Orange turns back

'Technical damage' is the cause

This morning at around 06:00 GMT as Orange II was doing more than 30 knots, a technical incident occurred on board. After consulting with his crew, Bruno Peyron decided to turn back and head for Brittany. "What happened does not allow us to continue racing, and we're still close enough to home to come back quickly, have this problem fixed, and take another start. The real concern is that we were sailing in exceptional sea and wind conditions, downwind, and now we'll have to come back upwind against 35 knots of breeze".

Since her departure on her attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy yesterday morning Bruno Peyron's Orange II maxi-catamaran achieved an outstanding first day at sea covering more than 580 miles during the first 24 hours with average speeds close to 25 knots.

At present no further information is available about exactly what 'technical incident' means.