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Orange to depart tomorrow evening from Marseilles on Transmed record

As predicted yesterday, a weather window is opening up for Bruno Peyron and his crew to try and break the Marseilles to Carthage record. The Orange II maxi-catamaran should cross the starting line tomorrow (Thursday) between 18:00 and 20:00 local time.

"We're waiting for a cold front which should cause the winds to shift to the west, a shift which will probably be less significant than expected, and that might force us to gybe twice at the end of the course", explained Bruno Peyron today. "As far as the wind strength is concerned, I reckon we'll have more than enough! The state of the seas will be quite rough, since it's generally the case in the Mediterranean when it's been blowing more than 30 knots for three straight days. So the choppy seas may force us to ease off a bit".

As a result Orange II will probably not be pushed at 100%, but "all hands will be on deck at all times and there will be no watch systems as the record to beat is only 18 hours and 46 minutes long. The best helmsmen on board will take turns behind the wheel. Their task will be to keep the boat speed at its highest level!

The crew for this record is composed by the same "core" that already tackled the Atlantic in August:

Bruno Peyron, skipper
Sébastien Audigane
Yves Le Blévec
Halvard Mabire
Lionel Lemonchois
Ludovic Alglaor
Marc Englebert
Tanguy de Lamotte
Stanislas Devorsine
Quentin Gilles
Arnaud de Bélinay (video)

The current record set in May 2002 of Steve Fossett and PlayStation stands at 18 hours, 46 minutes and 48 seconds.