at around 18 or 19h GMT, in order to get to the starting line off New York. We’re expecting a south westerly flow with 25 to 30 knot winds for the start, strengthening once we have left the Nantucket Banks behind, so that’s perfect. We’ll have a good angle with a fairly southerly route, which will add on some miles in comparison to the direct course, but that’s nothing to worry about. There remains one little uncertainty for the arrival zone, but it’s not serious enough to stop us from trying our luck.

No France-Brazil match: No, sorry, but we’re going to be busy concentrating on something a bit different from the French team. We wish them the success that everyone is hoping for, but unfortunately we won’t be able to watch the match. As for our team sheet, it’s not going to be 4-4-2, but rather 2-2-6, with priority being given to the attackers, in other words the top level helmsmen that are on board. We’ll have fewer defenders than during the Jules Verne Trophy.

Organisation on board: The organisation of the watches will be different from on the Jules Verne. We’ll be sailing in two watches of six and the time spent by each person at the helm will depend on the level of difficulty they encounter. It will be up to everyone to decide for themselves how long they can remain fully concentrated at the helm. The dials will tell us and when at a particular time, the speed drops off, it will be time to change over at the helm. For the time being, everyone is concentrating hard and there’s a lot of excitement on board. What I’ll be expecting from everyone from tomorrow is a mixture of the right sort of aggression and a clear head.

Simulation: We have some time simulations, but they remain theoretical. They give us between 4 days 16h and 4 days and 2 hours, but we don’t have much faith in the latter, which is overly optimistic. It doesn’t really tell us much for the moment.

Speed: Everyone knows this is the fastest record in the world (an average speed of almost 26 knots). To succeed it takes a very fast boat, and Orange II is probably the fastest yacht in the world today, but that isn’t enough. It takes a team that can make the most of her potential. Then, you need a very skilled weather team. Finally, we’ll require nature to let us through, and that’s something beyond our control. The boat will certainly be taken to the limit, which wasn’t the case during the circumnavigation. Here, the level is so high that we have to push the machine all the way, if we want to beat this time of 4 days and 17 hours. We already managed to do that for the Mediterranean record. Since then, we’ve made some more progress, but now, between the theory and practice, there’s an ocean to cross and an ocean is always an ocean….

Risks: There are always major risks in any top level ocean racing competition, especially on board these record breaking machines, when they are pushed to the limit. We have to set a fine balance between the required aggression, power and performance, and above all the safety aspect. There are no rules. You can’t find this in books. We’re gambling on the huge experience in our group and the number of miles we have already covered together in order to maintain this vital balance.

Objectives: Firstly having the best crossing possible, whatever the time at the finish. Then, trying to improve on our 24-hour record (706.2 miles), and finally smashing the Atlantic crossing record. They are our three objectives together. Personally, I have a fourth. I’ve been lucky enough to bring home three Jules Verne Trophies, and I’d like to bring home three Atlantic records. I already have two sailing single-handed, so there’s just the crewed record left.

The record: I’m not concentrating so much on what happened before, but more on our future objective. Of course, I have a lot of respect for everything that happened before, as this record is such a great story. Charlie Barr in 1905, Tabarly 75 years later, then all the great names of French multihull racing right up to Fossett’s final record. What is at stake for me is clear, that is being the fastest crew over this route. We’ve got what it takes, but we’ve still a long way to go to reach the finish.

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