Main Page | Newsletter | Sailing calendar | America's Cup | Glossary

Orange misses out on Equator record

Orange: Ahead of schedule compared with the race record

LONDON, England -- The maxi catamaran Orange has missed the fastest time for a passage from Ushant to the Equator -- but still has a fighting chance of breaking the Jules Verne non-stop round the world record.

Frenchman Bruno Peyron and his crew crossed into the Southern Hemisphere on Sunday outside the record milestone time of seven days and four hours set by Peter Blake and Robin Knox-Johnston in 1994 in the catamaran Enza, which went on to set a Jules Verne record of 74 days.

But Orange is well ahead of the time taken by the current Jules Verne record holder Olivier de Kersauson, who took nine days to reach the Equator on his 71-day run in the trimaran Sport Elec.

After sailing 3,400 miles at an average speed of 19 knots, Orange on Sunday was more than 1,000 miles ahead of Sport Elec's 1997 record schedule.

MORE STORIES • Geronimo aborts record attempt  • The making of Geronimo    YOUR SAY E-mail us  with your thoughts    QUICKVOTE Will Peyron break Kersauson's 1997 Jules Verne Trophy record? Yes No View Results

The wind for the last four days had continued to blow stubbornly from dead astern forcing Orange's crew to gybe constantly under their big gennaker.

"Conditions aren't bad," said Peyron. "They're just not ideal for good speed."

To make the most of the 12-knot winds they were experiencing, the crew altered course slightly to the southeast, crossing the Equator at about 26° longitude West -- "A good door" to skirt the Saint Helena high dominating the South Atlantic in the days ahead, according to navigator Gilles Chiorri.

As it heads south, Orange has crossed tracks with the trimaran Geronimo sailing back to Brest after abandoning its Jules Verne attempt last week.

French skipper Olivier de Kersauson has already been talking with the boat's designers, Marc van Petegehem and Vincent Lauriot Prevost, and the builders Multiplast of Vannes about the mysterious cavitation problem with the rudder that forced Geronimo to turn back.

Geronimo had already had considerable testing before the start with no apparent problem. The cavitation, which caused the rudder to vibrate at high speed, came on suddenly when sailing at more than 30 knots.

Even though the boat was not under major threat, De Kersuason did not feel it was sensible to head into the Southern Ocean where sustained high speeds, day after day, could cause the rudder to disintegrate.

The question now is whether he can solve the problem quickly and set off again before the end of March, the latest time considered safe to venture into the south this year.

Peyron was the first holder of the Jules Verne Trophy in 1993, sailing the 26 metre (85 ft) catamaran Commodore Explorer in a total time of 76 days, 6 hours and 13 minutes, beginning and ending in Ushant on the west coast of France.

The Jules Verne race is an open challenge involving a non-stop dash round the world from the English Channel, round the Cape of Good Hope, through the seas around Antarctica, past Cape Horn and back to the English Channel.