Blistering start

Orange II racing south

Position at 0650: 41deg 06.56'N 11deg 47.96' W
Distance covered: 554 milles
Speed/course: 18.3 knots/210deg

24 hours into their attempt to better their record for the Jules Verne Trophy Bruno Peyron and his crew on board Orange II have clocked an impressive 554 miles. This has not only been enough to propel the giant catamaran out of the Bay of Bisay but half way down the Portugese coast.

Ahead of them the weather is lining up nicely in the short team with a low pressure system to their south that is heading east. By tomorrow morning this will be centred to the east of Madeira providing Orange II with 30-35 knot following winds that will back round to the northwest the further south she sails. However beyond this the situation is looking less ideal with a wide band of high pressure effectively blocking their route south. This will make for relatively slow progress on Saturday.