Code orange again

Banque Populaire V maxi-tri at the ready for her west to east transatlantic record attempt

Pascal Bidegorry and his crew have returned to 'code amber' ready for their attempt on the outright west to east transatlantic record attempt. Their 40m long maxi-trimaran Banque Populaire V has been chomping at the bit, while tied up opposite Manhattan since early July.

'Code amber' means a possible departure in two to three days and the team say there will be an update in 24 hours as to whether or not they are off or whether they will stand down again, as they have already once this month.

So what weather are they seeing? According to the US model, the 'Azores' high is WSW of its usual position and dominating the breadth of the North Atlantic. In 48 hours time this situation remains much the same, and would provide Bidegorry and his crew with favourable southwesterlies (although slightly too broad a wind angle). On Thursday morning the situation is again much the same, with the high in the Atlantic, a giant shallow depression over the Great Lakes and a smaller depression to the east of Newfoundland. And on Friday - you guessed it - the same. So a nice forecast if you like dead running.

Read more about Banque Populaire in our two part feature on her - part 1 and part 2 or more about all the big offshore multihulls on our G-Class homepage .