Code Orange

Bruno Peyron revving up for TransMed record attempt

Bruno Peyron and his Orange II maxi-catamaran have been in stand-by mode in Marseilles since Friday for an attempt on the Trans-Mediterranean record between Marseilles and Carthage, Tunisia.

Today Peyron has announced that a suitable weather window has opened up which means that the boat could cross the starting line sometime between Thursday and Saturday this week. The earliest departure would be on Thursday between 15:00 and 20:00. More will be known tomorrow.

"We could leave tomorrow, but the wind will be too strong (45 to 50 knots) and it will blow right in the direction of our route. Thursday, the cold front will show up and give us 20 to 25 knots of breeze. We should sail really fast for the first two thirds of the course. A little doubt remains as far as the last portion is concerned, since the system does not seem to stay with us until the end. But whatever happens, the conditions that are expected lead us to give it a first shot ".

The Mediterranean crossing record is currently held by Steve Fossett, who established it on May 24, 2002 aboard PlayStation, in 18 hours, 46 minutes and 48 seconds (24,38 knots of average speed).

The first official benchmark time for this passage was set on this course almost 20 years ago! François Boucher, the former Elf Aquitaine maxi catamaran, renamed Saab Turbo, established the record with a time of just over 26 hours. Serge Madec, skipper of the glorious Jet Services V (that subsequently became Bruno Peyron's 1993 Jules Verne Trophy winner Commodore Explorer), improved on the time two years later, before it was beaten again by Laurent Bourgnon aboard his 60ft trimaran RMO (which subsequently became Primagaz).

Remarkably Bourgnon saw his record fall just a few days later to Florence Arthaud fresh from her win in the Route du Rhum. She beat Laurent Bourgnon's time by just 45 seconds, but she then held on to the record for 11 years until Fossett's attempt in June 2002. PlayStation, the first of the new generation G-Class maxi-multihulls took almost four hours off Arthaud's time.