JV Wrapup–Peyron Throws Down The Gauntlet: Yes, Olivier De Kersauson set a new Jules Verne Record (63 Days, 13 Hours, 59 Minutes). No, he didn’t hand over the Jules Verne Trophy to Steve Fossett, the outright record holder who was about 5 days faster. So what next? Well, until the Jules Verne Trophy is in the hands of the outright record holder it is pretty much meaningless. And reuniting the two records is exactly what Bruno Peyron, one of the founders of the Jules Verne Association and the first to circle the globe in under 80 days, plans to do. He has just relaunched his maxi-cat Orange II, and will certainly spend the rest of the year working the boat up (so it doesn’t fall apart again), making record attempts across the Atlantic and in the Med, and preparing for another round-the-world shot next winter. To spice things up, Peyron has challenged any of the other maxi-multihulls to race him on a course of their choice, either in Northern Europe between June 1 and August 15, or in the Med in September. It would be nice to see any of these big boats line up bow to bow, but we’ll see whether anyone wants to go play with Bruno…



Geronimo Finally Has Some Fun: “Hey, Olivier, Bruno is on the phone.” “Tell him to f*ck off. We’ve got a lot of champagne to drink before we even thing about racing his yard sale of a multihull…”