Orange II Final Result–24-Hour Record? Oui! Transatlantic Record? Mais non!: Yup, they were just a half hour out, and spent the last hour tacking toward the finish. What a bummer that must have been, as the clock ticked down. Anyhow, Here’s Mons. Peyron’s summary:

“Looking at it from an overall point of view, there are more positive things than negative to look back on after this adventure. The result is beyond our hopes, bearing in mind that we set out after only a short period of ten days or so on stand-by… We set a new 24 hour record, reached a maximum of 39 knots, and apart from just a few minutes, equalled the reference time, in spite of a course that was much less favourable. The angles to the wind didn’t help us, especially at the end of the race, when we had to tack for an hour: strangely enough, we can see part of this unplanned, extra hour in the final result!

We know that the boat, which we have learnt to control now, is capable of smashing the record… We pushed her all the way, and were ready to take some risks of course, as when you set yourself such a challenge, that is something you have to do: it is surprising that given these conditions we didn’t break anything at all, except for a key on the computer keyboard, and I’d like to say thanks now to the team, who got the boat ready, as they really did a wonderful job.”



Pipped Peyron: “Merde…”