Annals Of Adventure–703 Miles Sailed in 24 Hours: Wow. Bruno Peyron and his latest gen maxi-cat Orange II is halfway into a transatlantic record bid and just picked up the 24 hour record along the way. Peyron had to bail last winter on his Jules Verne attempt, so this is the first major record he’s gone after since, and Orange II is looking hot. She’s sailing with 10 crew, and they took 3 tons out of the boat in Newport before starting, so she can’t be in much better shape for this run. Peyron and his team are trying to break Steve Fossett’s 2001 record of 4 days 17 hours 28 minutes. Fossett picked up the 24 hour record (sailing 680-some miles; which was subsequently improved to 695 by Maiden II) during that attempt as well. So when Orange II found herself in winds of 25-30 knots, Peyron put the pedal down. Here’s a summary of the run so far:

— Last night, the ORANGE II maxi-catamaran skippered by the French yachtsman Bruno Peyron and his crew beat the world record for the longest distance sailed in 24 h*. At 10.30 p.m.(CET) yesterday evening, Orange II had achieved an average speed of 29.29 knots since Saturday evening at 10.30 and had thus covered 703 miles over the previous 24 hours.

– At 3 a.m. GMT (5 a.m. CET) this morning, ORANGE II also crossed the half way line, after 53 h15 mins sailing since the start back in New York. This puts her slightly in the lead, in comparison with the Atlantic record time* held by the American Steve Fossett.

Peyron is expecting to find trickier weather ahead (in contrast to PlayStation which simply rode a single weather system all the way across), so the transatlantic record is by no means in the bag. But being the first to break 700 miles in 24 hours is huge. Orange II may be ugly. But she is also f*cking fast…



“Hey Bruno! I think we took too much weight out of the port hull….”