Orange 2 heads for the big apple

Bruno Peyron to tackle Fossett's transat record

The Orange II maxi-catamaran, skippered by Bruno Peyron, has left her Atlantic base in Lorient at Le Défi today at 15:45 and is heading for New York, her sights set on the outright record across the North Atlantic from New York to the Lizard

Orange II should be on station in New York around 8 August and will immediately switch to stand-by mode in order to await the best weather window possible.

Having been held by Serge Madec's Jet Services V catamaran for 10 years, the absolute transat record is today held by Steve Fossett who set a time of just 4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and 6 seconds. This benchmark time was established aboard the PlayStation maxi-catamaran at a dazzling 25.78 knots of average speed! (Read more about Fossett's record attempt here)

Bruno Peyron, prior to his departure: "we will try and leave with the boat as light as possible, but should be at least 11 on board. We'll set our objectives progressively, the first one possibly being the 24-hour record - and maybe we'll try and approach the 700-mile barrier... As far as the Atlantic record itself is concerned, we know that the current performance is outstanding, and we'll have the obligation to leave New York at the end of August, in order to pursue our program of records in the Mediterranean in early September. The chance of finding a weather window in such a short period of time remains quite reduced, and we know this period is not the best one could dream of for this record. Our goal is nevertheless to sail the boat as much as we can, in order to keep working on her optimisation for our next Jules Verne attempt next winter. And if we have a chance to add one more record to Orange's list of achievements, we won't miss it. We dearly wish to come home to Marseilles with a substantial result, of any nature?.