Annals Of Achievement–Orange II Bags Another Record: Okay, it’s one of the minor ones–the transMed from Marseilles to Carthage. But they sailed the 458 miles in just 17 hours 56 minutes and 13 seconds (averaging about 25.5 knots). That was enough to grab the record from Steve Fossett’s PlayStation by 50 minutes, and demonstrate that Orange II is probably going to be the new standard in ocean speed sailing. She was able to maintain high speeds in the early, rough going, and when the seas smoothed out she put the pedal down and was doing a steady 35-39 knots for periods of 20 minutes or more. Peyron saw the speedo hit 41.2 knots at one point. And there was only one moment of pure fear: when a sudden gust walloped them and forced the crew to blow the mainsheet in a big, big hurry (I’d like to hear the soundtrack–in French–on that one). So what’s next? Peyron is focused like a laser on taking the round the world record back from Fossett, and the Jules Verne record back from Olivier De Kersauson (recent history reminder: Fossett refused to pay the Jules Verne fee, so the round the world record was suddenly no longer the JV record and Peyron would love to make them one and the same again). That means he will almost certainly keep the boat in Europe until Orange II goes on standby around December (which rules out an east-west transatlantic attempt). But a little cruise in search of the round Britain and Ireland record (currently owned by–you guessed it–Steve Fossett) would certainly be a good tune-up. There’s also the round the Isle of Wight record, but I can’t imagine that any self-respecting French sailor would be too interested in that one. Stay tuned. Peyron has got this program rolling…



“It’s about time we took one off Stevie. Let’s see. That leaves, umm, about a dozen to go…”